Last year I didn’t write a blog to present my work over the past year. It has to be said that we left just after Christmas to spend the last few days of the year in Thailand. We spent an incredible 15 days in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket Island. The return to everyday life was complicated. I’m talking about photography, of course. After this enchanted interlude in Thailand, Saint-Denis seemed very bland and empty… But you live where you live!
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This photo was taken at the end of June at the marché du Chaudron, the largest fairground market in Saint-Denis. The fairground stalls are always the same. In the photo, you can see all the remedies on sale at the stall. I found the writing very amusing. What also attracted me at the time were the giant spoons and the broom. Who has a mouth as big as that?
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For some time now, my site has been buggy, with photos being displayed at random. I’ve decided to start from scratch using a new theme and I’m having a hard time getting it right. The content is fine, but I’m having trouble organising it all … After diving headfirst into WordPress, I’ve finally come up with something that works. If you’re reading this, it’s because I’ve finally written my first blog since my website lifting! I’ve given my Portfolio a bit of a makeover, with a few changes to the selection of photos. It’s only cosmetic. My website is mainly my Blog. In fact, that’s what’s highlighted when you arrive on the site.
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I wanted to call this blog ‘Nothing changes’. But a nod to a blog written by Stéphane Mousset a few years ago. Back in 2018. I wrote a blog in response to the photo competition organised by Fisheye and Pentax. At the time I didn’t want to take part in the competition. I refer you to my article written at the time.
It’s been a long time since I’ve written a blog, and even longer since I’ve actually done any street photography. It’s been a bit of a refrain over the last few years. There’s a lot of downtime during the year when I don’t get out onto the streets of Saint-Denis due to a lack of inspiration or desire. It was the same thing last year, and it seems to me that it was around the same time. I haven’t done much since last July. I haven’t stopped completely, but I haven’t been assiduous and there’s nothing really exciting to report. However, I’ll try to post a little slideshow of some of the photos I took during this period on YouTube.
Sunday 28 July. I had ticked this date because there were festivities organised by the Chinese community in Saint-Denis to celebrate Guan Di, a Chinese warrior who has attained the status of Chinese deity. He is also revered in other Asian countries such as Japan and Korea. The festivities were spread over several days, but I wasn’t available and I wanted to take Gwen and the children to hang out for a while late on Sunday morning. Before that, I had a tennis match scheduled that lasted longer than expected, so in the end we didn’t get down to Saint-Denis from our mountain until after midday and the boys were seriously hungry. A hungry kid doesn’t care about any festivities or demonstrations. All he cares about is eating!
Like every year, I wanted to inflict on you some photos taken during the holidays with the children. Just to make up for my lack of inspiration to write. But then I read a very interesting blog by Alex Coghe in which he reacted to an article written by Michael Ernest Sweet which took stock of the Street Photography ‘scene’, claiming that the hype had died down and that there were fewer and fewer blogs or sites devoted to Street Photography. This article was written in 2020 … Oh shit! And yet I’ve spent the last 4 years doing what I do best, which is walking the streets and capturing moments in life. Funnily enough, it seems to coincide with my departure from Aix-en-Provence. I didn’t think my departure would cause such a cataclysm!
That’s it! I’ve sold my Fujifilm X100F! I was asking 750€ for it and I let it go for 700€ to a guy who wanted to start out in Street Photography in the south of Reunion Island. It was quite fun to talk to someone about the practice. I think the last time I did that was with a young girl who wanted to interview me because she was doing a book project to validate her Graphic Design studies and as she loved street photography, she had worked on it. That brings me back to 2017! Basically, it had been 7 years since I’d last spoken to someone about Street Photography. For the last few years, I’ve been living Street Photography. I don’t talk about it any more except when I’m ranting in my Blogs.
Do you think it’s a joke that I’m doing a Blog because I’m so uninspired? Not really. This week I put up for sale my X100F that I bought just 3 months ago. Quite an investment for me back in the day – €890 for a second-hand camera! I’m putting it back up for sale at €750, negotiable if you know anyone who might be interested. I’ve been trying for weeks, but I still can’t get used to the size and weight of the camera. As far as image quality is concerned, I have nothing to complain about this Fujifilm. It’s a very good camera, but it’s heavy!
This is street! Pretentious, some might say. But I can live with that. This recent photo has all the ingredients I love about street photography. The same gestures repeated. A moment captured with a certain energy. I took this photo last Saturday and it’s good for me because it makes me forget my rather low-key start to the year so far.