Sometimes things don’t add up to much… After work today, I wondered if I was going to go home before picking up the kids from school. I remembered that I hadn’t been hanging out in Saint-Denis this week. The weather had been rather capricious and we’d had a lot of showers over the last few days. But I forced myself to go anyway. Without much conviction I parked for lunch.
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I had started posting slideshows on YouTube just before I moved to Reunion Island. I had found there a way to share my photos with a larger number of people than on my website. Of course, I was already no longer present on Instagram or Facebook. I was quite happy to have finally been able to cut off from social networks, but I still kept a foot in the social sphere.
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I’m not going to make this Blog one of those that reviews all kinds of camera equipment. I have never been and never will be a GEAR addict! But I do have a small collection of cameras. An old Nikon FM2 film camera with its 50mm Ai f1.8 and 105mm Ai f2.5 lenses. A Fuji XE2 with the 18 mm f2.0 & the 7Artisan 35 mm f0.95. With that a Ricoh GRD IV, a GR and a GR3 … You’ll say that’s a lot of cameras ! It’s not wrong, but as you can see, these cameras are old and most of them were bought second hand. I will soon acquire a Nikon Ai 200mm f1.4 (100€) for a trip to South Africa. All these Nikon Ai lenses, I buy them cheap and I can use them on my Fuji XE2. Of course there is no AF, but it doesn’t bother me more than that. I don’t do sports photography.
This photo was taken today in the rue Maréchal Leclerc, where I spend most of my time. When I look at this photo, there are elements that make me think that this photo will surely be among my best photos of 2022. I know it’s a bit early to be talking about this as we’re just passing the first third of this year. What makes a good photo for me? As I said in the title of this Blog, it is a photo that questions the viewer. I went through my archives of the last few years and I pulled out a few to support my point.
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…
No, I’m not going to give you a lot of T.M.E (Through My Eyes) videos … For those of you who are new here, a while ago I started making POV videos with a GoPro attached to my Ricoh GRD IV. People could follow me in my wanderings to be with me and see a little how I operate in the street. I abandoned this concept because I found the processing of the videos too time consuming for a rather average result. Since then I gave my GoPro to the kids who use it in the pool…
It is always with a little trepidation that the new year begins for me. As I looked back on the past year’s work a lot to write my year-end blog, the pictures of 2021 are still very much on my mind. It’s an uneven fight. My best photos of a year versus the nascent work of 2022. It’s quite frustrating. Especially since I consider 2021 to be probably my best year on the street. It seems to me that my work has been the most consistent over a full year. There was no travel as there was in 2019 (Rome, Toulouse, Paris, Bristol, Marseille) which until now has been a marker since I started doing street photography. 2021 was spent solely on the streets of Saint Denis. And despite the small size of the city, I had managed to have a good year.
On Friday I had an appointment with the dentist. Before going, I had a busy morning. Right after my workout, I had to do some shopping in anticipation of the new cyclone that is threatening our island. After the passage of Batsirai 15 days ago, we realised that we were a bit helpless in case of a power failure. So I went to buy some big candles and also some rechargeable lanterns to be better prepared. I also took some bottles of mineral water in case …
I spent most of 2021 with the Fujifilm XF10. I had bought this little camera second hand for a pittance. I was intrigued by this camera because it was not very well received by street photographers. Perhaps it was the challenge that pushed me to buy it and use it for more than 6 months in the streets of Saint-Denis. As if I needed to prove to myself that Gear doesn’t matter!
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It’s January 20th and I still haven’t set foot in the streets of Saint-Denis. Blame it on our confinement since my children tested positive to Covid. Note, it’s still the holidays and I won’t have had the opportunity to go to Saint-Denis anyway… Next Monday is back to school. I will find free time unless the situation deteriorates again. In short, we’ll see.
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