For some people, going elsewhere allows them to be more creative and opens up a wide range of possibilities. For me, the effects are a bit different. I’m rather defensive and I’m lost because I no longer have the reference points that I acquired in Saint-Denis where I spend most of my time. I often tag my photos with # Reunion Island. This is misleading because 99% of my photos are taken in Saint-Denis and it is in no way representative of the island as a whole. The towns that make up Reunion Island are rather rural. They are very photogenic. My wife told me that it would be interesting for me to go elsewhere to take photos. But I prefer to stay in Saint-Denis. I have my routines there and as you can guess, it’s quite comfortable to stay where you have your habits…

Going to see elsewhere would force me to plan my outings and I don’t want to do that. I would lose a lot of time and I also remember my years in Aix-en-Provence where I often came home frustrated after scheduled sessions. Here on Saint-Denis, I enjoy most of the time I have before picking up my kids from school and I don’t feel like I’m planning things. Coming back with nothing is not a big deal because in the end I didn’t specifically do any Street sessions. I just went to pick up my kids and snapped away while waiting for them. Of course it’s not true! I hide behind that to put into perspective the days when I just do shit. It’s like during the holidays when I do some street work. I’m mainly on holiday and I take advantage of it to document the streets. In a street session, I don’t have the excuse of being on holiday or picking up the kids from school.

Yesterday I had to go to St. Paul, a town in the west of the island. We are doing some work on our house and I had to go and buy some tiles. I was there at about 11am and I hesitated for a long time before going to park on the seafront to take advantage of my passage there to take some pictures. Isn’t that strange? I wondered if I was going to go back to Saint-Denis to take pictures… Saint-Paul is a city I don’t know much about and the opportunity was too good. Despite this, there was no excitement to go and take pictures in this city. I still went for a drive along the seaside.

In the end, I kicked my ass and parked… At the very least I’ll get something to eat before I go home. It’s crazy, isn’t it? I’ve become a very routine animal. I find it hard to get out of my comfort zone. In a new environment, I don’t know where to go to take pictures. This was the case in Saint-Paul. I went for a walk and hardly clicked. It’s true that there weren’t many people there that Thursday morning, but as the environment was new, I didn’t even take the time to hang around like I do in Saint-Denis. In fact I didn’t even know where to go in the city.

I took the easy way out and settled on the seaside. Saint-Paul is a city turned towards the sea. Just opposite you have the largest bay in the Indian Ocean. The sea, the pier, the coconut trees. I didn’t take many risks. I didn’t feel at home and you could tell because someone even asked me if I was on holiday…

As you can see, I’ve taken a small step outside my comfort zone, but clearly I’m not comfortable. Is this something I want to do regularly? Not sure. I don’t see the point of going anywhere else to take pictures. It’s a bit of a shame in a way because there are lots of interesting places on Reunion Island and I deprive myself of that. I limit myself exclusively to the streets of Saint-Denis… I feel connected to this city because it’s where I live. I don’t mind doing photos elsewhere, but I wouldn’t purposely move to other cities to do street photography. Just as my work was linked to the city of Aix-en-Provence, today my work is linked to the city of Saint-Denis.

All the photographs were made in the city of Saint-Paul with the Ricoh GRD IV.