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Clementine Hage
196 Plays4 years ago
Clementine Hage is a photographer located in Portland, Oregon. She focuses on music documentation, as well as queer themes of identity in her personal work. In any work she makes, Clementine aims to capture emotion and vulnerability in its raw form while emulating the beauty of a single moment.
https://clementinehage.com/
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
You are listening to something rather than nothing. Creator and host Ken Valente.
00:00:09
Speaker
Editor and producer, Peter Bauer. This is Ken Volante with the Something Rather Than Nothing podcast. In this episode, we have Clementine Hage, who I met via her photographs. She's an excellent photographer and does a lot of rock photography that caught my eye. And I'm so glad to have you on the show, Clementine. Welcome to Something Rather Than Nothing.
00:00:38
Speaker
Thank you. I'm very excited to be here.
Family Influences on Artistry
00:00:41
Speaker
Yeah, it's great to chat art with an artist, an art enthusiast. But I want to know, first of all, Clementine, were you an artist when you were born? I would say yes, mostly because I didn't really have much of a choice in the matter. My family is just kind of full of artists. My mom was a photographer. She's like a huge inspiration for me.
00:01:08
Speaker
does really beautiful work. She took a lot of pictures of me and my sister as babies, and so those are all throughout her house.
Photography Style and Philosophy
00:01:16
Speaker
And my dad is a musician, like recording artist, so that kind of got me in the music scene, and then the art scene as well just kind of got thrown on me, but I like it, so it's okay. Yeah, so you had that in your background, some music and photography, right? Yeah, pretty much just like led me right down.
00:01:37
Speaker
Right down the path. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I love it. And I love talking about photography. And one of the things I wanted to ask, because photography is a beautiful medium. It's always been seen as kind of like a popular accessible medium. It always requires some investment and some resources, but like as an accessible medium to use.
00:02:06
Speaker
When I look at your photography, like I can see a style in it and I see your style in it.
Journey into Music Photography
00:02:12
Speaker
And I found photography discussions really fascinating because there's like, are you documenting? Are you creating? Are you manipulating? We're doing all these types of things. So can you just talk in general about like coming in contact with photography and saying, this is like a primary medium I want to express myself in?
00:02:30
Speaker
Yeah, so I started out doing photography I guess about like five years ago. You know, there's always a discussion of film or digital. I think either is fine. I think both is great. I started with film, just like really shitty like point and shoots just with my friends when I was young and then moved up to doing kind of more like thought out shoots that were more creative and less just like documentation of my life.
00:02:58
Speaker
But I like both. I think I, you know, I don't call myself like a documentary photographer, I don't call myself like a portraiture photographer. I kind of just do what I like in the moment, what feels right. And it's kind of just like a collection of all those different formats within photography.
00:03:16
Speaker
So yeah, I kind of like it all. And definitely in the music industry, which is my biggest focus for photography, I think a lot of the time it does come out as a documentary style.
Creative Adaptation During the Pandemic
00:03:27
Speaker
But that's also sometimes one of the most raw styles, one of the most true forms, because it's just that one moment and nothing influenced but the moment itself. And it was just kind of caught and captured, which I like that a lot. And I think that there's lots of ways to
00:03:43
Speaker
show life and emotion through that. So I do kind of, I think I like that more like raw sense of like, this is life and I'm just capturing it in the moment on that side of photography. Yeah. And then what I, I mean, I could talk about myself as like a viewer of, of the, of the images, like I'm pulled in by, like there's a certain rawness to it that seemed like rock and roll and, and, and also like of the individual
00:04:09
Speaker
uh images that you capture musicians it like presents them it presents them in such a way of like kind of raw but artistically um as well well talk about like so we're all been we most of us have been hurting without like concert halls and like dingy dingy ass metal shows and like you know it and i'm i'm a portland
00:04:33
Speaker
you know, Oregon music scene and I adore metal. So it's a huge absence because it's such a scene here. You know, you grab, you must grab a lot of, you know, your energy and what you're depicting, you know, from that scene. So what has it been like for you as an artist still trying to connect to, you know, photography and rock and with things opening up again, like where are you as far as creating and all that now? Yeah. I mean, definitely, like you said, everyone kind of
00:05:03
Speaker
especially in the music industry, just like everything kind of got hit hard. And we, I think a lot of us as either musicians or artists in that sense, like just didn't know where to go. Like we kind of had to make a whole new way of how we work, which is super weird, really hard. So I definitely, it was definitely hard because I think like I'm still very much at the beginning of my photography. Like I'm still learning, I'm still finding my style and you know,
00:05:31
Speaker
it's still it's still in the works. And so it was really hard that that all got shut down while I was in the midst of that and just trying to like propel myself and get new work and meet new musicians and get to new shows and all that kind of stuff. So that was definitely hard. And then throughout
00:05:47
Speaker
Like the pandemic, I've just kind of been trying to hone in more on my style and find my own actual niche that I want to be in, you know, doing just more experimental stuff that I wouldn't normally do or wouldn't have the time to do.
