I’ve quit Facebook and Instagram for several years now, but I’ve still managed to fall back into the ways of social networking … As you probably know, I share a few slideshows on YouTube. I had put quite a few videos online before deleting them all 2 years ago. A need to wipe the slate clean. For a few months now, I’ve been reposting a few slideshows of my work. As I don’t have the time to share my photos with my blogging frequency, it allows me to show more via YouTube. I’m on my 4th slideshow out of 2023. There’s no publishing frequency, I just do a slideshow when I’ve got a big pile of photos on my hard drive. You can check it out on my YouTube page if you like.
I’ve also had Signal installed for several years now. I wanted to give a big Fuck to my friend Mark’s WhatsApp, but in the end I’m not even sure that Signal is safer than WhatsApp and I have to cohabit with both apps because I’m part of certain WhatsApp groups and I can’t force people to move to Signal … In short, if I add my native SMS messaging, that makes 3 different messaging apps. Why make things simple when they can be complicated? So back to Signal. I recently discovered a new feature: Stories. I can share a photo with all my contacts for 24 hours. Don’t think we’re imposing the Story on them. Nothing like that. You just get a little red dot in the Story tab and nothing else. Most people (including me before that) don’t know there’s content here. You’re free to go and look at the Stories that are shared there. I must have around fifty contacts on Signal and I must be getting around 4 views on my stories!
That’s not the point. I feel a certain freedom to post what I want without expecting anything in return. You’re probably thinking “Ah Ah Ah, you’re going downhill again mate! Social networking has finally got you! “ Have I really quit social networking anyway? Having a website and blogging is another way of communicating and sharing. Let’s just say it’s more of a craft …
Following a photo shared via Signal Stories, a friend asked me if I’d ever thought about exhibiting. There are several reasons why I’ve never seriously considered the question. I’ll try to answer them, but I’d rather warn you before you continue reading this Blog. It might get confusing and even contradictory at times. In the end, it’ll sum up my opinion on “exhibiting your photos” pretty well.
Ever since I started Street Photography, I’ve always had this feeling of imposture that’s still there, even after more than 7 years of practice. Soon after I started, I got some pretty flattering feedback from respected people in the field. I’ll mention the best known: Olivier DUONG, Don SPRINGER, Michael Ernest SWEET and Alex COGHE. I’ve also had a few articles published in e-zines. Well, I’ll stop the self-congratulation here… I’m not doing it to show how good I am, I’m just doing it to explain how I still don’t understand what other people see in what I do. It’s not fake modesty to make myself look good. What is certain is that these people spotted my work on social networks at one time. What would have happened if I’d never set foot on Facebook or Instagram? I’d have ended up in no man’s land like I am now. But no, I posted frantically on these platforms, looking for a hug, for recognition ….So basically I went looking for it. What’s certain is that I still have trouble when people get enthusiastic about my work. I always feel like an impostor because, in the end, I don’t invent anything, I don’t create anything. All I do is collect photos of situations that really happen in the street and that anyone can see. The only thing I do is pay attention and set a frame to give my very subjective interpretation of the scene seen. There’s nothing extraordinary about it. That’s what I find so interesting. So don’t talk to me about exhibiting… And yet every time I’ve been asked to publish my photos in a book or an e-zine, I’ve always said yes, and I’ve always got a certain satisfaction out of it.
In life, because of my upbringing (thanks mum and dad) I never ask for anything. You’ll never see me ask for a favour, even from the people closest to me. It’s stupid, but that’s the way it is. I was raised up that way and it’s part of my personality now. It’s not a stance I’ve imposed on myself… I would never ask to be published, let alone exhibited. I’m naive enough to believe that if I were to be exhibited it would be purely for the value of my work. On the one hand, as I said above, I don’t see anything exceptional in that and on the other hand, every time I’ve broached the idea of exhibiting, the thought has never gone very far and I’ve always put it in the “to do… one day” box.
These days, if you want to get things, you have to use your shoulders, put your foot in the frame of every door that opens, use the big names. In short, all the things I don’t do and don’t want to do. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a lack of ambition, it’s just not in my nature. I know full well that this attitude won’t get me anywhere, but I’m happy with what I do. As I’ve often said, there are lots of reasons to do street photography. Personally, I love documenting the streets, spending time with myself in the same places over and over again. I like going home and looking at what I’ve collected to try and find something interesting to keep. I love the time spent in the streets as much as the time spent post processing the photos. That’s the essence of the practice for me. The rest is superfluous and wasting time prospecting for publications, exhibitions, etc. Very little for me. It’s clear that doing things this way won’t get my photos exhibited one day, but that’s not the main thing for me, because the most important thing is and will remain what I do in the street. If there’s nothing left of it, it’s no big deal, it won’t change anything and we tend to attach too much importance to what we do. I’m going to be on this earth for 90 years at best, and on a human scale that’s nothing. I’m not here to pretend that what I do is going to make history. At best, it will serve to document the streets of Saint-Denis for future generations, to show them a time they never knew. Nothing more, but if that’s what it’s for, it’ll be something and I won’t have done it for nothing.
All the photos were made with Ricoh GRD IV.
Well they say modesty is a virtue, and I get that, it a good quality. Though when you say about Street situations “that anyone can see”, the fact is that they don’t and that’s why your photography is so admired by other photographers. I also think appreciated for its creativity by non-photographers. If it was absolute crap I’d say, or probably be silent, but it rarely is. Instead you produce unique and accomplished images. I firmly believe that your work should have a wider audience. How that happens I have no idea. I feel like going around and shaking people and saying “look at this guys work, you need to pay attention”.
I think that you get the audience you deserve. if a guy like me cut himself from any sort of social media, don’t expect anything else. Would I like to have a greater audience ? Hell yeah. But at any cost ? Well no … I tried to play with the Social Media rules for a time but it wasn’t my thing. My thing is to be in the streets. That’s where the fun is. I’m not craving for any fame, recognition, exhibition or whatsoever. If I had to waste time on these things, I think that I would shoot less and would loose interest in SP.
I have to thank you greatly for naming me so often in your Blogs. I should hire you to promote my work ! But you should know by now that even if you like my work, it’s a very ordinary one. I like it this way. That’s what i like shooting. But definitely that’s not what catches people’s attention. People like striking things as if the street was like that. 99% of the time, the street is damn boring !