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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Looking back to 2021 (Finally …)
Let’s start from the beginning for this Blog. I had started writing a little over a week ago and haven’t finished it. Not making a point of repeating something written, I start over from a blank sheet of paper. A bit like my work in the street at the beginning of the year … Like every year, it’s quite intimidating to start from scratch.
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SHOOTR Issue 0
Alex Coghe asked me if I wanted to participate in the next magazine he wants to publish. It’s called SHOOTR. You can find out a little more here and even send a photo for possible publication. I didn’t quite understand the concept and it was while reading the article that I understood that Alex wanted our best photo taken so far in the street. So as much to tell you that it is very complicated. I never wondered what was my best street shot I have done so far. And yet, for several years now, I have been selecting 12 of my best photos (very subjective choice …) for my last Blog of the year. It’s a matter of having a retrospective of the past year.
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Street Photography without people
Over 99% of my photos feature people. There are several reasons for this. First of all, I discovered Street Photography like this. I had this idea that what was important was the people. Everything else was just scenery. I have often insisted on the fact that I did not feel any sort of routine in always walking the same streets indefinitely because in the end it was the people that interested me and even if the places were the same, the interactions, the gestures and the people were different. The rest mattered little or nothing to me.
Morning light
It is 7:30 am and I have already dropped the children off at school. It may seem early, but here in the tropics the sun rises earlier and the city has woken up for a long time. Besides, school starts earlier here. When I drive the kids to school, there are already many young people waiting at the bus stops. I have an appointment with the doc at 9:00 am so I have a little time to kill before going. I had already gone to make pictures in Saint-Denis after coming out of a night shift at 7:00 am, but it has been a while since I went to hang out in the streets so early. That morning, I don’t have much time in front of me. Barely an hour, but it is more than enough.
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Messing around with water
We were at my parents house for lunch and of course the children were lobotomizing in front of their small screens. We put an end to this and asked them to stop for a while to go and freshen up their heads in my parents large garden. It’s complicated because this generation grew up with smartphones, tablets, screens … Some parents outright ban screens to their children. I don’t really believe this is the solution. We try to control their consumption by limiting their screen time. But that day, we had made an exception by allowing them to bring their tablets and phones. What is reassuring is that they can still spend more time playing outside in the garden, riding a scooter in front of the house or spending hours in the swimming pool. It is not yet desperate …
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Behind this shot : the eye
I haven’t had a lot of time for Street Photography in the past few weeks. There were school holidays, but not only. I spent a lot of time at the fitness gym to try to find a good physical condition and it must be said that after a good session, I don’t really want to go for miles walking under the blazing sun. The weather was not great too. It’s still summer here on this side of the hemisphere and we’ve had quite a bit of rain this past month. And here it does not laugh. It is a tropical island and when the rain starts to fall upon you, they are literally buckets of water being poured over us!
Monograph
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.
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Looking back to the year 2020
That’s it, it’s the 37th and last Blog of the year! I didn’t think I wrote so much this year. I even felt like I lacked imagination to find interesting topics to discuss in 2020. Note some will say that there was nothing interesting in what I wrote in 2020 .. For many years, I drew a lot of inspiration from social media. I had become this crazy guy. I can’t do this anymore because I left Facebook and Instagram a long time ago. Continue reading Looking back to the year 2020
Overcome boredom
I have the impression of reliving what I have already experienced in Aix-en-Provence. Something like déja vu … I started to see boredom coming last month. When you find it hard to motivate yourself to go out and take pictures because your eyes can’t see anything anymore and you feel that the streets are boring to death and you only have one desire, to escape, to go elsewhere because that it is well known: the grass is greener elsewhere. I had already experienced this in Aix-en-Provence when I started Street Photography. I went regularly to Marseille, the big city next door, for a little exoticism and rediscover the pleasure of taking photos.
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