Julie Gautier

INTUITION/IMAGINATION

?: How does intuition present itself to you – in form of a suspicious impression, a spontaneous visualisation or whatever - maybe in dreams?

Most of the time it’s images I immediately make in my head. They are very precise. Then I build a story around these very specific images.

?: Will any ideas be written down immediately and archived?

No, I am not organized at all. Most of the time it stays in my head, because it's very strong visually. So I do not forget them. And when it's a good time for me to work on it, I write it down. Usually I make some drawings in the form of small sketches about the idea. I'm not very good in drawing, but I'm very visual. I like to to draw things more than to write them.

?: How do you come up with good or extraordinary ideas?

I don't. Maybe I come up with a good idea because I’m open minded. I observe my surroundings a lot. I'm not looking for inspiration. It just comes to me from something I see, from a place I visit, from an underwater scenery that inspires me, from other people's work. I don’t sit down and wait for inspiration. I just live and get many, many glimpses of interesting ideas. Why they are sometimes special, I don't know.

?: Do you feel that new creative ideas come as a whole or do you get like a little seed of inspiration that evolves into something else and has to be realized by endless trials and errors in form of constant developments until the final result?

As I’ve said, most of the time it's a very small, vague idea or a precise image. After that, I take the time to think about it and build it. Then when I decide to shoot it, it becomes very precise. I make a storyboard and go in the water.

I am always open to new things coming naturally and try them out.

?: What if there is a deadline, but no intuition? Does the first fuel the latter maybe?

When I have a personal project, I have no deadline. I do it when there’s the right moment for it. When I work for someone else, a project for a client, I only accept it, when I immediately know that I will be inspired by it.

I always have ideas. I have ideas in advance. I have many ideas in my head or I have written down some that I did not use yet.

INSPIRATION

?: What inspires you and how do you stimulate this special form of imaginativeness?

When I travel and dive abroad or even when I dive here in France I'm always open to be inspired. When I go in the water I maybe see something beautiful and notice that could be a very nice place for a project. So I'm kind of always in the mode of being ready to be inspired by everything I see and experience. Aside from that I take inspiration from movies, comic books and my imagination.

I still do not understand how my imagination works. If I try to force myself, it doesn’t work. But I know that it will come at the exact good moment. When that is, I don’t know. So I just let it go.

?: How do you filter between ideas that are worthwhile pursuing and bad ones that you just let go of?

It's a bit like, when you watch a movie or when you read a book and you know that it's a good one. It's a matter of personal judgement that is coming from your experience, your inside.

?: Does an idea need to appeal to you primarily or is its commercial potential an essential factor?

Yeah, it needs to appeal to me primarily. I don't really care about money. Of course I need money. But I've been asked to do a project for a very big firm that did not inspire me and I just said no.

?: Do you revisit old ideas or check what colleagues or competitors are up to at times?

I don't think I have competitors. There are other people that are inspired by water too, but I don't see them as competitors.

CREATIVITY

?: What time or environment best suits your creative work process — for example, a time and place of tranquility or of pressure? Which path do you take from theory or idea to creation?

I live in the countryside. I need to be in a quiet environment and in nature to be able to be creative. So I do a lot of work in the forest. I'm not often in the water really. Most of the time I have my ideas when I'm on land!

?: What’s better in the realization process — for example, speed and forcing creativity by grasping the magic of the moment or a slow, ripening process for implementation and elaboration?

No forcing for nothing, but just taking the time! That is very important for me. For some of my projects it takes me like eight years to make them. Of course I don't spend such a long time to work on a specific project all the while. I just have the idea and when it's not a good moment to work on, I have other ideas to follow. So I just trust life and my inspiration. I never force anything.

?: How important are self-doubt and criticism by others during such a process?

I’m very open to criticism always, but when I’m convinced that something is good like I have precise images in my mind, I will never change it.

?: Is it better to be creative on your own, to trust only your own instincts, or to work in a team?

The creative process is a very lonely process. Therefore you need people around you to extract you from the project and to stop you. I never work alone. I just love to share. We have to be open to the outside also and not stay inside! Otherwise you get lost inside.

?: In case of a creative block or, worse, a real failure, how do you get out of such a hole?

