Tag Archives: 2017

Revisiting 2016 & 2017

That’s it, it’s been more than 15 days that we are confined to our home. Not being essential to work (I am still in training), I was asked to stay at home until further notice. The children do not have school either and we are supposed to teach them every day. After just 1 week, I came to the conclusion that this virus was not very bad and that the children should go back to school … More seriously, I find that the children live confinement rather well. My parents’ house is very large and they also have at their disposal the garden with a concrete section which allows them to ride a scooter. We make them work in the morning and part of the afternoon, but it has a little holiday taste for them. Not really for us …
Continue reading Revisiting 2016 & 2017

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Aix-en-Provence on my mind

I arrived in Aix-en-Provence at the end of 1997, a few months before this month of July 1998 blessed by all French Footix. That year, the French Football team became for the first time World Champion of Football. Footix was the mascot of this World Cup. I do not know why during these planetary events, there are always these ridiculous mascots. Here Footix was a pretty ridiculous cock whose name was a distant reminder to the irreducible Gallic of Uderzo. You know Asterix, Obelix, Idefix, Panoramix … Since I think that the term Footix has become pejorative when you speak of someone who loves football. I so have spent more than 20 years in Aix-en-Provence before moving to this lost island in Indian Ocean. How long do we live ? 80 years ? A bit more for some. I spent 1/4th of my life in Provence. I met my wife, I became a dad and I also discovered the Street Photography late at the age of 40. When I see some young people starting street photography, I’m a little envious because I thought that if I had been interested in Street Photography in the 80s, I could have documented this period and all those who follow-up … Regrets ? A little yes. Continue reading Aix-en-Provence on my mind

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Red Bull Bowl Rippers Skate 2019

I have not told you about skateboarding on this blog. I reassure you right now, I do not skate. I already have trouble standing on a scooter I’m not ready to venture on a skateboard. I always admired the skaters and how cool they are on these little boards. I think that after the heroes of Marvel, the skaters are the coolest on earth ! In 2017, my children became passionate about skateboarding and started having fun on the terrace of the house. I quickly decided to bring them to dedicated areas for this sport to prevent them from dmaging the house by trying their tricks ! We have spent a lot of time on different skate parks in the area. You will find below photos collected during my Skate trips with the kids.

 

 

There are rarely a lot of people on the skate park. What is nice is that all levels coexist in the same place. Advanced skaters are very tolerant towards beginners and make room for them to have fun too. I have never seen a skater kick out a beginner. He is wisely waiting for his turn to ride. As for the photos, it’s quite simple to do because the photographers are well accepted. It is a discipline where style is important and I think it must flatter the ego to know that we are being watched. The best sesame anyway was the presence of my kids having fun on their skates.

 

 

What I like most of all is the atmosphere that prevails near the skate park. We have the impression that the adults who frequent them have not grown up and have remained great children. And that’s to say, but I find skaters very cool ! They have this idleness that only surfers have. After all it is also a sliding sport and to look more closely, they are quite similar. I had already spotted this skate competition last year, but I could not get there. This year, it’s not much better because I work the whole weekend and in the end I can just attend the session of Friday which sees the amateurs compete for 2 qualifying places to compete with the professionals.

 

 

So I’m back to Marseille for the Red Bull Bowl Rippers Skate 2019 ! The bowl of Prado is located by the sea. At the end of the afternoon at the Prado, there is a lot of people. Many people enjoy summer and holidays. For those who work, it’s the end of the week and it’s a break for the whole weekend. Quite quickly I meet young people who seem to all converge on the place of the demonstration.

 

 

You will find very few photos of the competition on this Blog. There was a security perimeter around the Bowl that kept me from being closer. Difficult to have something interesting with a 28 mm! But I did not care. The show was elsewhere on the rostrum with a very colorful population. It’s a very special atmosphere that reigns at the Bowl du Prado. The presence of the beach a few meters away is for something.

 

 

I regret not being able to attend professional sessions that were held on Saturday and Sunday because these guys are real virtuosos on their skates defying the laws of gravity. I put you in touch the video relating to the 2019 edition. It is very long but by zapping a little, you can see what I want to talk about.

