Recognised as one of today’s foremost architectural photographers, Hélène Binet works exclusively with analogue film. Fostering a style all her own, The Franco-Swiss artists has captured some of the past quarter-century’s most monumental projects – working with the likes of Chipperfield, Eisenman, Zumthor and many other contemporary masters – while also re-framing some of the modern era’s greatest gems – Aalto’s Kulttuuritalo (House of Culture, Helsinki) or Le Corbusier’s Eglise Saint-Pierre in Firminy, France.

Jewish Museum, Berlin, arch. Daniel Libeskind

Hélène Binet – Substantiating a New Practice | Portraits

Jewish Museum, Berlin, arch. Daniel Libeskind

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Her own initiated series takes the viewer on voyages through ever-changing urban spheres and woven landscapes. TLmag spoke to Binet about the forces driving her work, a dialogue she shares with architects, recent accolades and her longterm collaboration with Cologne-based Ammann gallery.

TLmag: Capturing the construction behind Zaha Hadid’s Heydar Aliyev Centre, what steps do you usually take in your process?

Hélène Binet: I find the working stage of a building, its most fascinating moment. Skeletons reveal a certain essence, I’m always after. An approach that I don’t apply systematically as some Buildings have nothing to share in this regard. Zaha Hadid and other architects, working with concrete, engage in an incredible casting process that forms negative space. I’m also interested in capturing beautiful faults that stand out – details only found on construction sites. The most important aspect in my work is a sense of impossibility. Spaces are complex experiences, we feel with all our senses. I want the viewer to dream or imagine the rest of what I frame. In bringing these suggestions to life, I use different devises such as light or materiality. As photographers, our first gesture is to exclude.

Eglise Saint-Pierre, Firminy, France, arch. Le Corbusier

Hélène Binet – Substantiating a New Practice | Portraits

Eglise Saint-Pierre, Firminy, France, arch. Le Corbusier

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TLmag: By photographing Daniel Libeskind’s Jewish Museum in Berlin, what intention or information did you transmit?

HB: It’s a question of interpretation – especially with such an intense building, full of meaning. Understanding Libeskind’s thinking, I employed light as to embody the notion of absence. What he expressed in sharply cut windows – which do not necessarily bring light in but rather evoke a connection to other parts of the city, where people were taken away during the Holocaust. I’m not concerned with description but instead, look to create the possibility of looking at it in different ways.

TLmag: How does this approach translate into your landscape series?

HB: I don’t really see a difference in capturing landscapes or architecture - it’s always about fragmentation, what we see when walking or what changes. However, cities are more complex to capture as it is easier to relate to buildings. There’s a sense of time that is less evident in nature. When you compare a photo I took of Berlin in the late 1980’s with the same perspective today, you’re sure to be shocked.

Chapel Vals, Switzerland

Hélène Binet – Substantiating a New Practice | Portraits

Chapel Vals, Switzerland

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TLmag: Why do you only work with analogue rather than digital techniques?

HB: I’m interested in limitations more than the possibilities digital photography offers. Constraints, that allow me to work with my hands, reflect my thinking – a more radical way of performing on the spot and keeping the best of myself. I also like the roughness of film, that will never be as sleek or perfect as retouched images. It comes down to discipline – digital photography accounts for a totally different way of looking at the world.

TLmag: What is the significance of winning the 2015 Julus Shulman Institute Excellence in Photography Award and taking part in the Barbican’s Constructing Worlds exhibition?

HB: Its wonderful to highlight architectural photography as an independent craft, way of thinking and addressing the world around us – which is not always recognised. Both The Julus Shulman Institute of Excellence in Photography Award and Constructing Worlds exhibition give value to what my colleagues and I are doing.

Therme Vals, arch. Peter Zumthor

Hélène Binet – Substantiating a New Practice | Portraits

Therme Vals, arch. Peter Zumthor

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TLmag: Please describe your collaboration with Gabrielle Ammann and the Ammann gallery.

HB: Our unique cooperation began in 2009. Ammann dose not only show design but also architecture and work that also blends the definition of art .While exhibiting some of Zaha Hadid’s best limited edition pieces, she contacted me about exhibiting photographs I took of her projects. Since then, Ammann has continuously represented my latest work in her gallery and at international fairs.

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