Darkrooms Uncovered - Juliette Mansour

A peek into a photographer's mental creative darkroom

What does your creative ritual look like? Do you have specific habits or conditions that spark your creativity?

I can create rituals every day if I wanted but I don't do that anymore. This may sound unconventional or strange, but I have learned that for me, it's more about practicing awareness and waiting to be called. I make sure that I leave lots of gaps in the day and that's when I put up my antenna. Sometimes, I don't have my antenna up. I will be in the middle of something and feel an impulse, a nudge or a calling and I need to drop what I'm doing and heed the call. If I try to force or control the process, it doesn't work out for me. I'm not the one in control!

When you're feeling creatively blocked, what's your go-to method for breaking through?

I wrote a post about this last year called, "Stuck in a Rut." My method is "Rename, refrain and retrain" and it works well for me. You may want to read about it: https://juliettemansour.substack.com/p/stuck-in-a-rut

Describe a moment when your creative perspective shifted dramatically. What triggered it?

What a great question! The most recent time was when I had a recurring personal struggle while trying to also photograph. Up until then, gear was important to me and I still struggled a bit with a sense of achieving perfection, but had not realized that I had already built up a metaphorical "muscle memory." I was in the back seat of a fast-moving car, trying to shoot with no image stabilization, a smaller sensor camera, and intermittent rain. Normally I'd never try to do this because of the risk of poor quality photos, but something different pushed me to do it. It allowed me to be ok with the imperfections. The night I returned home, I had a dream that showed me that it was time to let go of an old paradigm around imperfection.

What recurring themes or elements do you find yourself naturally drawn to capture?

Reflections, candid/documentary street, and a series I'm working on called "Film Noir" where I shoot only black and white in the style of the Film Noir era.

What non-photographic influences (books, music, films, etc.) most impact your work?

Music is a big part of my life but I tend to keep that work separate from my photography. Art books of any kind are a huge inspiration to me. If I feel disconnected from art and photography, I will go to the local bookstore and browse through images. That usually inspires me.

What photograph of yours feels most personally revealing, and why?

I have some nudes I'll never show :). I think that answers the "why" but they capture a moment of joy and transformation in my life that is precious to me!

Ok, so, if I have to pick another one it would be this image I shot in New Orleans. It shows my style of shooting street photography along with my personal love for music. The style is up close while emphasizing a story about the ethereal nature of human behavior. It also shows the power of music, which we can all relate to, I think.

Find out more about Juliette Mansour

Website: https://www.juliettemansour.com

---

Browse the full collection of interviews