 

 

All the photos were made with the Ricoh GR and the GRD 4.

 

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Behind this shot : Happy kid.

I made this photo last week. I spotted this little girl with her windmill on the Place de la Mairie. My attention was attracted by laughter from children. The streets of Aix-en-Provence are more and more frequented by tourists enjoying the pre-season. Given the current temperatures, we quickly believe that it’s summer ! The two little girls were dressed identically and had fun with their windmills. At the time of tablets, video games or other addictive screens, it was refreshing to see that a simple windmill could give them as much pleasure. Do you have the right to take pictures of children in public places ?

 

 

  • Legal point of view

Children have a different image right compare to adults in the sense that their parents are the custodians of this right. As for adults, nothing legally forbids us to take their photos, but what is problematic, of course, is to make these photos public. For adults, case law has been handed down in disputes between street photographers and people who complained that their image right was violated (because they appeared in photographs). Freedom of artistic expression takes precedence over individual freedom (in public places) insofar as the photo does not undermine the dignity of the person photographed or causes them harm. The same goes for children.

 

 

  • Ethical point of view

Like many people, I am a father of two young children. How would I react if someone took a picture of them ? I will be honest with you, it would surprise me. The problem is that we are now living in a society that has lost its innocence. Blame it on all these sordid stories where children have been abused. Our society has become very suspicious and generally we are wary of any unusual behavior with children. Me first, I am very attentive to what is happening around my children in public places. Taking pictures of children in street photography is pretty tricky. You do not know how the photographic act will be interpreted.

 

 

Some prefer to stay away from children because they are too sensitive subjecs. I do not think that’s the case. I just think that the reaction (if there is a reaction) may be more epidermal because we deal with offsprings of people. Personally, I am naturally attracted to children on the street. I like their candor and their joie de vivre. They are unpredictable and always offer us interesting situations to photograph. Children see life as a game and are constantly having fun. Quite often I try to photograph them in a discreet way without arousing the suspicions of the parents or otherwise I show the parents that the situation seems to me amusing and that is the reason why I make a picture. The smile often allows to tacitly validate the photographic act. This is the case for this photo below made in Bath during my recent visit to UK. I saw this mom playing with her three daughters in the street. When I saw this scene, I rushed on it and took the picture smiling because I was really amused by this scene. The mother gave me back that smile because she knew I was not a threat.

 

 

Let’s go back to the opening photo of this Blog. Here, I operated in a discreet way without the parents suspecting that I was taking the little girl in photo. My little Ricoh GR makes me very discreet and especially harmless. I avoid being intrusive with children, preferring to keep a little distance. I tried to take a photo while trying to capture an interesting attitude, but I had a lot of trouble. I followed them a bit because the dad took his little girl on his shoulders and I was waiting for something to happen. Like very often in the street, nothing happened. We went up the street Gaston de Saporta, then we passed in front of the cathedral. I thought at that moment that there was nothing to wait. That I would not have my picture. It was at this moment that the father and the little girl turned around, finally offering me this interesting picture. I love this picture because there is a lot of simplicity in this one. It is a photo that breathes the joy of life and the little girl stands out perfectly on the sky with its windmill.

 

 

All the pictures were made with the Ricoh GR and the Ricoh GRD 4.

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Contact sheet #10 : Egocentric.

(English version at the bottom of the page)

Ce week-end, j’ai eu le plaisir de me retrouver avec Elizabeth Char dans les rues d’Aix-en-Provence. C’est sûrement la dernière fois qu’on se voit sous le ciel bleu de Provence ! Mine de rien, le temps fait son office et le départ c’est pour bientôt. 5 mois pour ma femme et mes enfants et 7 mois pour moi car je dois faire quelques formations avant d’être muté à l’île de la Réunion. Elizabeth a suggéré qu’on échange un tirage avant que je déménage sous les tropiques. Ça fait un moment que je voulais me lancer dans l’échange de tirages avec des photographes que j’apprécie. Elizabeth sera donc la première ! Voilà la photo qu’elle a choisie. Continue reading Contact sheet #10 : Egocentric.

