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Q :
You were born on a Sunday, April 13 ?
A
: Exactly. It was the year man planned to walk on
the moon for the first time and I didn't want to
miss it !
Q :
And from where did you see them land on the moon
?
A
: From Paris. That's where I spent my childhood
and my adolescence. Today, I live in Auvergne but
my work takes me away from home often.
Q :
what about your photography while living in such
a beautiful city ?
A : Ah, photography!
Before the purchase of my first camera, there was
a memorable Christmas, one that remains one of my
most wonderful emotions. Among all the gifts, there
was a small book about the sky and space. What a
shock! It was then that I knew I would be someone
who likes to contemplate, someone who loves the
sky, nature and "beautiful things".
Q : Which explains your taste
for photography! |
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"doesn't say
anything!" We can choose to read the photo
horizontally or vertically. But very quickly, I
developped a passion for the panorama format. It's
a natural format for me. I feel it instinctively.
Do not ask me how I centre, I don't know, I feel
it, that's all! whatever the subject is, and of
course, for urban or natural landscapes.
Q : It is true that you lived
in town.
A : I lived in town
all year and I was lucky to spend my vacations in
the country, under a very black sky. During the
year I photographed Paris. And on vacation, the
sky and nature. Each time I returned to Paris, I
rediscovered this very beautiful city!
Q
: Did you want to be a photographer, at this time?
A : Frankly, I did
not know. Or, rather, I wasn't thinking about it
in those terms. It was a passion, … a devouring
passion.... enough to keep an honest man busy during
the weekends and vacations! |
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A : Yes, but I didn't
have my own camera in 1983. I finally bought my first
camera two years later. It was an Olympus OM1, well-known
to astronomers not so long ago! There were tell-taling
signs just before ! Like the two trips to the Gallo-Roman
region in southern France and... |
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Q : And yet, today...!
A : Yes, I'd come a long
way to arrive at the conclusion: "No, it's not possible,
not just on weekends! ". While I studied to be a
teacher, all the jobs I had throughout France would invariably
bring me back to photography. |
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Q : ... And?!
A : Rome, Roma! What
a beautiful city! It was an enchanting voyage...
with a little Instamatic 126 Kodak and its square
format. And I was already feeling a special interest
for unusual formats!!!
Q : Here we are!
A : Yes, indeed.
I've always liked this format that |
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In
fact, it was during this period that I began to
constitute my photographic library of landscapes
and European cities. This long journey also helped
me to realize how much I liked to share my knowledge
and to meet new people.
Indeed, I only
like to be alone during my shooting or while writing...
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Q : What is your field of
competences ?
A : Professional
photographer author, I've specialized in shooting
in the panorama format - in all its forms and the
formation. I have a natural preference for the photography
of landscapes or architecture or interior decoration
in a broad sense, and I now have substantial experience
in shooting luxury hotels and palaces. You can see
part of this work in my professional news. I take
my pictures with a high-quality digital camera,
which allows me to do all kinds of work including,
of course, including the assembling of my panoramic
images. I also do interactive virtual visits (360°
× 180° i.e. in complete immersion). After
having worked a long time with classic cameras and
developping my photos myself, I switched completely
to digital cameras. My desire to share leads me
to write more and more articles for the specialized
press, as well as for my website, in the form of
two guides on color and the panoramic format, or
books or do training courses.
Q : Who do you work for?
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A : As an
independent photographer-author, I work with
all kinds of partners. For example, I accepted
an order about the monuments of Paris for
the CMN - Center of the National Monuments
- I was also a movie set photographer during
the shooting of the documentary - "The
roofs of Paris" - for |
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Arté/Ampersand
directed by Olivier Lassu and showed on Arté
on November 10, 2002.
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Right now,
I'm working for the Louvre Museum. I also
work for luxury hotels regularly, providing
images in all kinds of formats for their communication
(traditional, panoramic or virtual visits). |
I recently worked
for the Mill of Mougins d' Alain Llorca near to
Cannes, Plaza of Brussels or the Chalk pits in Rheims...
I write articles for the specialized press (Answer-Photo,
Catch-Photo, Photographer etc.) And my personal
work is regularly published in the press, like in
the notebooks of Science and Life. I've also done
panoramic postcards of Paris, published by the Editions
Flammarion 4, Baobab or very recently Aénor.
