Street photographers know that things are messy and unpredictable in the street. The light, the clutter elements, the unexpected … that’s what makes things so interesting. At least from my point of view. It requires a lot of anticipation, observation. Observe a scene to know how we will be able to compose to make it interesting.
Continue reading Work with constraints
A few months ago, I recovered files lost during a hard drive crash. Among all the photos lost at the time, almost 6 months of photos including those of my stay in Liverpool. At the time I was just starting Street Photography and still used the Fuji XE2 on the streets. My style was quite different today. What has changed a lot over the past 4 years is my way of post-processing the photos. Whether in color or in Black & White, I use much less aggressive processing and above all, I no longer crop my photos.
Continue reading Liverpool 2016 Remux
Since last night, Reunion Island has been subject to a curfew from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m. The news fell in the middle of the week to try to stop the spread of the virus and especially of the South African variant which represents more than 50% of new contaminations. It was almost inevitable and we expected this decision to fall sooner or later. I just don’t understand this decision to impose the curfew from 6:00 p.m. … 7:00 p.m. or 8:00 p.m. would make more sense. With people almost all leaving work at 5:00 p.m. or even 5:30 p.m., big cities found themselves crippled by massive traffic jams with everyone rushing home to be there before 6:00 p.m. Anyway, here we are in the same boat as France mainland, except that we are not (yet) confined on weekends. We can still go to the gym, to the cinema, to bars or restaurants. Which is not nothing !
Seems normal to us from here and we don’t realize how lucky we are to be able to have so many freedoms. In Mainland France, they have been deprived of everything for many months ! They go to work, stay there all day, get home at 6:00 p.m., have dinner and go to bed before doing it again for the next few days. Those who live outside the cities with a piece of garden do better than those who live between 4 walls in a building. All this to tell you that I feel like I am very lucky in this troubled period that we are going through. We live 20 mins from Saint-Denis on a mountain. Besides, the area is called La Montagne (the mountain). We have a reasonable sized garden with the forest in front of us. It is very calm and the chirping of birds punctuates our days. Beyond that, we continue to live normally apart from this new curfew which forces us to return home before 6:00 p.m. Anyway, we never go out at night. Our life is punctuated by school and children and therefore no outings during the week. Weekends are different but we always favor daytime outings. So this curfew won’t change much for us …
I also feel very lucky because unlike many photographer friends, I can still walk the streets of Saint-Denis to take pictures. I already have the possibility to do it, but the streets are not deserted as in a lot of places. There are still so many people and I even suspect that there are more because a number of oversized shopping malls have had to close. It is also in the streets of Saint-Denis that I spent this Friday, March 5th. I had already told you about a certain weariness of always going through the same places in the city. This day will have shown me that everything happens in the head. When the mindset is not right, the grass will always appear greener elsewhere. I refer you to the Blog that I published recently where Olivier DUONG explains all this very well.
This Friday I had finished working at the end of the morning and I had decided to stay and take pictures until I pick up the children from school. Basically I had almost 4 hours to kill in the streets of Saint-Denis. I have never spoken to you about the climate in Reunion before. Through the photos, you must suspect that it is hot there. It is a tropical island. Nothing abnormal. In fact in summer, that is to say since last November (until April / May), it is very (very) hot ! You have to be pretty motivated to walk under a blazing sun. It is often said that the street photographer should wear dark clothes to go unnoticed in a crowd and wear good shoes for walking. Well first of all, there are no crowds here in Saint-Denis and then, most of the time I’m in Bermuda shorts, t-shirts and flip flop. Note I am doing local and in the end it is the most important to blend in with the crowd.
Yesterday I nevertheless put on my shoes because I was at work in the morning and it’s smarter (…) . Bermuda, t-shirt and shoes … I did well because my pedometer showed 9.66 kms at the end of the day !!! Yes, yes, I walked it all in the sun ! I had to drink more than two liters of water in the afternoon to rehydrate myself ! We forget it a bit, but doing Street Photography is sport ! I had decided to go for a walk to the fairground market. Be careful, it is called a fairground market, but it is the vegetable market. No attractions or rides here. I know this place well because my parents go there every Friday morning and I accompanied them when I was a kid. It is a colorful place. Good thing, I had to buy onions (local ones). In front of the stalls, the fruits made me want to buy them, but I could not because I did not go straight home. It will be for next time … I then went to roam in the Vauban district next door. Again, this place is very familiar to me because I went to the local elementary school for 5 years. I really like this neighborhood which is very popular. It has changed a lot since the 80s. New ethnic groups have settled down, giving it a more African color.
