Interview with Dana & Stephane Maitec

I'm a fashion lover, but most of this I'm a fashion photography lover. I had the opportunity to get in contact with great talented couple, Dana and Stephane.

From their site: couple in the city as behind the lens, these two artists work with passion inseparable from Paris, New York and Bucharest, their hometown.

Authors and photographers and visual artists Dana and Stephane Maitec living in Paris for more than fifteen years.

The talents of designer Stephane acquired at the School of Fine Arts in Bucharest, combine with intense and intimate perception of Dana, entirely self-taught.

Independent photographers, they stretch their creative field between personal projects and institutional orders or private.

Found their work in private collections around the world: Australia, Belgium, China, USA, France, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Italy, Monaco, New Zealand, Swiss, Romania, Russia ...

I wanted for a long time a small interview, to learn about their personal concept on fashion photography directly through their words, and finally... here our little debate:

-I noticed that your models always look straight into the lens, what is the message that you like to stand out through their eyes?

Dana: I feel very inspired by strong, independent people. Men or Women. They know what they want and don't want. 

You feel their energy even if you see them from the back. I love that way of keeping their body in dignity but not arrogance.

And they like very much looking straight into your eyes when talking to you, and you trust them instantly. 

The vulnerable women are not my type, but sometimes if they have an interesting story to tell could attract me a little bit also

Elle Romania shot in October 2009 in the Louis Vuitton Family House in Asniéres, France

Personal Projects / Private shootings

-and what is your concept of beauty? 

-Dana: I think beauty is when you do something interesting with your life and you're very proud of that. 

It becomes sooo important and big, that everybody can read that in your eyes. 

I think we all are doing interesting things in our life, but some of us just forget this and the beauty vanishes....

We probably know to make people feeling relax and give them the opportunity to remember they are beautiful, and sometimes the result is spectacular.

The rest is about style and class. And that's another story.

One Magazine Cover Story, shot in August 2011, at the Meurice Hotel and outside in Paris

-have you a precise rule on when to use the color and when the b&w in your photos?

-Dana: Black and white pictures always born as color ones, too. But they are asking by themselves to be transformed. Could be about the drama, or about the graphic or contrast, or simply because the colors are not telling me any story in that case and I feel like I'd prefer to go B&W rather.

-How important is today the combination between new technologies, computer graphics and traditional photography? Is it true that you have to do it all?

-Dana: Well, the new technology helps us a lot, as we can work in our office, sitting on a good chair and doing the retouch while we are checking the emails, going on google or even making our manicure. Yesterdays was like the same retouch, but in the dark room, standing all day long and waiting for the chemicals to do their job...No nails coloring there inside...

-Dana: As you know I am working with Stephane, my partner and husband and often we are doing the post production "in house". 

Of course it depends of deadlines and time schedules, and sometimes we just don't have time enough to do everything we'd like to by ourself.

But we pay big attention the shooting day, and we set the lights carefully and try to do everything perfect from the beginning.

We have the huge chance to always work with cinema lightings, and this helps us a lot into creating the atmosphere we want directly on the set.

Maybe that's why our subjects feel like cinema stars immediately

DANA & STEPHANE MAITEC PHOTOGRAPHER SITE