Pamela Pianezza Studio

On photographing Norwegian director Iram Haq, the beauty of time passing, Paris light and Prince Charming.

There’re those who admit their fear of ageing (maybe a way to ward off the spell),

those who pretend they don’t care (without fooling anybody),

those who really don’t give a damn (making others jealous),

and those who balance between anxiety and harmony (probably most of us).

I’m not exactly sure where Iram stands (I have an idea, though).

What I know is that I met her in her thirties,

that she’s now in her (very early) forties,

and that she looks incredibly serene to me.

I know she still wonders about a lot of things but a new part of her is in peace

and I can see it in the way her eyes and smile respond to each other.

I guess it has to do with many things.

One of them being her beautiful second feature, WHAT WILL PEOPLE SAY, which premiered at the last Toronto Film Festival and just got released in French theaters.

The story is hers: a Norwegian teen kidnapped and sent to Pakistan by her father.

She could have told it a long time ago but waited until she became strong enough to make it the story of a love that failed rather than a furious pamphlet.

I’ve photographed Iram several times and hope to have chances to take many more pictures of her.

Here she is in Paris this spring, under a very typical Parisian autumn light.

She was looking out the window and this gorgeous image, almost a painting, suddenly reminded me how pissed of I was as a child to see all those (wannabe) princesses passively staring at the horizon while fucking prince charming was doing god knows what.

I remember being very ok with them waiting if that really was their thing, but why not doing very cool stuff meanwhile, like building huts, playing spies or reading Fantômette?

So I asked Iram to look at me instead.

No offence, Prince Charming.