You’ve found your groove! That’s what John Harper has been telling me for some time. I’ve been on Reunion Island for 18 months and it’s true that I’ve come a long way since I started documenting the streets of Saint-Denis. I know from experience that it always takes some time to feel comfortable in the streets. It seems to me that it had taken a little longer in Aix-en-Provence. Normal because I was new to Street Photography.
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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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This is a title that hooks and that will make me multiply by 10 my number of views on this article! Rest assured, loyal readers, it will not rise very high given the confidentiality in which my Blog is … There is no point in the time spent writing all these articles. I use it a lot to keep track of my evolution as a street photographer. For 5 years now, my style has evolved a lot. What hasn’t changed much though, is the camera I use to document the streets here and elsewhere. After getting started with the Fuji XE2 | 18mm f2, I quickly switched to the Ricoh GRD4. Even though in the meantime I have also used the Ricoh GR, I can say that it is mainly the Ricoh GRD4 that I have used for more than 5 years.
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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.
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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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!
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.
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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.
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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.
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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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