Lana Lenfant: Getting to Know the Artist

‍We’d like to welcome you to Muro. Thank you so much for meeting with us today, we’re so excited to learn more about your artistry and the work you do. To start, we want to know more about the beginnings of your creative career. Tell us about your personal background and how it all started for you.
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Hello! I’m Lana. I’m a photographer based here in Lisbon but originally from London. I have quite a mixed background as I was born and raised in the UK with a french mother and a Syrian father.  Sometimes it’s hard to explain my background to people and it can also be hard to find people who have the same transnational identity. It’s a strength for sure and I’m so proud of it. As for the start of my creative career, for context, I’m 27, but I first started photography when I was about 16. I studied at a private French school and started assisting my mom’s friend who was a photographer who photographed fancy children’s parties. It was my job to take photos of the kids getting ready, mostly portraits. I discovered that I loved the candid side that children have. They don’t care, they don’t have any worries in those moments so they’re quite free in front of the camera. That made me want to pursue photography, especially children’s photography. That’s when I decided to join an NGO (PSE - Pour un Sourire d’Enfant) in Cambodia for two summers in a row. I was 17, 18 at the time. There, I was a photojournalist writing for the summer blog and also doing photos on digital & film. I started doing that pretty regularly, and my creative career has been fluctuating between different types of photography since then. I started with doing portraits of children, then moved to events, and then I went into more abstract and fine art which is the collection I now have with Muro.

‍Can you identify one or two milestones that shaped your creative journey?

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Definitely the NGO in Cambodia. It taught me how to capture chaotic moments. Due to there being hundreds of children I had to photograph, I had to make sure the shots were good, and at the same time, I had to reflect on what was happening so I could capture it. There were a lot of workshops to lead, a lot of games played, and a lot of movement. My start with shooting on film came from that experience, so I would definitely consider that one of the milestones. Otherwise, I recently worked for 6 months with a fashion photographer in Lisbon. I was his producer as well as his studio manager. Although I wasn’t doing anything creative, I worked to assist him on fashion shoots. Lachlan Bailey, he’s a renowned photographer and one of the best fashion photographers in the world. He taught me the marketing and business side of photography; how to reach out to clients and how to do better invoices. This made me realize how huge the business part of being creative is. It’s all about knowing how to manage yourself, how to find new clients, how to follow up with clients, and how to speak to people. It’s also about the workflow, how to work, manage expectations, and manage budgets. Working for Lachlan was a huge milestone in my career because it taught me so much about going forward as a freelance photographer. That experience taught me how to be a better photographer and salesperson.

‍Where do you find inspiration? What drives your art?

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I would say collaborating with the right people is very inspiring. I used to do a lot of events but now I’m into shooting more portraits involving artists, music events, music festivals, design, woodworkers, and anything related to art. Shining a light on the artist that I’m working with makes me all the more passionate about photography. I think it’s all about collaborating with the right people. With artists, they are also self-employed, creating something in an attempt to connect the world, similarly to me. For that reason, collaborating with artists is something I am passionate about. Shooting on film constantly inspires me as well. I always get excited when I get the rolls back. When I get a roll developed, I receive a little message as a preview before saying how the photos turned out. I love the anticipation. I try to shoot things that I find meaningful given my history of working for NGOs either as a photojournalist or a journalist. I think it’s important to tell a story, and if you are the one telling the story, you need to realize your potential to help a cause just by capturing the moment through your photos or videos. It's important to be associated with the right project, to choose the right clients, and to choose passion projects that have a social cause or an environmental cause.

‍At first glance, it looks like you are mainly a photographer. However, your collaboration with Muro consists of your photos transformed into digital art. What inspired you to make this collection? 

