Interview With Max Lévine From France

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Max Lévine

Max Lévine is a photographer who specializes in nature photography, compressing the beauty of the Earth into single images, but that doesn’t mean it can contain her photographical brilliance.


Interview With The 2022 MUSE Photography Awards Winner – Max Lévine

1Can you introduce yourself and talk about how you got into photography?
I am a photographer since 3 years, but I have been interested in photography for a long time. I took my first steps in photography during travels, mainly with landscape pictures. If I sometimes take advantage of the blue hour and the night lights to photograph cityscapes, it is through nature photography of wild and solitary spaces that I fully satisfy myself.
2Where did you study photography?
I am self-taught. When I acquire a new camera or new lenses, I try to see how far these instruments will allow me to push my technical limits. I learned by myself after successful trials and also - more often than I would have liked! - from my failures.
3Do you remember your first shot? What was it?
Yes, I must have been 7 or 8 years old and I enjoyed my summer holidays and my first camera (a beautiful disposable camera with about 20 exposures) to immortalize my Leonberg dog who was enjoying himself in a mountain river. The framing was more than approximate but the photo virus was caught!
4What equipment do you use?
All of my equipment is Canon equipment in which I have full confidence in the field.
5What do you hope to achieve?
I try to make sure that each photo tells its own story and conveys as closely as possible the unique moment and atmosphere that characterized it.
6What compliment inspired/touched you the most?
Often I don't know if a photo affects me for what it is or for the moment it reminds me of. I am particularly satisfied when a person who has not experienced that moment can feel in the photo what I had in mind when I took it: that's why I do photography!
7What THREE (3) words describe your photography style?
Realistic, adaptive, poetic.
8Congratulations! As the winner of the MUSE Photography Awards, what does it mean for you and your team to receive this distinction?
Thank you for giving me such an honor! This award gives me the opportunity to make my work known at an international level and confirms me in the path to follow for the continuation of my career. In this profession where doubt is often the order of the day, it is extremely gratifying to see our work appreciated by recognized photographers.
9Can you explain a bit about the winning work you entered into the 2022 MUSE Photography Awards, and why you chose to enter this project?
Solastalgia, the platinum award winning photo at the Muse Photography Awards 2022 was taken in Iceland at the glacial lagoon of Jökulsárlón. Through this photo I wanted to show the beauty and grace of this world of ice now threatened by global warming. But also the hope because through the arch which was carved in one of the icebergs we can see the renewal and the adaptability of life with this couple of petrels who feed their young on the ice.
10Name 1-3 photographers who have inspired you.
My sources of inspiration are multiple but if I had to mention only three: the atmosphere and the lights of Paul Nicklen's polar series, Daisy Gilardini's animal scenes as tender as they are realistic, and Craig Bill's long exposure night landscapes for their technicality and uniqueness.
11 What advice would you give someone who would like to become a photographer today?
Never get discouraged, and follow your own inspiration!
12What is your key to success? Any parting words of wisdom?
I think I'm still a little young in the business to share my wisdom! But for my own experience: persevere and try to surprise yourself by trying to exceed the limits of your own style.
13Anything else you would like to add to the interview?
I have only one word to say to you: thank you!

Winning Entry

Solastalgia | 2022

Solastalgia

When the sad melancholy of a glacial world in perdition is dressed in grace and beauty…
(Read more at MUSE Photography Awards)

 

Max Lévine

Max Lévine is a photographer who specializes in nature photography, compressing the beauty of the Earth into single images, but that doesn’t mean it can contain her photographical brilliance.


Read more about the interview with Haruka Nishizaki, winner of the 2022 MUSE Photography Awards.

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