The Role of Art in Individuality and Purpose
00:06:02
Speaker
Focused a lot on like self-portraiture because I was only one around to take photos of, so that was kind of fun. Definitely have, I think it's weird, but it did kind of help with my creativity because I had so much time to think.
00:06:15
Speaker
And so I definitely have just a lot more new ideas and new just kind of like Mindsets about photography because it all changed so much. So I think I it did kind of help It was nice, but definitely hard though because I can't shoot shows anymore. I can't go to concerts anymore And that's a huge part of what I do. So Yeah, yeah and
00:06:43
Speaker
Well, and I know it's a different answer for everybody, right? Like, you know, the pandemic is highly personal. Like we all share the horror of it, but it's like, personally, I abandoned this. I tried this. I evolved this way. And all right. So Clementine, what is art? That's one of the big questions I asked. What is art? Yeah, let's see.
00:07:14
Speaker
That question kind of is really hard to answer. I think it should change for everyone. And it does change for everyone, like everyone personally, because that's how I view art. No person is going to view the same piece of art or music or whatever the same way. I think we all put our own ideas into it when we view art or when we make art. So I think it's really just
00:07:42
Speaker
a representation of ourselves, even if we didn't make that piece of art. I think it's maybe doesn't really sound right. But like, it's kind of just, it's you, it's you out there, it's you finding yourself through this piece of media or whatever it is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I, um, I, one of the things when I was when I was asking to about your process, you know, like recently with the pandemic and music and all too, is
00:08:10
Speaker
One of the things I found in asking the question about art is kind of like folks dealing with or dealing with like disruption on like what art is supposed to do. Right. So the discussions have been like, you know, art helps save us. Right. Like when we're like so like down and like, why am I bothering with this crazy mess? And like there's art there being like, this is beautiful or whatever it is to do it. But yeah, do you do you see art as having a particular role?
00:08:39
Speaker
you know, right now, like what is the role of art generally and right now? Yeah, I think kind of like what you're saying, it's just it's it does save it saves us. You know, it's it's it sounds cheesy to say, but like it does. It's it gives I think it gives a lot of people a purpose. It gives a lot of people a place to truly be themselves, like truly.
00:09:07
Speaker
and truly express themselves and be free in like a way that's not really possible in any other way of life. It's kind of like art is that one thing that does that. And again, like now, like through the pandemic, I think art has not changed, but like, I think so many more people have kind of clung on to it, like hung on to it.
Art's Perception and Personal Interpretation
00:09:33
Speaker
because it was such an outlet for so many people like just, you know, this past year and because the pandemic, it was a way that we could just all come together and focus on one thing. Yeah. Another question I have, and it goes back, and I know you talked about where you came from, you know, when you're younger and such, but as a general question about,
00:10:01
Speaker
What or who made you who you are? Yeah, like you said, it does go back to kind of how I was raised. I would definitely say my family. I would say the things that made me who I am is my family and art, and they both go together. In an artistic sense, I was super influenced by my mom, and she kind of just
00:10:30
Speaker
It was kind of one of the reasons why I became a photographer and everything like that. My dad taught me so much about music. I, you know, I'm not like I wouldn't call myself a musician, but I do play music. I love to write like that influences my photography a lot. That's what got me into music photography specifically. And both those things are such a huge part of my life and who I am.
