Journal

Photography: Sofa Safari by Jasmine Deporta

Photography: Sofa Safari by Jasmine Deporta

Our photographer radar has been in overdrive recently with lots of up and comers cropping up and getting us excited with their work. One of these has to be Jasmine Deporta, who’s knack of combining genius concepts with unusual locations and vintage fashion finds has got us hooked.

We’re particularly enamoured with Jasmine’s Sofa Safari editorial, featuring a pair of brazen models lounging around on second hand sofas in a furniture warehouse. We love the unserious vibe and are even more taken with the pictures, everything from the model’s moody pouts to their languid positions.

We took a moment out to catch up with Jasmine about sofas, style and shooting in film. Here’s what she has to say…

“I shot ‘Sofa Safari’ for Germany’s ‘Some Magazine’. The theme of the issue was ‘Home’. ‘Sofa Safari’ gets you to rethink your own ideas of the home or being at home. A furniture store is basically nothing more than a fictitious home arranged for the consumer. For the series, we were searching for a typical, fairly antiquated, upholstered furniture store.”

“What I always found really interesting about these (mostly for the 60+ generation furniture stores) were the cliché colours of the upholstered furniture. I wanted to play with this everyday symbolism so the idea was to generate a camouflage effect so that the models could become one by their clothes with the various coaches.”

“I would describe my aesthetic as intuitive, sensible, unaffected. I’m mainly self taught and I’m a really intuitive person, so doing photography was a step I found when searching unconsciously for a way to express myself and my visions.”

“Generally I love to shoot women. I have a deep affection for the sensual beauty of women, they are smooth, gentle, sweet and erotic. I feel much more comfortable shooting women because I can identify with them and have a better feeling for their body language. For the rest I love to keep everyday realities simple - beautiful things. My imagery is the exploration of life and all it’s facets and a snap-shot of a constant change or zeitgeist.”

“I’m mainly shooting film because it is a precious feeling to wait for the developed the film and as well you have to concentrate and be aware to capture a good picture. The most important craft for my work is light. I don’t really like artificial light, because it is not in accordance to my way of working. Natural light is creating that particular atmosphere I’m searching for in my photos. I love to shoot in natural light because I think it keeps the moments in a more realistic way with colours which arise pure and soft. Besides that it reflects more my point of view and I can catch moments in the most unaffected and undiluted way.”

Thanks Jasmine! Check out more of her work here.

Images: Jasmine Deporta
Make up and assistance: Julia Deporta
Model: Yana & Lea