On one side, you have Pat Graham, a soft-spoken, veteran music photographer famed for his shoots for publications like Spin, Rolling Stone and NME. On the other, there's Poppy de Villeneuve, a bubbly, awarding-winning video director on the rise. Together, they collaborated on the Ray-Ban Raw Sounds project, documenting the creative process of five artists and groups _ Tom Vek, Carsick Cars, Mona, Au Revior Simone and Best Coast _ as they record a song inspired by the Smiths' guitarist Johnny Marr. The project pays tribute to the iconic sunglasses relationship to music and the inspiration they have provided artists.
How do you like working on the Ray-Ban Raw Sounds project?
Pat: I was excited to work with Ray-Ban and also to work with Johnny Marr again. It's great to be able to work that close with him and see how Johnny influences the new generation of musicians, how style influences his music and how Ray-Ban influences the way musicians look.
Poppy: For me, musicians are quite a new territory. To be able to see five completely different musical talents and understand how their music comes together is really exciting.
Poppy, you started out as a photographer. What made you decided to explore film-making?
Poppy: I always wanted to do films since I was a little girl but I felt that I needed more sense of a story and to understand the way narratives work. Photography is a great way for me to start. I've met different kinds of people and understand different things through photographs. After I felt like I had enough information about the people and the world and [was] able to put those narratives together, I took a leap [laughs]. But photography is an important part of my work still.
Pat, you've always been a music photographer. Do you see changes in what you capture in your photos through the years?
Pat: I started out shooting indie bands in the late '80s and early '90s. I was obsessed with capturing the action and the energy of their live performances. But then it got to the point where I'd done that so much that I wanted to take it further with music and dig deeper. A lot of my friends were musicians, so I started to go on tour with them and documented the behind the scenes and life on the road images. I don't play but since I've been around musicians so much, I picked up on what means a lot to them. So with my latest project, The Instrument, I documented musicians and their instruments and the stories behind what they mean to them.
What inspires you?
Poppy: The ordinary and the overlooked. Also, I'm inspired by the quiet because you usually see things out of the quiet.
Pat: For me, I've always loved music. I toured with Modest Mouse from the beginning, and seeing what the band had gone through, how much work and dedication the musicians have towards getting to where they are at today, that means a lot to me. There are also many other groups that I've worked and toured with that are very inspiring.
The crucial part of your job is to capture each person's individual style and personality. How do you do that?
Pat: It's about making the people you photograph feel really comfortable. Watch their body language. If you feel they are uncomfortable, move on to the next thing. Use a gentler approach. I try to get to know the person and talk to them, not just thrust the camera in their face. Nowadays everyone's got a camera and everyone's just clicking away all the time.
Poppy: Whatever project I do, I think it's very important to represent the people who are involved in a real, honest way. So I always interview people and make sure I ask questions to allow them to reveal things about themselves. Then I kind of just let them be themselves, you know, exploring what's around. It's really important to not be forceful. It's not easy for people to be in front of a camera, having to explain themselves, so it helps to be kind. Put yourself aside and allow them to come forward and represent themselves rather than trying to force something on people.
Off-duty, do you take your camera around?
Poppy: When I go on holidays, others complain "How come you're not taking pictures?" But sometimes I have to let go of my camera, of capturing things all the time.
Pat: I do for the most part. I use my iPhone a lot and you can get great photos with an iPhone but there are certain [times] that I feel frustrated I don't have a bigger camera. I used to take Polaroids for many years just trying to capture scenes or things that are out of the ordinary to me, or not too cliche. But I find it's getting harder to want to take a photo of a certain subject because everybody is taking photos and there are photographs of everything on Flickr streams.
Does that make your job more challenging?
Pat: There's so much more to being a photographer or a film-maker than pushing the button. It's about the way you see and compose images. Also, what a lot of people don't realise is that it's really about your personality too. If you are hard to get along with, you aren't going to get good shots. I'm taking a picture of you. You're part of the picture too. We're working on it together. That makes a lot of difference from a lot of people who are just snapping away and don't think about the person at the other end of the lens.
Poppy: It's easy to take a picture but it's very difficult to have a point of view. And I think having a point of view is really important. Also like Pat said, it's not so much about just us _ it's completely about collaboration.
ABOUT HER
Name: Poppy de Villeneuve
Claim to fame: Starting out as a photographer for magazines including Vogue, Monocle and Dazed and Confused, Poppy, who was always drawn to moving images, has made the leap into film. Starring Chinese model Liu Wen, How You Look at It, her short film for Nowness.com, won the Shu Uemura Beauty Award. She also directed Wetsuit, the world's first Instagr.am music video for the Vaccines.
Did you know?: The British socialite is a daughter of model Janet de Villeneuve and fashion photographer Justin de Villeneuve, who discovered Twiggy.
ABOUT HIM
Name: Pat Graham
Claim to fame: Pat Graham is the go-to guy when it comes to photographing musicians, live gigs and striking candid behind-the-scenes images. With his name almost synonymous with indie rock, Pat has been taking pictures of a throng of rockers and indie darlings for over a decade. Kasabian, Modest Mouse, the Smiths, Kate Nash, Bon Iver, Sonic Youth, Grizzly Bear, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, REM, you name them, he's shot them all.
Did you know?: The cover of Pat's latest book Instrument, which captures the intimate relationship between musicians and their favourite gear, was selected by Amazon.com as one of this year's best.
RAW SOUNDS
A one-off Ray-Ban project that celebrates the connections between style and sound finally hit Asia.
"Rock is part of Ray-Ban's DNA," says Sara Beneventi, Ray-Ban's brand director. Founded in 1937 in New York, the brand was first designed for pilots. But it wasn't until the 1950s that the Aviator and the Wayfarer, Ray-Ban's two classic designs, were born, and became symbols of style worn by the likes of Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan and the Smiths.
To celebrate its 75th anniversary next year, Ray-Ban is emphasing its relationship with rock music, launching "Ray-Ban Raw Sounds". Spearheaded by Johnny Marr, the music project challenges five rising bands (Au Revoir Simone, Best Coast, Tom Vek, Mona and Carsick Cars) to write a new song based on five references and inspirations provided by the former Smiths' guitarist.
The one-off project has thrown live music parties in New York and London, and more recently, Hong Kong on Nov 24.
Rocking the crowds that night were British multi-instrumentalist Tom Vek and rockers Carsick Cars from Beijing. Many Hong Kong celebrities and socialites were in attendance sporting the shades. But the highlight of the night was the unveiling of Johnny Marr's limited edition sunglasses, co-designed by the guitarist himself.