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Shame on you Fisheye and Pentax/Ricoh !

(English version at the bottom of the page)

Deuxième coup de gueule en deux semaines. Revenons un peu en arrière pour que vous puissiez comprendre ce Blog. Vous pouvez aller ici pour savoir de quoi il s’agit, mais pour les flemmards, je vais récapituler un peu les choses. Fisheye le Mag et Pentax/Ricoh ont lancé il y a 15 jours un concours Instagram visant à récompenser la meilleure photo de rue taggée bien sûr avec les #concoursricohgr #ricoh #ricohgr . Pentax allait même jusqu’à dire qu’éventuellement il y avait la possibilité de devenir Ambassadeur de leur marque… Rien que ça.  Continue reading Shame on you Fisheye and Pentax/Ricoh !

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Self reflection : Working on series (again …)

 

(English version at the bottom of the page)

Il y a quelques mois de ça, je vous avais parlé de cette série qu’ Alex Coghe avait publié dans son Street Photography Notebook (un e-zine que vous pouvez vous procurer ici le #39). C’était une série de 15 photos sur les gestuelles et essentiellement les mains. J’ai énormément de mal à sortir des séries de mon travail. Ce n’est pas vraiment ma façon de fonctionner. Je suis très instinctif dans la rue et je ne travaille jamais sur un thème précis. Je n’aime pas beaucoup aussi le travail d’édition. Je trouve ça très fastidieux. Néanmoins, si on veut montrer son travail aux autres, il est impératif de passer par l’édition. C’est ce que j’ai fait quand Alex Coghe m’a demandé si je voulais être publié dans son TSPN (The Street Photographer Notebook). J’ai mis un peu de temps à répondre à son invitation, car je ne voulais pas juste présenter une collection de mes meilleures photos. Je l’avais déjà fait lors de ma publication dans Inspired Eye. Attention, ne vous méprenez pas. Rien de mal à montrer son Best Of, mais je voulais présenter quelque chose de différent. C’est ainsi qu’est née cette première série : Hands Tale. Continue reading Self reflection : Working on series (again …)

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The content over the form …

Octobre 2017.

 

(English version at the bottom of the page)

Il y a pas très longtemps de ça, j’ai fait un article sur un sujet commun avec John Harper. C’était The form versus the content. Vous pouvez voir ma version du sujet ici et celle de John sur son Blog. Depuis l’année dernière, j’essaye de donner une nouvelle orientation à mon travail. Jusqu’à présent mes photos étaient assez stéréotypées. C’était souvent des close-up très contrastés avec des noirs bouchés. J’ai toujours utilisé le 28mm dans la rue. Même si tout récemment je me suis mis à shooter plus large avec le 21 mm, le 28 mm garde ma préférence.  Continue reading The content over the form …

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Man, this is 2018 !

 

(English version at the bottom of the page)

 

Cette phrase est tirée de l’interview que j’ai donnée à Tim Huynh, il y a pas très longtemps. Vous pouvez d’ailleurs lire  l’intégralité sur son Blog ici. L’anecdote que je rapportais était la suivante : J’avais commenté une photo de Cédric Roux que je suis sur Facebook. C’est un gars talentueux qui ne shoote qu’en couleur. Une photo avait attiré mon attention et je lui avais dit que celle là serait pas mal en N&B. La réponse pleine d’humour a été lapidaire : Eh Jeff, on est en 2018 ! Continue reading Man, this is 2018 !

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The upcoming Ricoh GR could be Full-Frame …

 

(English version at the bottom of the page)

Récemment a fuité le possible futur du célèbre Ricoh GR II. Des bruits courent comme quoi le prochain appareil de Pentax/Ricoh serait un Ricoh GR-E. Il s’agirait d’un Ricoh GR affublé d’un capteur Full Frame 36 MP incurvé (?) avec un objectif 28 mm f2.4 non rétractable. C’est le très sérieux site DPReview  qui a annoncé cette rumeur. Je ne sais pas si c’est fondé ou pas.

Continue reading The upcoming Ricoh GR could be Full-Frame …

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