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During Covid, there was a switch where nothing was happening. You couldn’t do any shoots, no real projects were going on. So I started photographing water, it kind of became my peaceful place. I live in Cascais, which is, for those who know, very very peaceful and not as busy as Lisbon, so I had a lot of time to walk or bike around and take pictures of water, rocks, and movement. The idea to animate the pictures came later. At one point, I tried to turn the photographs into full animations, but it just didn’t portray the right feeling. I love animating photographs, it seems like a better way to stay true to the photography genre. I call them moving photographs. When I create them, I try to recreate the moment I saw when I took the picture. They’re mostly very static, but then maybe the water will move or part of the plant will move. Grainy Lovers, the photo of the couple on the beach, is my sister and her ex-boyfriend during lockdown. We used to go to these really beautiful beaches, this one was shot in Praia Grande. The idea of recreating the feeling I had when I took the picture came from this piece. I also tried to recreate the eeriness of Covid because a lot of my photos have practically no one in them. Take my piece Flash, for example. It’s just me standing in front of a mirror and there’s a flash, like a lightning bolt. That was just me going around and climbing rocks during Covid trying to find inspiration. That has made me want to continue with more projects like these since my old work is more HR-based. 

What is your outlook on creative blocks or other difficulties you may encounter in your creative process? 

They happen often when you’re an artist. I know that if I have difficulties in my personal life, I tend to block on my creative side. For me, routine is key. I do a lot of sports, yoga and swimming mostly. There are things that I know if I do, I’ll feel better if I’m blocked or anxious. For me, it’s about having a good routine and being well-surrounded. When you’re happy in your life, your creative side will thrive. I’m not one of those artists who thrive off pain ha. I need to be happy and healthy. I think working with artists can make you unblock something as well, but I don’t tend to open up to people if I’m having a creative block. Usually, I don’t do photography for a few days. When I finally get back into it, I find my passion has returned. I had a creative block for a while recently, and then I did photos of artists & a festival called Moga. It was one of the hardest experiences of my life. It was 3 days, walking 8 kilometers a day, spread across 3 stages, and shooting 15 artists. As hard as it was, it was the most incredible experience. I found my love for photography through it again because it was so chaotic but so fun. Knowing which kinds of shooting will give me more energy and not uninspire me is also key to avoiding creative blocks. 

In your perspective and experience, have you found there to be significance in having a collaborative attitude and networking among creatives? If so, how important is it to you to have a community in the art world? 

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Having a community in general is very important, more so than having a community in the art world specifically. Occasionally, I attend artist meetups or creative meetups. It’s not common for me though, as I see being in good company in general as more important to me personally and my creative processes.I have a lot of friends who are in creative fields such as music, art, photography or videography in Lisbon. Also, I’ve met amazing clients just by being social, going to art fests, and whatnot. If you are someone who wants to get more into a specific type of photography, I would recommend going to fairs. For example, I love design photography, so I went to Lisbon by Design week. I met loads of artists, and ended up doing shoots for 3 different artists and the inauguration. Connecting with the right people is important and just having a community in general to feel not alone. It can feel a bit lonely when you do a freelance job, a creative job like this. You’re editing by yourself and you’re shooting by yourself unless you’re in fashion or something involving a team alongside stylists and production managers. Usually, though, I do most of my shoots alone. Maybe I’ll have one assistant if it’s a big shoot, a wedding, or something, but it can feel a bit lonely sometimes. Make sure you have a social life. In my case, I know that I need a social life. Co-working helps maintain that. I have a friend who’s a graphic designer. She spends all her time behind the computer at home, so I go to hers often. We work together. Finding other people who are doing the same thing as you and coworking forms that creative community. 

Your clientele has ranged from the likes of Netherlands Vogue to Guardian Magazine, and everything in between. What productions are you most proud of? 

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For Vogue, I was assistant to Marc de Groot, a Dutch photographer. Just such a cool guy and really talented. I’m proud of that because it was difficult and I learned a lot. Assisting on big fashion shoots is hard. A lot goes on, it can be very physical, and you have to carry things. I mean that one, in particular, didn’t have a lot of gear, but I assisted on a shoot in Scotland for the cover of EnVols Magazine where I had to carry things up and down hill after hill. I’m also really proud of that one. It was the cover shot for EnVols, AirFrance’s fashion and travel magazine. I worked alongside Arthur de Kersauson. He has a production company based in Paris called Mercenary Productions and is also a great photographer. Funny enough, he’s based in Lisbon although we met when I assisted him for a Elle France Cover shoot. 