There was this one project, a commercial for a beer brand. From the start I didn't really like it, because I don't think we should promote beer even I drink it myself. But overall it was quite interesting what they wanted to do. First they wanted me to do an underwater dance. I told them that I wouldn’t dance to promote beer, but I can direct and prepare somebody to dance instead of me. They really wanted me to do it, but finally they decided that I could direct. But there was a director already. During the creation process the director didn’t listen to my advice at all and to the direction I wanted to give to the project. So I couldn't move forward. I felt I was blocked in my creativity and what I wanted to do. Therefore I had to cancel the project. I just informed the girl how to dance, but aside from that I said “I don't want to be part of that. It doesn't suit me.” So I just quit the project.

I actually was relieved by the fact that I said “stop”. But I wasn’t feeling good, doing something I felt I was forced to do not in my way. This moment was quite difficult.

I realized that if I don't feel the project, I shouldn’t do it. The only good decision was to say “stop”. And I understood that I can say “no” even when I started a project.

?: Should a creative person always stay true to him- or herself, including taking risks and going against the flow, or must the person, for reasons of commercial survival, make concessions to the demands of the market, the wishes of clients and the audience’s expectations?

When you work for someone, you need to be open to their idea and what they ask for of course. But you never should give up, what you truly want to say, what's important! Some things are just details that can you can deal with and you can compromise, but don't compromise your heart!

?: How are innovation and improvement possible if you’ve established a distinctive style? Is it good to be ahead of your time, even if you hazard not being understood?

I have never asked myself this question, I just do what I do. Everyone should do that. Don’t think about the destination or the result of the project, just think about the moment and how much you want to do it! What’s important is not where you go, it's how you go!

When you believe in something, you just have to do it! Maybe you fail or you succeed. If you believe in it, just do it!

I try to never do the same thing twice. For me it's important to have a style in my work that is recognizable at all times. I try to put that in a different way always – I’m a freediver, an underwater dancer, an underwater director and camerawoman filming on breathold. So my topics are different and innovative. I make intense efforts not to repeat myself. That means I always try to step out of my comfort zone! So I ask myself the question: What can you do differently? And how can you achieve that?

?: When does the time come to end the creative process, to be content and set the final result free? Or is it always a work-in-progress, with an endless possibility of improvement?

Nothing is ever perfect - especially when one shoots underwater. That is so intense, difficult and tiring. At some point I feel that I’ve given everything I could.

What's really difficult is when it comes to editing that you have so many possibilities. You see the project from another point of view – from the outside. And of course there are always new ideas. One constantly wants to improve a little something. Then it’s important to have people around you whose opinion you can trust.

There's no such thing as perfection. For this reason I believe, when the result really speaks to your guts and your heart, then let it go, let it live! It might not be perfect to you, but it can be perfect for a lot of other people! It's okay, not to be perfect.

?: How does artificial intelligence change human creativity? And do you? Would will you use it at all?

I'm not against AI, but when it comes to replicate what can be real, I think nature and beauty come from real life. In my work I really try to make people understand that the world is beautiful and magic. We don't need to build an imaginary world. We need to come back to the magic of the world in which we live and that I love. We can come back to what is beautiful naturally.

SUCCESS

?: Should or can you resist the temptation to recycle a ‘formula’ you're successful with?

Recycling a successful 'formula' is a very bad solution. Of course you can use a part of it and its spirit, but you always have to try to improve it and make it better!

?: Is it desirable to create an ultimate or timeless work? Doesn’t “top of the ladder” bring up the question, “What’s next?” — that is, isn’t such a personal peak “the end”?

I’d like to answer the question in reference to a work of mine that I consider my ultimate perfect work so far. When I made AMA in 2018, I didn't think about a special goal. I just had this thought, a beautiful idea. I put all my heart in it. And it appeared that success came also with the belief I had in this project.

I always try to put the best in my work and give it a strong meaning, I think without meaning there's no timeless work! If you want to create something like that just because of being famous or doing something perfect, then there's no deep meaning in it! It's even the opposite. One’s work needs to be true! If it's not, it is nothing!

MY FAVORITE WORK:

In AMA I expressed what I had to say in the form I had in mind by using what I do  best. The work is very personal and refers to a critical event in my life. The meaning of it can be expressed in the famous saying: what doesn't kill you makes you stronger!