I do not linger and I go downtown because I also take the opportunity to go to lunch with Gwen who works a stone’s throw from the rue Maréchal Leclerc, THE frequented street of Saint-Denis. It is a pedestrian street not very well developed, but which nevertheless drains a lot of people. I prefer the lower part of the street which brings me to the small covered market. This corner is more colorful and offers great photo opportunities. But you still have to be discreet because it is a more popular area and people are quick to misinterpret your intentions. Taking pictures is suspicious and as there are also petty trafficking and street vendors, we quickly assimilate you to the police who would come stealthily to spy on what is being done here. In short, I take a thousand precautions to remain discreet.
3:30 p.m. sounds the death knell. It’s time to go back upstairs to pick up the children from school. My pedometer displays the figure of 9.66 kms ! It’s been a lot and I’m washed out. I just want to go home and cool off. It was a good Friday. When the mindset is right, all is well. I took lots of different photos, I saw some interesting scenes. These moments are rare. Most of the time, frustration takes over. Every day will not be like that, you have to know how to take advantage of these moments. I put in a slideshow the photos made this Friday March 5th , 2021.
All the photographs were made with the Ricoh GRD4.
I had already told you that the sanitary situation on Reunion Island was slowly deteriorating with the first cases of the South African variant. Well, the numbers are not good and we are entitled to curfew at 10 p.m. What does it change ? Not much I have to say. It is supposed to avoid parties or family meals in the evening. No more restaurants and bars after the curfew too. Otherwise no more restrictions. It looks like a lukewarm measure to spare the economy of the island which is already badly battered by the Covid crisis. 3 large shopping malls were also closed to avoid crowded places. No problem, people go elsewhere to shop. Not sure that this is really effective … In short, nothing really changes on the island, apart from the number of people infected by the covid which is increasing.
Continue reading Behind this shot : red lips & white arrow
Even recently, Tim Huynh the director of the documentary Fill The Frame, whom I had interviewed recently, asked me why I did not come back to Facebook. I can say it now, I was addicted to social media. Always checking on my smartphone how many views on my shared photos, how many likes … A real drug addict. It was not healthy behavior for me. I don’t know how the others deal with it, but it was unlivable for me. From time to time, I have also had photos that have been featured by Facebook, Instagram, 500px or World-Street.Photography groups. Subconsciously, for each photo shared, I hoped that my photo could please and be put forward by the curators.
Continue reading Monograph
If you like Street Photography, you probably know Inspired Eye. A few years ago, I interviewed Olivier DUONG, one of the co-founders (with Don SPRINGER). The idea was not to make another interview like I did before but just to ask to Olivier a couple of questions. I’ve never met Olivier in person but I’m pretty sure that he’s a very talkative man with a lot of stories. I hope that one day we’ll be able to chit chat in front of a beer here or elsewhere. Continue reading Street insights with Olivier DUONG
A few days ago I was able to view Fill The Frame, a documentary on Street Photography directed by Tim Huynh. I was waiting for this one for a long time. I think that it took longer than expected because of the pandemic. Finally it’s here and I urge you to go to check that on Vimeo if you do like Street Photography and if you are reading this Blogpost on my website, you are likely to love Street Photography. It’s been a while that I wanted to interview Tim as he’s one of the few people I kept in touch with despite the fact that I left Social Media and beacause I really like a lot his street work. He also has a YouTube Channel where you can find some very good content. Come and meet Tim Huynh ! Continue reading Fill the Frame by Tim Huynh
That’s it, we settled in our apartment in the southwest of the island. For those who do not know, the west coast enjoys particularly favorable weather conditions. It is sunny and warm almost all the time. Except obviously when a cyclone passes over the island. It’s the same fire everybody. Moreover, the very day of our departure for our vacation spot, a moderate tropical storm passed in the north of the island with its share of torrential rains. The good thing about tropical islands is that you can have very different weather situations on the same day. Heavy showers and bright sun. So we arrived in the rain and the next day it was sunny!
Continue reading Recklessness island
Yes, this year is starting with a bang ! Two for the price of one. I decided to write Blogs when inspiration comes. I may not write for several weeks. It’s like Street Photography. Don’t force things. Nothing good would come of it. It must remain a pleasure. These photos were taken less than 5 minutes apart.
Continue reading Behind these shots
I had finished 2020 exhausted. A certain weariness had set in and I had all the trouble in the world making photos in the streets of Saint-Denis. I know that the right attitude to have in this case is not to force things and not to force yourself to take pictures in order to take pictures. As I said in my previous blog. I don’t think there are quick fixes to find the urge.
Continue reading New beginning
