A Pastel Perspective by Chloe Sheppard

“Dreamy, pastel, and girl-oriented” is how 20-year-old Chloe Sheppard describes her work. And she does it really well: one look at her film photographs and you’re instantly transported to the charming, rebellious, and softly-colored world of fleeting girlhood. Chloe is based in London and is currently obsessed with “The O.C., the colour pink, and roses.” Aside from photography, she is passionate about music, the Seventies, and illustration. Her work has been featured on Dazed and Confused, NYLON Japan, Rookie, and Teen Vogue.

On how she got started in photography: I was around 13 when I got into photography and started to really think about what I was shooting. In 2010/2011 I spent a lot of my time on Tumblr, reblogging photos that I thought were beautiful and inspirational. I wanted to be able to emulate something similar and meant something to me, and eventually wound up shooting film.

On her photography influences: I was influenced by old movies and older photographers like Baron Wolman, and using film enabled me to create work that I felt looked more like his.

On shooting film: Film enables me to live out my Seventies fantasies somewhat. I love the feeling of not being able to see the photos you’re taking until you get them developed, nothing really beats that excitement.

I pretty much just shoot with film. The only time I’ll shoot with digital is for a big commission, and even then it’s just in case something goes wrong with my film during developing or whatever. Whenever I shoot digital I just find myself tweaking the photos for hours on end, and my main goal is for them to look like film anyway, so it just makes more sense for me to shoot film.

On her go-to camera and film: The camera I’ve used for most of my work has been the Canon AE-1, but I recently just got a Contax T2 so I’m super excited to start shooting with that. The film I use really depends on what I can get my hands on at the time, but the cheapest film I use a lot is the Agfa Vista 200, (it’s only £1 here).

On her most memorable photographic moment: This wasn’t really a proper shoot, but once I met Lana Del Rey and I took a polaroid of her. Lana is someone I’ve admired for many years now, so being able to take a photo of her was an absolute dream that I will never forget.

To see more of Chloe’s works, visit her website or follow her on Instagram.