As for the Guardian publication, I was so young when I got published. I was traveling in Vietnam and took a picture of a boy with his bird, so it’s titled  “The Boy and His Bird”. I submitted it to the Guardian as part of a photo competition. While I can say that I’m proud of that, I think I’m more proud of ultimately deciding to do photography full-time instead of going back to production, producing, and all of the other sorts of creative jobs I used to do. I can say I’m really proud of the latest shoots I’ve done as well. I recently worked with a woodworker named João Maria Bernardino, his studio is also known as Apewood. He is just one of the most amazing people. That shoot is special to me because it tells a story of how he creates these incredible pieces with his hands, his work is truly amazing. I also shot a wedding for the first time recently, a very stylish and cool French wedding. I shot that alone, for around 10 hours in 3 different venues. It included ceremonial shots, portraits, party photos, dinner shots, speeches and photos of the interior because I had to shoot the venue before the guests arrived. That was the first time I had to manage getting the right shots and hundreds of people. Making sure I got that signature picture of the bride and the groom coming out while still making them look artistic, cool and candid made me nervous and was challenging as well. I think I got great results though It’s not easy, you should be proud of yourself if you can do wedding photography well.

‍Most fun and most memorable shoot? 

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The first thing that comes to mind is the kids in Cambodia. I was there for a whole month, so I can’t exactly consider it one shoot, but it was amazing. I got to play with the kids and teach them yoga and photo skills. I did a photography workshop and a fashion shoot with them. It was a very unique and joyful experience. The wedding was also really enjoyable although exhausting. Photographing weddings is always fun because you get to talk to people. You can just casually chat to make some of the aspects of a group shot less boring, but most of it is just observing people who are having the best time. It’s uplifting being surrounded by such great outfits, great food, and amazing venues on a couple’s special day.

How has the advancement of technology molded your creativity over the years? What are your thoughts on how the everchanging future can influence artists? 

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I guess it depends, I would see myself more as a photographer than a digital artist. When you talk about digitizing art, I think about all of the new mirrorless cameras coming out. I used to only want to shoot on film, and I realize now that I need to be a bit realistic. Sometimes people don’t want film. They don’t want to wait or they don't have the budget for analog. Using a digital camera can have its beauty as well. You can see the results instantly, you can work more on the focus, and you can make sure the results are exactly what you want. But in terms of using different softwares, I don’t modify my photos a lot. I keep them pretty similar to the original. What worries me more, regarding the future, are copyright issues and people being able to copy an artist’s work. This even happened to me before this huge rise in technology. I found a Chinese website that had imitated me. They had put all of my pictures online as if they were theirs, and I still don’t know how it happened. They’re still online, I couldn’t block it. So moving forward I think we have to be very cautious in knowing that pictures can be used without your knowledge and that people can imitate you. 

What do you see for yourself and your work in the future? 

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At some point in my career, I want to be able to link my background to what I do. I haven’t been to Syria yet, because of the war. I’ve been to France, but France absolutely does not inspire me right now. It’s my goal to create a project in the future that is in line with showing more of my Middle Eastern culture. I’m passionate about misrepresentations, especially at the moment. I think there’s a really big problem with misrepresenting Arabs and specifically Muslims in the western world. When I say to people that my father’s Muslim, they imagine him as extreme or super strict, and he’s neither. Through this project, I would like to work towards breaking these misrepresentations. I’d like to portray that it’s okay to be religious and it’s also okay to not be. I would like to create something that's in line with my identity. I haven’t quite figured out what that looks like yet, but I feel it would entail actually going to Syria and doing a visual project there. I would love to do that one day. 

Is there anything else you’d like to share? Any artistic or life lessons you would like to leave us with? 

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If you’re trying to pursue something creative, it’s okay to have moments where you feel like you can’t do it. It’s okay to have moments where you don’t have much going on. Just keep going and trying to make it work. Also, trust your instincts. Don’t just copy. While you can be inspired by other’s works, you need to realize that you have your own unique vision too. Try to stick to that. My art was once called weird by someone whose creative opinion counted a lot for me. We have such completely different styles. That person is more attracted to fashion-oriented works with lights in such an amazing way, but likes making his work look flawless. Whereas I’m more about natural lighting, I try to recreate reality and edit it in a way that makes it more abstract. When I heard that, it was clear that he just didn't get it and didn’t understand my work. Because I didn’t listen, now I have people telling me that they love what I do, that they love my style, and that I inspired them. Keeping true to your creative vision is key. 

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