FACEHUNTER: SARTORIALLY HUNGRY STREET STYLE
Yvan Rodic, better known as Face Hunter, is arguably one of the most influential street style photographers in the fashion sphere. His increasingly popular blog is a regular destination for the sartorially hungry. From riding the blog wave when it was still in its infancy to publishing two books of his work with Thames & Hudson, Face Hunter certainly proves he has an eye for trends. We put a few questions to the Face Hunter and discovered he has just as much substance as style.
Could you explain what it was about London that attracted you to set up base here.
What are the unique creative differences that you feel sets London apart from the other cities that you have lived in?
I love London fashion. It’s playful. Londoners don’t take fashion too seriously. They want to experiment and try new things. They don’t necessarily care about how flattering or how beautiful an outfit is but more how fun and experimental it is, the art of it.
When an individual catches your eye to be photographed is it purely sartorial or are you also drawn to peoples personality and attitude? What individuals do you find yourself continually drawn too?
I look for the whole package. It’s about personality and attitude, as well as the clothes.
I look for something unique, that combination of beauty and originality with a hint of soul. I like photographs to have something different.
If someone that you photographed looked absolutely amazing but wasn’t the most pleasant of people shall we say, would you still include their photograph in your blog or would you consider omitting them because of their attitude?
Sure, if someone I was shooting had a terrible attitude, it would definitely influence my decision to feature them on my blog.
As you travel extensively and are experiencing first hand creativity on a global scale, how do you think that transculturalism is having an affect on the design and creative community?
As people become more and more connected around the world, style takes on a global nature and you can start to see similarities across countries. But at the same time, style retains a local, cultural element which will always remain. It is an overlapping process.
How do you feel blogging and capturing street style have influenced photography as a visual language?
Street style is definitely becoming more ‘high fashion.’ More and more people are beginning to look at the catwalk and absorb what they see into their own style. It’s an interesting evolution and this in turn influences the kind of fashion images that we see today.
As digital photography is now very much the norm, do you feel that there is still a place for analogue photography?
I like analogue a lot. It is a very romantic and charming technique. But, it is much slower than digital so unfortunately I don’t always have the luxury of time to use it as I have to deliver most of my projects very quickly.
You have successfully worked as a blogger, been commissioned by big brands, taken part in exhibitions and have now been published twice by Thames & Hudson. What can we expect next for The Face Hunter?
I have just started working on a web television project, which is hugely exciting for me.
Laura Dicken
