Portfolio Review: Elisabeth Ouni Shares the Stories Behind Her Polaroids of Hip-Hop Artists

For Belgium-based photographer Elisabeth Ouni, a Polaroid image reveals something honest and true about its subject, which is precisely why Polaroids are her medium of choice.

"I just love the fact that it's instant and pure. You can't really mess with it. It displays a honest moment in time," she explained. "For fans, a Polaroid picture of their favorite artist just comes across more real than all the perfect, photoshopped, editorial pictures they usually see. Plus Polaroids require a certain closeness. I have to be very close with the artist, and that mostly results in great stories."

Ouni began snapping Polaroids of her favorite music artists and documenting the chase involved on her blog A Polaroid Story in 2009. The idea to start APS came up after she thought about how cool it would be to have a Polaroid of Pharrell Williams, who would be performing with N.E.R.D. at a Belgian music festival called Lokerse Feesten a few days later. A Live Nation worker at the festival had told her she would never be able to get close enough to Pharrell to photograph him. Much to her own amazement, Ouni succeeded.

Since 2009, Ouni has photographed the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Miguel, and Kid Cudi after intense networking, hours of waiting for artists to show up, and a whole lot of hustling and hard work in general. View some of her Polaroids in our Portfolio Review: Elisabeth Ouni Shares Stories of Her Polaroids of Hip-Hop Artists, and find out more about the photographer below.

Can you tell me a little bit about yourself? Where were you born and raised?
My name is Elisabeth Ouni. I'm from the land of waffles, Duvel beer, chocolate, Dries Van Noten, Martin Margiel, Raf Simons, and so much more, a.k.a Belgium. I was born in a small village called Roeselare. Left home at age 16 and settled in a small coast town called Ostend. Ostend is the city where Marvin Gaye lived in to kick off drugs and where he wrote "Sexual Healing."

You have great taste in music. How did your love for hip-hop begin?
My love for hip-hop started at an extremely early age. I never really connected with the music Belgians mostly listen too. I'm half Tunesian, so maybe that's an explanation. I was obsessed with Michael Jackson at a very young age, got introduced to Mariah Carey at age 10, fell in love with the Fugees in early high school; and my first boyfriend introduced me to the likes of Wu-Tang, Mos Def, etc. Later on at age 16, I left home and started to work in a bar in Ostend called Lafayette, where I was learning about soul, funk, and jazz and learned where the music that Kanye or Diddy sampled actually came from.

What sparked your interest in photography? Did you attend art school, or is it a hobby you picked up?
I worked as a model for quite a few years. I made a living from it; it paid my bills. Modeling taught me to look at things differently and to see the beauty in different things. Working as a model introduced me to a lot of photographers and camera men, who all left a tiny mark on me or taught me something that stayed with me throughout the years.

If I'm not mistaken, Kanye West is someone whose photo you've been pursuing for a few years now. Who is the one person—dead or alive—you want to capture on film?

Kanye West is definitely one of many artists I really want to feature on my blog. I tried during his first fashion show in Paris, in vain. But I learned that doing APS is a long journey, during which [I'll] meet people along the way who can help me in my next story. For certain types of artist like Kanye, it takes time. But I'm convinced it will happen. Others on my wish list are Jay-Z, Grace Jones, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Beyoncé or Destiny's Child, Tina Turner, but also people like Timbaland, Rick Rubin, Mariah Carey. There are too many really … Prince? But he hates pictures so I'm not sure that will ever happen. Oh, and definitely Diddy! Diddy was actually the first to write about me on his blog a few years back. And R. Kelly. I really, really want to feature R Kelly one day on the blog.

So far, who has been the most memorable music artist you've photographed?
I'm super proud to say that I have artists like Gil Scott-Heron and D'Angelo in my portrait portfolio. That's huge for me, especially because D'Angelo is the type of artist who is very hard to reach, and the fact that he personally agreed to have his picture taken was a big deal for me. Then again, my features with Kendrick Lamar are currently my favorites. He and his TDE crew are as real as it gets.

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"Whenever I take Polaroids with an artist, I only direct when I feel it's needed or [when] they trust me enough to be directed. But I always start with telling them that I need two different expressions, and that they can do with that, whatever they want to do.

J. Cole was just super super nice ... he was totally down for taking some Polaroids, and he was all about getting the right picture, which meant I could take more than one picture. He and his entourage didn't make me feel like I had to leave the room quickly, so we worked together and took some shots until we were both satisfied with the results.

