W
hat do you think of snails? Snails- the soft-bodied, thick-shelled
molluscs - which you must have seen in
and around ponds, rivers or at sea. Have
you ever thought of snails entering into
the makeup wardrobe and becoming
an inspiration to a fashion designer or a
makeup artist?
Well, it’s very hard to put your thinking cap
and create a story around such a matter
but Julia Wimmerlin, a Ukrainian-born
photographer, used snails to portray her
creativity and imagination in her latest
“paint it snail” photography collection. She
chatted with SHEETAL MANN about how
she went on to create such masterpiece.
“Snails are known for leaving traces behind
them, and in a fantasy world, snails and
their traces could be multi-colored. ‘Paint it
Snail’ is a series of snapshots of this fantasy
world where snails would become makeup
artists, fashion designers and jewellery,”
says the award-winning photographer
Wimmerlin, in an email conversation
from Switzerland, where she is currently
residing.
Wimmerlin is a marketing professional
turned photographer who loves
photography as a whole and always brings
something personal whether it’s a business
portrait or a famous landmark. She believes
her strength is the creative approach with an
amalgamation of true emotions in them. In
her short but fairy tale-like career, she has
pushed all the boundaries of photography
to create images that are not only creatively
enthralling but tell stories of their own.
“The snail story was shot in studio and the
snail models come from around my house
in Switzerland as well as from the rural
areas in Alsace, France. The snails lived
with me for a few weeks whilst the series
was shot, and now I am an experienced
snails’ feeder and cleaner”, she replies with
a smiley face. “All colors on the model- Anastasia Konetskaya – were painted
with acrylic paints and all the snails were
painted later in Photoshop. No snail was
harmed during the shoot. All snails were
let go next to a river on a rainy Swiss day
after the series was finished”. she explains
further on how she shot the story.
Wimmerlin, who won a silver medal in
Color Open category at International
Salon of Photography PhotoArtist 2016
for her ‘Snow Monkeys, believes that, in
her nearly self-taught career, she relied
a lot on her advertising and marketing
experience to construct an image. “First
there is an idea that can become a theme
for the series. It takes time for an idea
to settle and develop into a story that
later becomes a series of photographs.
Sometimes I make a detailed storyboard
of a hat on how each shot would look like
and other times I just go with a general
idea and mood and let the model find
her way,” she says while explaining how
she works around a story.Her fashion portfolio includes
collaborations with famous Filipino
designer Pia Gladys Perey who enjoyed
an international uprising after dressing
Angelina Jolie. She has worked with Pia
Gladys Perey for her Junior Bridesmaids
and High Tea Collections, and
advertising images for Spring-Summer
Collection 2015 which were presented
at the World Fashion Week in Paris. Her
celebrity fashion portfolio also includes
collaboration with another Filipino actress
and model, Rhian Ramos.
The most prized accessory for her, while
on the shoot, is her ‘compact hood loupe’
without which she can’t live. “I can’t live
without it as it allows me to see the shot
on camera’s LCD magnified enough to see
some particular details, and shields the shot
from any ambient light that might influence
my perception of the shot,” replies National
Geographic & Vogue photographer,
Wimmerlin.Wimmerlin has received 2 Honourable
Mentions at IPA’s (International
Photography Award) in One Shot Climate
Change Competition (2016). Her travel,
animal and creative photographs have
been published in various travel magazines
including National Geographic(USA),
National Geographic Travel(USA), Digital
Photo(UK), GEO(Germany, France), “DJI
Focus”(China), Animan(Switzerland),
Travelife(Philippines), travel section of
The Telegraph(UK), The Times(UK),
The Guardian(UK), Daily Star(UK),
Metro(UK), Le Matin(Switzerland), 20
minutes(France), etc. She is a regular
contributor to the PhotoVogue site of
Vogue Italia having several shots selected
as “Best Of ” and “Photo of the Day”.
Before Julia signed off to prepare for her
shoot, we managed to ask her if she had
to define the world in a single photograph,
what would it be? She took some time and
replied after few minutes, “Though I have
never thought about it, but if I were to
show the world in a single shot, it would
be a macro shot of one’s eye – you have the
whole world there”.A Photo Series by Julia Wimmerlin
Paint It Snail
Julia Wimmerlin
Sheetal Mann
[email protected]
A silent tigress working up
her way against the societal
norms. One hell of an interior
designer for your beautiful
homes and thoughts, she is
quite an introvert and serenity
drips from her face.Don’t Touch My Shoes
Canon EOS 5D Mark III 23mm F/11 1/160s ISO10084 Vol 2