00:10:53
Speaker
you know, one of the my biggest passions is just music. And I just I love that I can use my photography to go through and experience that. And yeah, I would definitely just say like, that's it's just like my art and family. That is all I am at this point. Yeah, yeah. And one of the one of the big questions that I that I grapple with, and I was kind of wondering your thoughts about it. Um,
00:11:23
Speaker
And it has to do, you mentioned too about like the art piece of like the audience, like the viewer putting things into it that's theirs. And of course the person who made it, you know, is putting what they want into that. And so I always think of the question of like, when you create something that's an art piece, like what is your relationship and what is the relationship of others to it? So my questions are, what do you think your art is
00:11:53
Speaker
And what do you think other people think your art is? Yeah, so I would say it's a tough one. So I guess for me personally, my art is just like kind of like the sole way I can express myself. Like what I was saying before, like that's what art is meant for. It's meant to put yourself out there to kind of just get everything out of your head, put it in something, whether that's writing or music and, you know,
00:12:21
Speaker
making photos, like whatever it is coming up with a concept, like it's just the truest form of yourself. And for me, it's just like the way that I can communicate how I feel, things that have happened in my life, my story, anything that I want to put out there, I can. And that's kind of how I see my art. For other people,
00:12:46
Speaker
I don't really know, you know, I can't know what they what they think. But I would hope because this is what I do when I see other people's art, I would hope that they, yes, maybe can kind of see my side of it because I was the one who created it. But I also just I, I would rather have them find something about themselves.
Art as Therapy and Genuine Expression
00:13:03
Speaker
find out something about themselves through my art. See themselves in it and see what it means to them specifically, not what, oh, this is what Clementine is trying to say. It's like, no, what do you get from this? What do you feel? How does it affect you? What does your life mean in comparison to it? More just the viewer's side and how they represent it. Yeah, yeah.
00:13:30
Speaker
I, I, I, and it's one of the, the reason I asked the question too is kind of like, it can be a hang up. I know it's a hang up for me, but I'm in for artists too of like, because once something's out there, you kind of become detached from it. You become less, you can like control it less, you know, the thing, the thing that you create. Um, I wanted to ask another conceptual question, uh, that I asked of, yes, of why do you,
00:13:59
Speaker
Why do you, why do you create or in general, do you think like with people, like, why is there this compulsion like to make things like what's going on with that? Yeah. So in regards to why I create, I feel like it's kind of like the only thing I can do at this point. Like there's not really any way to stop it. I feel.
00:14:24
Speaker
I feel, you know, I don't feel good when I haven't made a photograph in a while or when I haven't been thinking of new ideas or trying new things out. And it's definitely hard to be creative constantly. And I don't, you know, I don't like that there's a pressure to constantly be creating as an artist. I think that that's actually not that great that we have in like the artist community, like constantly be pushing out new work or constantly be pushing out new music, like
00:14:52
Speaker
I think it should really just be more like when you have something inside of you and you know, you need to put it out, then you create something and that's great. And there doesn't have to be a timeframe or anything like that. It's really just so you can, you know, again, like get everything out of your head and just like put it into something and, and show it to people and hope they like it. You know? Um, yeah.
00:15:13
Speaker
It's kind of just like a really great form of therapy. I think it helps people. It's hard to keep it all in, and for a lot of people, it's just being creative is the way to get that out.
Current Projects and Online Presence
00:15:27
Speaker
Yeah. We're speaking with Clementine Hage, Portland photographer and photographer of the rocks and talking about art.