It's nice to work like that. I wish I could have that type of atmosphere with all my artists I encounter. It was also the very beginning of his career. I think he hadn't even released his first album yet so he was still very open and, I guess, thankful for every opportunity that came along. I wonder how he would be now. He hasn't passed through Belgium anymore since then."

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"I don't have the privilege to work with artists in a studio or have the time to think of great ideas when it comes to styling or props. I mostly have to work with what is given to me, which is basically five minutes in a crappy tour bus or basic backstage lounge. I thought it would be cool to do something personal because it mostly creates great or funny reactions from artists.

Rocky was super nice actually. I thought he was super mature. He didn't like the joint I prepared for him though. It was mixed with tobacco, and that's not really how he likes his spliffs."

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"A Belgian journalist from De Morgen newspaper, one of the better newspapers in Belgium, received 20 minutes with him just because his medium had a big reach. I seriously doubted whether [the journalist] could ask better questions than I could, who only had five minutes and no interview after quite a hustle. That journalist came out of the bus and said to me, 'Good luck with that, he just laid down the entire time.'

Thing is, I did my research, and I read that Kendrick does that whenever he is tired. So I walked onto the bus, I just acted like this was a totally normal thing, and I explained what I was going to do. And when he didn't move, I just told him that I had to come extremely close in order to do my job. He agreed, and it turned out to be great content. I learned over the years to act as normal as possible towards the artist. It's not always easy for me because I am a fan in my heart, but I learned that being star-struck doesn't really create good stories. You lose your focus."

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"I shot Kid Cudi at the very early stage of the blog. He was on the verge of his career, and he was overall super nice."

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"I met Theophilus during his Charming Man mixtape in Berlin, and I thought he was a very interesting artist. I loved his music because it was fresh. He loves the camera, and we got along great. Whenever he comes to Belgium, he would let me know, and we would hang. Shooting with Theo is easy."

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"I would love to shoot N.E.R.D again but with Chad Hugo. He is still missing in the series. I shot N.E.R.D with the help of a digital guru from Holland called Nalden (from WETRANSFER), who invited me to the listening session of their new album because he knew I had been chasing them for quite a while.

I really needed to focus extremely hard because Pharrell is just the type of man who makes you star-struck. I wasn't really having that anymore, so I placed him against a wall and did what I came to do. That's all I remember of that—that and my heart racing like crazy. I also regret the fact that I forgot to ask for a picture with him."

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"I had to wait for hours in a row for MIA, but I was entertained by her tour and album photographer Jaime Martinez and her dancers White Boy and Tyler. When I finally could enter her room, she sort of gave me her last energy. It was 3 a.m., but she was posing like there was no tomorrow. Super fun to work with her. I think it would be amazing to work with an artist like her when you have all the means, studio, styling, etc. She owns the camera."

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"This picture is totally because of my good friend and assistant at the time, Jules. It was a time when I still believed I could hustle my way into a festival without the right bracelets. I learned the hard way that was just plain stupid. You need press accreditation to even have a small chance to get close to an artist. With Snoop Dogg, we posted out for hours in a row, an entire day and night, and it was a huge hustle to get backstage.

When we finally did, Snoop walked by with six or seven bodyguards, and I was totally discouraged to do anything really, but my assistant Jules, who had it up the here waiting for Snoop just yelled like she had come out of a warrior movie, 'CAN WE PLEASE TAKE A POLAROID PICTURE? NO BALLS, NO GLORY, A POLAROID STOOOORY.'

I was so shocked. Only crazy people would do that, but he stopped, looked at us, and said, 'Well, go on then.' And yeah. I have one lucky shot of Snoop Dogg. I still want to portray him as Snoop Lion though."

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"Miguel is that type of artist who I believe so hard in. He is super underrated, and I'm waiting for that day he accepts a Grammy on stage. He is so talented, and his voice is simply divine.

He is super easy to connect with. If you ask him the right questions, he will engage in the conversation. He loves the camera, and I really adore his confidance. I think he is really a remarkable individual and artist. I shot him the first time [in a bathroom]. So the fact that he was down with that just makes him really human."

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"The Odd Future pics are very interesting because I was very lucky to have permission from Chris Clancy, their manager. It was their first time in Amsterdam, and that gig was crazy. They were still sweating when I came backstage, and I was surprised how easy they were in front of my camera. I suspected a little bit more mayhem, but they were all very calm and were down to do the pictures and basically did what I asked of them."

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