Given my chronic lack of inspiration to write a Blog, I’ve decided to share with you the photos I consider the most interesting from the previous month. A few years ago, I also did this in the form of a slideshow. At the moment, I don’t think I have enough photos to put together a slideshow … I’m going to try to be regular over the next few months to keep this monthly rendez-vous going. So let’s start with June, which saw me take very few photos. I was saved by an outing to the Grand Boucan, the annual mega-carnival that attracts a lot of people.

#1

When you don’t know what to photograph, all you have to do is set the scene… Here I’m not in a church or any other place of worship. We’re just at my parents’ house! It was my mother’s 80th birthday. I went upstairs and as it was getting dark, the light from the corridor allowed me to play with my shadow. I really like this photo. My parents are very religious and the house is full of religious pictures and statues.

---

#2

This photo is very similar to my work in Aix-en-Provence. It’s got that in-your-face feel that I used to have in the crowded streets of Aix. I don’t really do that any more and when I retouched the photos, this one immediately appealed to me like an old memory coming back to the surface. I used to think that Aix-en-Provence represented my work, but since then I’ve spent more time in Saint-Denis and of course what I do now is totally different from what I did when I was in Provence. I’ve been living on Reunion Island for nearly 6 years now and my style has evolved a lot since I started out. I’m not denying what I did in Aix-en-Provence, but I definitely prefer my current work …

---

#3

My spot! The bus stop at the little market. The one that was moved a few dozen metres 2 years ago. I like hanging out there. Very often nothing happens and sometimes, like here, a little something happens that makes me snap. Obviously here, it’s similar gestures.

---

#4

A very simple photo that might make John Harper smile. ‘Just people passing by…’ Street Photography is just the art of observing the most insignificant things. This photo has no pretensions, even if I like it for what it is. Just someone passing by !

---

#5

I don’t take many photos from above. I don’t find it very interesting or I just can’t make it interesting. It was late afternoon and the shadows were starting to stretch as the sun got lower and lower. This photo is a bit mysterious because you wonder what this man is doing. It’s also graphic. That’s what attracted me to it.

---

#6

This late afternoon, a superb sunset gave us this pretty golden colour that echoes directly the part of the wall where the mirrors are placed in our living room. That’s all I needed to compose this photo. Some people need a viewfinder to compose. For a long time now, all I’ve needed is an LCD screen and I’m pretty good at it. Of course, a viewfinder is much more precise, but I’m fine with it and it makes me laugh when people put viewfinders on their Ricoh GRs …

---

#7

We were on our way to the Fête de la Musique in Saint-Denis. I came across this little stage. I’m not a big fan of night shots, but I do have some settings saved on my Ricoh GR3. This photo is quite simple, with our two characters facing the light source that partially illuminates them. Since then I’ve been trying to shoot at night, with the constraints that that entails (high ISO and low shutter speeds). I did some recently and I think it’s not bad, especially when it’s very noisy.

---

#8

Look for the unexpected and be ready! If I had to say just one thing to myself 10 years ago, that would be it! That’s why I do Street Photography. These moments are precious to me. It’s not a Glory Shot, but I love capturing these moments.

---

#9

That Sunday 29 June was ticked off my agenda. I wanted to go to Grand Boucan to take some photos. I didn’t stay long though, as I had to be at work by 4pm. Just enough to see the procession start. You can really feel the energy of Reunion’s youth here.

---

#10

A little further on, beautiful young girls dressed in colourful feathers add a little Brazilian touch to the carnival. I’m quite happy with the composition. It’s not necessarily easy to do interesting work at this type of event because we have people who are already very photogenic and we tend to be rather lazy about the composition because the form is already there.

---

That’s it for June’s photos. Even though I didn’t take many photos last month, I’m pretty happy with the results. July’s going to be pretty quiet as the kids are on holiday. I’ll try to take a few different photos so that I have something to show you next month!

All the photos were taken with the Ricoh GR3 | Crop 35mm.