00:15:42
Speaker
One of the bands you had depicted, fantastic images consistently. Spoonbenders was on episode 80 of the podcast, a really popular episode and great art associated around the music as well that you've been a part of. I asked them the big question, Clementine. I have to ask you, why is there something rather than nothing?
00:16:09
Speaker
Yes, that is a hard question. Thank you for asking. I don't know. I'm a little nervous to answer it. I feel like I might sound a little... We all are. Everybody's nervous. I'm nervous of asking it. Well, you know, if I'm just like thinking about it, you know, with no other influences or like what other people might think, I guess I would just say there's never really nothing. You know, there's always there's always going to be something there no matter what.
00:16:39
Speaker
you know, there's always something to look to, I guess. That's what I hear when I, that's what I think when I hear that. Yeah. Yeah. It's like the, uh, somebody's saying something, somebody's thinking something, there's something present. Yeah. Yeah. It's a very, it's a very real, uh, very, thank you so much.
00:17:01
Speaker
Clementine, where do people go to see your images to get your work or to interact or whatever, you know, folks want to do in person, online, you know, physical copies of
Excitement for Live Music and Portland Scene
00:17:17
Speaker
albums? Where do they find your stuff? Yeah, so you can always, first up could always be my website, which is just clementinehage.com.
00:17:27
Speaker
Um, and then my Instagram usually has more updated things cause it's quite easy to update on Instagram and not as easy to update a website. Um, so there's always updated work on my Instagram. Um, and usually we'll have, um, posts about work that I've done. Um, you know, there's posts about spoon manners. If you want to buy their album, my photo is on the back of the album cover for their vinyl, which was super cool.
00:17:55
Speaker
feel free to buy that. They have a shirt out, you can buy the Spoonbenders shirt with one of my photos on it. Yeah, plenty of places to go. Yeah. And thank you so much for that. I must say that I did purchase my first concert ticket in over a year and it was Spoonbenders in July. It's interesting just to see that
00:18:21
Speaker
There are dates announced for things. Yep, super weird. Clementine, it's been a real great pleasure talking to you. I wanted to ask you one more thing before you leave us. The show bounces around all over the place into different topics. A way of talking music, photography, painting, and all this.
00:18:48
Speaker
Um, like, uh, music wise, like, what are you looking forward to hearing? Like, like musically, just music for you. Like, what, what, what are you looking forward to hearing live? What have you been listening to? Like, what's cool in Portland right now? What's going on? So, um, definitely, uh, I don't know. There's so many new things coming out. I know, um, like for Portland specifically, like spoon manners are playing shows, super exciting. Um,
00:19:18
Speaker
I, um, there's this band, um, that is kind of in the scene with spin winners are called Apollo, whatever. Um, and they had like a show that they played there. I think they might play another one, but that's pretty exciting. Like new music coming out in the Portland scene. Um, I did the album cover for them. They're, they're super fun, super great band. Um, recommend that album. Um, other than that, I think there's.
00:19:43
Speaker
I think I have like only one concert lined up so far. It's very far ahead, like a year from now, but it's Adam Ant. And I've been on an Adam Ant kick lately. So friend or foe tour, super excited for that. Let's hope it stays. Yeah, Adam, Adam Ant. I remember the first wave of Adam Ant. The first wave. That's awesome.
00:20:10
Speaker
I didn't know he was playing and I'm glad you got that on your plate. He was supposed to play like right before COVID hit or like right after COVID hit. So obviously didn't happen. And I was gonna go. But it's lined up again. So it's gonna be okay. All right. Again, everybody, Clementine Hayes, check out her great photographic work in
00:20:34
Speaker
a great way to kind of connect with the images of Portland and the rock scene. And I just wanted to thank you Clementine for spending some time on the podcast. It's been great to get to know you and again, love your work and look forward to seeing everything that you do. Of course. Thank you so much for having me. This was really, really awesome. I'm so glad I did it. Absolutely. I hope we talked again soon. Have a great day. Thank you. You too. All right.
00:21:09
Speaker
This is something rather than nothing.