For our 2nd edition of the Stylists Moodboard, we would like to introduce you to the wonderfully talented Barbara and Eve of Metz + Racine.
We asked them to give us a selection of their favorite things, not only their favorite rugs but the things that inspire them, the things that lead and guide their creativity, which we have conveniently turned into a moodboard for you.
View their moodboard here >>
We also got a chance to chat with them and understand a little bit more beyond their stylish and tasteful portfolio:
A conversation with Metz + Racine
Together they are pioneering and innovative image-makers who work in the worlds of lifestyle, beauty, design, luxury, fashion… well almost everything. Their refined eye and ‘playful brilliance’ reveal the elegant, unconventional, and secret lives of inanimate objects.
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Tell us about how you met and the funniest memory you share together
We met a college in London. We both had quite different photographic paths but our personalities and interests complemented each other and we started working together without really realizing or planning it. At the time, it was unusual to be a team of two photographers but for us, it has always felt natural. We are pleased to see that it is now more common and that many more photographers enjoy the benefits of a partnership.
We had funny hotel experiences at the beginning of our career when we scraped money together to go and see potential clients in Paris. In one of the rooms, the bed obstructed the front door and the bath towel had a square cut out of it but the receptionist was so lovely and curious that we kept a fond memory of the place.
During a location shoot, in the beautiful Hotel dei Principi designed by Gio Ponti in Sorrento, when a group of American tourists washing their hands asked us if we had also been to “the dusty place”. It took us a while to realize that the “dusty place” they referred to was the archeological site of Pompeii!
↑ inspiration: Jack Davison
↑ inspiration: Jan Groover
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Your portfolio of work is extremely broad from fashion, jewellery, beauty, life-style to design, which is your favourite to work in?
We love the variety! We are so fortunate to take pictures of mostly beautiful objects, to spend a day or two in their company and create a little universe for them. Eve has a soft spot for photographing design objects, they feel somehow the most narrative of all. Barbara enjoys bringing an element of nature into the world of fashion and beauty. When we have the opportunity, we love bringing design objects into nature, it creates a really interesting juxtaposition, especially with carpets.
↑ Metz + Racine for Living
↑ Metz + Racine for Living and Mixte ↑
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What are the challenges of working in such different sectors?
For us, it keep our interests alive to work in different areas. We had decided early on that our style of photography would enable us to work in different areas of still lives. We never could imagine specialising in one subject matter. Working with moving images in recent years has added a new dimension to our work as well and enabled us to link many interests together.
↑ Metz + Racine for Living
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When you get home after work, do you subconsciously style things?
Eve thinks she doesn’t but her husband disagrees! He said she subconsciously styles all the time. She thinks, she just comes home and drops everything on the floor. She does appreciates the traces of activities left behind by so called mess. Barbara enjoys styling dinner tables and loves cutting flowers from her garden and arranging them in her house.
↑ Metz + Racine Viewpoint
↑ Josef Sudek
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What’s your biggest source of inspiration?
We love paintings, nature, photography, cinema, travelling, food… We are inspired by life in general!
↑ Balthasar van der Ast
↑ Dickon Drury
↑ Luis Barragan
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How has the industry changed with the growing emphasis on video and digital content?
The change came at a very good time in our career. We had been still life photographers for a while and embraced the opportunity to make things move! Of course, it is not easy to bring objects to life but it was always part of our work to instil life into inanimate objects so it felt like a natural continuation. We have enjoyed creating a body of work that incorporates stills and moving works in a seamless fashion.
↑ Paul Noble
