R Magazine, Ex-TeenArt_Issue 1_Authenticity Jun. 2015 | Page 76

Some Photos by Gaëlle Lina
The protector

Who is she?
Gaëlle Lina is a 25-year-old Canadian photographer.
Although she has always had an interest in art,
Gaëlle has been doing photography for 7 years now.
“Everything happened by chance in my life,” she
explains. “Photography came on my way when I was
looking for a direction, a path that would lead me to an
exciting life and that would keep me moving.” It is by
reading, trying new projects and developing new ideas
that Gaëlle finally found her path: photography. Gaëlle
says she has always wanted to do fashion photography
in order to work for major magazines, but another
option came to her. “The real moments. The simplest,
the most natural. It’s at that time that it became clear
to me. It was what I wanted to do. The real,” she adds.
“To photograph the simple moments that remain the
most intense. Going to eat ice cream passing through
the railroad? Hair in the wind, intermingled steps,
smiling to each other. People holding hands, lessons
that are learned ... the elements are there. As long as
there will be simple, pure and natural moments, I will
always be motivated by the work I do. Capturing what
the eyes see too quickly. To remind you that the most
important moments of your life are those that occur at
every moment of your lives. Cooking, taking a walk,
awakening, a new life ... The inspiration simply comes
from the love that invades our homes and our lives.”

Her opinion on black & white
“What I like about black and white photos is that the
essence of the image is not interrupted by colors, what
remains is the emotion. No color, just a movement. A
second, or more! The contrasts of black and white add
the missing heat of color. Photos become timeless, free
from everything.”
There is nothing Gaëlle finds unpleasant in black and
white, although she also loves photos in color. As she
says, “photos in color are a chance to photograph every
detail, every color represents a reason to be, a concrete
memory. It helps the memory to remember everything
from the past. While the black and white raises emotion,
the color brings it back.”

According to Gaëlle, this photo was taken during the
celebration of love. Wishing to offer a photo shoot
to a couple, the young artist asked people to send
her their story. “When Caroline wrote to me,” she
explains. “I have been strongly affected by the
strength of their love during sickness. After more
than 30 years together, she has been diagnosed with
a cancer of the lymph nodes. I did not hesitate for a
second, I wanted to capture this palpable love they
had for each other.” Gaëlle says the photo shoot with
them was filled with laughter, tender moments, and
gazes that were expressing the gratitude of being
together. “Another moment that made me understand
the extent of my work,” she adds.

Hands
“This picture was taken during a moment between
my grandmother and my son in the holiday season,”
Gaëlle says. She found it interesting to see their
hands together. “My grandmother has always been
a very important person in my life and I promised
myself, when my son was born, that he will know her
as much as I do. I want him to enjoy every moment
with her and to learn from her knowledge. I want him
to let her guide him a little way as she did with me. I
want this love to be transmitted during moments as
simple as this one.”