They are on sale in stores and in the Castle of
Chambord. Some of my panoramic photographs were
also used for the advertisements of Noblex in |
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France, or for the catalogue MMF-Pro,
for websites, or for the portfolio of the first
book about panoramic photography in French.
Q : And your plans for the
immediate future?
A : I've written
a book on panoramic photography for the Eyrolles
Editions. It is on sale since mid-January 2004.
In the series of designer's notebooks, Eyrolles
House has just published N° 18 "Touch-up
photos with Photoshop II". At the moment,
I'm taking part in the production of Thierry Legault's
next book on astrophotography for Eyrolles Editions
also.
Q : In your biography, we
notice your keen interest in communicating your
knowledge. How do you teach?
A : In all kinds
of ways. Indeed, I organize trainings as well
as conferences in Paris, Clermont-Ferrand, everywhere
in France. There are about three principal subjects:
The panoramic of course and all its components,
from the most traditional to the most interactive.
The management of the colors for amateurs or professionals
who work with RVB. And finally, Photoshop. I've
just introduced my basic program. For the next
school year, I've organized three-day training
courses on panoramic photography in the INA (National
Institute of Audio-visual), and I also make appearances
in photography schools as guest teacher. Along
with the European House of Photography, the MIPS
in Paris, the photo club of Mont-près-Chambord
and the days of the high definition organized
by galerie-photo.com in Nîmes, I also give
conferences on my preferred choice of subjects.
Q : Who
are your favorite photographers?
A : Undoubtedly,
the first two names which spring to my mind are
Ansel Adams and François-Xavier Bouchart.
My first loves! And I also appreciate Sudek, Kenna,
Salgado, Smith, Mac Curry, Sieff, Penn, Tahara,
Boubat, Atget, Moon, Koudelka, Catany, Mann, Parke-Harrisson...
they are really numerous.
Q : Which photographers
don't you like?
A : Certain ones!
Q : Why do you like to take
pictures?
A : Surely
because I am a contemplative person and I feel
deeply myself when I'm taking pictures, especially
at certain magic moments when I really feel this
is where I belong.
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How
can I do for not talking about astronomy! I have
been practising it for twenty years always with
the same amazement. As soon as the weather is nice,
I lose myself in the sky. Question : why do we have
to light up the night??? It is a great mystery to
me. And it makes me very sad. So few people find
that odd. What a pity that so many people are afraid
of the dark. In Paris, three miserable stars fight
a duel in an increasingly orange sky... While observing
the sky, I also became interested in the sciences
of the sky, matter and life. I've been keeping up
to date on everything concerning astrophysics, quantum
mechanics and biology or evolution, long before
my DEUG in Science.
I'm also an
ardent music lover! As strange as it may seem :
if one day, I had to choose between my camera |
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and my hi-fi to take on
a deserted island, I'd take the last one ! It
is a marvellous Hi-Fi made by a craftsman, or
rather an artist ?( I don't know which one fits
him better)! A Frenchman, Denis Hausherr, who
makes the HI-FI ICOS - Icos Audio -. When I was
twenty-three, I broke my piggy bank to buy a THELES.
Ten years later, I replaced it with the mini ICOS
bought at the Coup d'Archet store in Strasbourg.
I enjoy all kinds of music with the mini ICOS,
especially: Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Ravel, Vivaldi...
Keith Jarreth, Coltrane, Davis Miles... Shoed
Leo, Marillion... . I'm in tune with spontaneity.
In any case, it's absolutely moving to listen
to Cosi Fan Tutte of Mozart by Karl Bohm (1962)
on the mini ICOS... I've seldom heard a more expressive,
sensitive hi-fi.
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So
many thanks,
To my younger sister and my parents,
To my friends, for their support, their encouragement
and their patience, especially Delphine, Stéphane
Lehr
and Vincent Luc.
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Thanks very much to Martin
and Nicolas, certain photographs could not have been
done without them.
Lastly, a thousand thanks
to Suzan Beaudry and my grandmother - Granny - to whom
I have so many things to tell the next time when we
meet again. I miss you so much...
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