I often forget pictures

Yesterday, Julien, a former assistant, came to my office so he could shoot my face with his Mamiya then ask me a few questions… “Could you tell me about some photo you’d forgotten?” Quite frankly, I had no clue which one I could talk about!

Then it hit me while browsing my photo catalog: this portrait of René Vautier, whom I met at an African Films Festival in Brussels, “Afrique Taille XL”. He was showing his movie, “Afrique 50”, a classic you should watch, by the way: http://youtu.be/vb3DkggPtaQ

This portrait makes sense, for it is quite representative of both my work now and the difficulties a portrait photographer encounters from time to time… Back in 2005, I went to West Africa to shoot a story about the African cinematography, although I really wasn’t too good as a photographer… it became my first school of photography. Then, when I met the guy, I was a bit more experienced but the setup was even tougher: harsh lights, the context of a festival… I had only a reflector and my wife. 

Read more about it on Julien’s blog… in French: 

http://www.blog.julienpaquin.com/2012/05/04/linvite-du-vendredi-4-mai-2012/

Circa 2008, when I was a student at the EMI-CFD… some other students reading a contact sheet.

This picture and its film has just been processed… Found it, hum… where? Maybe in my drawer, handed it to Valérie, she was going to her lab, I thought it’d be cool to finally know what was inside… EMI-CFD times, photos of my girlfriend, too… and blurry images of the third arrondissement. 

April 2008, a personal project I initiated while a student at the EMI-CFD, a photojournalism school in Paris… there was this photographer from Tendance Floue of whom class was all about “putting your guts on the table” as he’d say… so I focused on documenting my grandmother’s grieving. 

It went out as a “P.O.M.” (still images and sound mixed together to form a short narrative piece) and you can see it here: http://vimeo.com/6863439

So New York is like, the best place on Earth for pizzas, right? And, still, someone managed to spoil a beautiful slice… what a shameful waste. Oct. 2010.

Half and a year ago, I think (actually, I know: this was NYE), water guns, Jean-Marie is one tough motherfucka when it comes to water guns. 

“J’ai eu mon bac”, lit. “I graduated!”, summer 2005 in Paris… I remember considering I actually could sell this photo as an illustration in a stock photo agency… I don’t remember succeeding at that. I didn’t know what being a photographer would mean to me at the time… 

Looks like Cannes 2011, I thought everything was archived somewhere on my disk, but I’m a bit sketchy and this one remains on my main lightroom catalog… in the Palais des Festivals basement, some guys dressing up for whatever reason… But they’re in Cannes and they don’t need no reason to suit up, right? 

With Benoît and Florence, summer 2008, I think we were in some restaurant in Paris, rue Montmartre… I only remember we wanted to leave because the food was as bad as the place was beautiful. And the restaurant was absolutely gorgeous. Seriously! How can one screw up pastas?… 

My wedding, August 2010. Jean-Marie, Benoît et Sébastien. 

The picture was shot with my blackberry then resting in some folder I forget in some other folder among many in my hard drive.

Sylvain, who talks a lot, excepted on this picture, which makes it all the more unique. June 2011.

I had to shoot Bruno Dillinger in my office I would vaguely transform into some sort of a studio… the setup was all digital but I wanted to see what the ‘blad would deliver!

Then I forgot.