Interview conducted by Heming Liu

In your images of both still life and human bodies, I find a patient gaze towards a most natural form. Emotions are stripped of any dramaticism, revealing an individual's thoughts and senses. How do you define the natural form? Subsequently, do you find formalism in contemporary photography to be toxically refined, or edited?

I always want to get as close possible. It’s almost as if I feel the need to remove all trivial layers, the unnecessary ‘filters’, in order to get past the appearance of someone and reveal what’s at the core. To me true beauty lies in the natural form, our impermanence.

I don’t think it’s surprising that I personally don’t like to use Photoshop, and I’m definitely not a big fan of overly Photoshopped images. When people or faces are intensely photoshopped it makes me laugh and cry at the same time. Toxic is a strong word, but it definitely worries me how we visually and physically edit and tweak our appearance - not only does it lead to more and more botox, fillers and plastic surgery, it removes us from appreciating the natural form and its brilliance. To me, the ever-changing pure human being is one of the most incredible and beautiful instruments in the world. That should be celebrated more.

Over the 16 months working on 'body', you found a diverse cast from different ethnicity and background, captured in In their own unique poses. What was the process of finding each model, and how did each individual complement the multifaceted female form?

It actually started by intuitively photographing my producer after a shoot in Morocco. She had never been photographed like this before, and as I was shooing I felt an immense feeling of freedom. I instantly knew I wanted to explore the female body further. As a result I shared a post on social media that I was looking for women of all ages, sizes and shapes for a personal project regarding nude photography. I was very surprised by the amount of responses. Other than strangers via social media, I photographed friends and even my own mother. She also helped me finding women above the age of 60.

I knew I wanted to show a variety in bodies but at the same time I also didn’t want to try and tick all the boxes of each age, each colour, each form. In fact, the beautiful part about it is, that it is basically impossible as each woman has a different body. I did start off more “free” in my photography process at the beginning. But after we started working on the edit I realised that I wanted to photograph a wider range of body parts and body types, especially older women.

Beach and scenery of the sea are recurring motifs in your work. I find the oceanic space to be particularly insightful into your work because water is a subtle reference to human's linkage with nature. What is your research process in each project, or subject?

I’ve always been fascinated by people. That’s the reason why I started with photography, but as I grow older my love for nature grows and grows. Just as you write in your question (and first question) IT is my link to nature. In this particular book nature is more like a context, a backdrop. But in other projects it’s kind of the other way around, where nature is in the foreground and I approach the plants the same as the people I have in front of my lens. Although I don’t tell them what to do… ;) My upcoming project is about the balance between people and nature, which is actually almost ironic since we are nature. It just seems like we’ve forgotten that a long time ago.

The process of my research is most of the time that I just start to shoot and interview people and edit it along the way. Although my next project will be slightly different as I will be moving from photography to film.

In the portrait compositions, I enjoyed your usage of natural sunlight, often captured at magic hours of sunrise/sunset. The element of time is introduced to illuminate the models, whether the frame shows their upper body or a shadow of their hands. How do you consider the formal significance of sunlight in your photographs?

I think I’m always inspired by natural elements, and that influences how I work for sure. Working with natural light is something I truly love. Inevitably, early mornings or late afternoons have the most magical light. Since the days in summer are quite long here in Europe, I had to get up very early or wait all day and then drive towards the beach for the BODY project. It was as magical every single time, I’ll never get tired of seeing the sun rise or slowly disappear. In general I think sunrises and sunsets are one of the most photographed things in the world. It has something otherworldly to it, and at the same time it happens every day, everywhere in the world.

Like you said, the type of light illuminates the people or objects I photograph. Since I tend to photograph quite “rawly” (rarely using styling, make-up, photoshop etc.), the type of light and compositions I create try to make the ordinary more extraordinary. Questionnaire: Describe your creative process in one word? Honest If you could teach a one-hour class on anything, what would it be? Meditation. I’ve been meditating for some years now. My thoughts are always incredibly busy, meditating gives me more clarity and peace. Also, it’s very important - in this day and age - to sit still and listen. Especially now.

What was the last book you read or film you saw that inspired you?

I’m reading “Mask off” by J. J. Bola at the moment. A book that I bought last weekend after visiting the new “Masculinities” exhibition at the Barbican Centre in London. About learned behaviour, cultural gaps, the link to mental health problems and violence. His goal is to dismantle the entire concept of masculinity. A very interesting book that - who knows - will lead to a new project :)

What is the most played song in your music library?

“Rainbow” by Black Motion

How do you take your coffee?

Oat milk Latte.

Check out more of Lotte’s work on her website and Instagram (@lottevanraalte)

Purchase Lotte’s new book, ‘Body’, featured in the interview