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Luiza Sá: I took that one in Norway, in Oslo. We were on tour there in 2007, opening for Gwen Stefani. After the show we went out to this really small club… wait a minute, Oslo's in Norway, isn't it?

Haha, so it was this really crazy little place that had, like, a whole wall of SpongeBob SquarePants stickers and some other super interesting stuff. The place really exists, it was sort of like a bar.You were already taking pictures before you joined CSS. Was your plan to become a photographer, or did you just want to be a rock star?
I don't think I had any plans at all. I was really young when I started taking photos--my dad had a Nikon camera that I started to use when I was really young. Then I went to art school because I thought that's what I wanted to do, but while I was still in school the band started. I hadn't planned to be a photographer or a musician--I just did what I did and things ended up happening naturally.

I'm totally self-taught, just trial and error.
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I'm still using the Nikon, I love it. It's got a 28mm lens which I love, it's probably my favorite lens. But I use different cameras in different situations. The photo of the horses I took with a Leica compact. There's another I like, a Contax G2. All my stuff is film. I've never taken digital photos.

I wouldn't say I have a skill. I have an aesthetic--there are things I always look for. There are many photographers I love, but I don't try and do what they do.

That's a difficult question… I really like William Eggleston, Robert Frank… a lot of people.

That's a tough question, I don't think I can sum it up in one word--perhaps that's because I tried to bring together some really different elements and not produce something like a publisher would, following a theme. I tried to deal with things that I like. I don't know… to properly explain I'd have to have my work here. It's something about being alive and interrelating. There's a theoretical part but I don't draw any conclusions, I don't necessarily have to prove something.I'll give it some thought. Ask some other questions and I'll answer this one later. I guess I got so bogged down in the project that right now I'm drawing a blank.
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Truth is, I could do a lot more. I've done one or two things in the US too, smaller than that show, but my life has been so hectic over the last five years there hasn't been much time for making plans. I'm also not a workaholic--I need time between projects. I've done a few other things related to photography, but I reckon I'm really just a bit of a layabout. I should chase it more. It's hard for me though, like, now we're making a record, and it's hard to think ahead to an exhibition when I'm concentrating on the record at the same time. I have to do one thing at a time. It's OK for me to be taking photos now, but if I had to do a big project I think I'd go a little mental and I don't like that. I like to be totally focused.

I can't take photos of strangers. I'm not drawn to photojournalism, the idea of heading to India to take pictures of who knows who on the street… I can't relate to that, I couldn't do it. I don't like taking pictures of people without them knowing, or when they don't want to, or when they're fragile. It's an ethical thing--I don't feel it's necessary to show the negative side in order to show the positive. I like taking pictures of people I know and places that I have some kind of connection to that I feel at that specific moment.
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Haha, there came a point where I had to separate things. When I did this exhibition in Australia they even asked if I wanted to send out a special release for fans, and I didn't want to. I'm really proud of being in the band and really proud of my photography, but I think things have to speak for themselves. I don't want to reduce my photography to band stuff--just backstage shots. It started to get on my nerves at one point because I thought that it might head in that direction. It wasn't that I didn't want to do it at all, I didn't want to do just that. Photography is more than that for me.

Well… I don't think I play that well, but I also don't think I'm a very good photographer. Anyone can do this stuff, can't they? What attracts me more is the creativity, the creative process comes in first place. For example: in terms of music I'm not a slave to details, I like thinking more about the overall creation--I prefer it when other people consider the details. With photography it's something I do by myself, I don't depend on anyone else. It's a different type of relationship, I dunno, I don't think I'm that good at either, but I want to keep going with both.So, have you come up with a way of describing your final project now?
It's… well… now that you ask, I've already thought a lot about what I did, and I thought about it in quite a different way than how I was thinking when it was finally shown, you know? I have a different vision--a more critical vision--but I think I wanted to express something about how humans relate with places, about what unites, how one thing touches another.BRUNO B. SORAGGI
