Dingo Photo
Dingo Photo
SNAPSHOTS FROM THE EDGE
HE’S FRENCH. HIS NAME’S Dingo. He’s done time for his work. Call them exotic, even erotic, but note that these images take direct aim at PC-muted senses. In France, mention of the word “Dingo” brings expressive talk of deliciously avant-garde photographs. Dingo is a 39-year-old Parisian lensman specializing in bikes and cars, whose vision goes well beyond proper lighting and ideal setting. His art is a refreshing and humorous take on a modem, motorized society.
“Movement is my main inspiration,” Dingo says. “Anything taking or using gas carries me.”
Love of motorized movement has carried him to the top of his field, and his work is rabidly sought by magazines and advertising agencies. Bom Dominique Sambain, he was nicknamed Dingo while a kid (after the French Disney character we know as Goofy), and holds celebrity status within France rivaling his animated namesake. Dingo credits his ideas to time spent staring at people and observing their lifestyles. “The two or three best pictures I have ever taken were real-life sequences that I experienced as an observer,” he says. And the humorous slant so often present in his work? “Humor is the best way to escape life,” Dingo injects. “A humorous picture allows people to deal with reality on a different level.”
While Dingo encourages people to lighten up and have a little fun, he reportedly maintains a tireless work ethic, spending long days at a 200-mph pace. He will drive Caterpillars, move cars, climb trees, cut and weld props-anything for the shot. His assistants barely keep up, and often bum out in a year’s time. He prefers to shoot in bootleg fashion, sans permits, on such locations as Paris’ busy Place de la Concorde. This is not without risk.
“We never have time to ask for authorization,” Dingo says. “We just have to work as fast as possible-which works out 99 percent of the time.” He was once jailed for two days after blocking a road for several hours, diverting traffic to get his shot.
Dingo works with only basic camera gear. The bikes and cars are borrowed, the models are friends. Asked of his wackiest photo shoot, Dingo relates, “While shooting a book cover, my idea was to shoot a naked man in the trunk of a car, in the middle of winter. I asked the owner of the car, who I hardly knew, to be the naked man for this picture. Although the temperature was 10 degrees, he loved it and didn’t want to get dressed after the job. We found out he just loved to be naked. He drove home naked.”
Dingo has held a motorcycle license for 22 years and rides daily. Having sampled nearly 500 different bikes, this artist has a full palette to draw upon when asked for his favorite. “As my photos have personality and character, the same is true for the bikes I ride,” Dingo remarks. “Right now, my top three would be the Honda RC45, Ducati 916 and Kawasaki ZX-6R.”
Though Dingo’s work contains the subtlety of an Exocet missile hit, even his most controversial compositions have been well received by the Continental constituency. “Europe is very different from America. None of my pictures have been rejected or misjudged,” Dingo claims. “Puritanism has no significance in Europe. Everyone here only sees the funny side of my work and no one gets pissed off. Different mentality, I guess.”
If we can’t import that attitude, at least we can sample Dingo’s work.
Don Canet
