TO CAPTURE THE EMOTION AND THE GLASS OF WATER

Q: How do we get the best photos of people ?
A: When the are simply themselves.
Q: How do you achieve that simplicity and honesty ?
A: It is mostly about observation, details and compassion.


I did gather very quickly few shots of few different weddings by chronology and organized them as diptychs. There is a very large range of human emotions and I didn't feel like showing hundreds of them to be honest. I just want to show that we are all the same and that we diffuse a myriad of waves and more especially during a wedding day, as it is our subject of interest. But it could be of any other day like a Monday morning on the platform waiting for you train, having lunch with friends, doing some exercises, brushing your teeth, watching TV, etc...As a photographer the human nature as always been my favorite subject. We are the most complex living form physically and intellectually and the topics of discussions are endless. To photograph with sensitivity involves careful observation first. Forget the camera at this stage. A camera is just a device which will help you to share and prove your instinct and research to the world. A camera is simply an extension, and it has obviously to be used with intelligence and respect to the moment. The most difficult to master comes from your ability to make yourself invisible and to transmit the moment and its emotion in the most respectful form. Without a lack or emphasis, to make it just right (like cooking), and little personal touch. The art of doing the reportage form lies in your aptitude to transcend this time while you are shooting to an other future dimension where the viewer will be fully able to immerse himself in the past event described. To photograph well is to stop the time, or to freeze it as we say. And when it is not properly frozen it turns smelly ! That is why so many people call themselves simply photographers but have nothing to say, or don't have the skills or policy of respectability, and they only produce emptiness. To photograph an event and people really requires 200% of your physical and mental concentration. To take a picture is one thing, to photograph is an other. It literally means " to write with light". I will take you through it soon in a new chapter.


You can learn many tricks from books. I read a lot of memoirs,biographies and essais from photographers or artists. What interests me is the space, or state of mind they enter in order to reach the creative process. It is always a complex, hazardous and marginal journey that takes the the character to a certain edge. An artist is the one who dares confronting the unknown.
Doing reportage photography is the same, you don't really know where you are going, but you are going there, you have to be there. Henri Cartier-Bresson said " there is only luck. I don't believe in chance. You just need to be available" I completely agree with that comment. And the more time you spend, the more you start seeing. And then you reach a point when you take mental pictures at every breath.
To capture an emotion is TO FEEL that emotion at the same time as your subject.
And your most profound aim is to share that emotion with the audience throughout the image.
That is a skill that requires years of practice in order to feel at ease and propose a large panel of
variations in your personal technique. It is a visual language with its own punctuation.
You can express an emotion in a glimpse of an eye, in a pencil for make-up, when two lips are about to touch, when two hands are holding, when two friends are having fun, when a couple get surprised, when a bride is content and when guests are a bit tipsy, etc.................

An emotion can be found in a glass of water as I explained and proved some friends few years ago. It is all about you as a photographer ( for once ! ) if you dare joining the unknown, you may then find some success. You eye and your brain are the most important assets. Use them fully !
You cannot aim to do reportage just for a niche, to do reportage involves spreading, sharing and discussion. It is a mirror of who we are. If you want to capture an emotion you need to understand what your subject is going through. By harmony you will try to communicate the best you can from a situation. A photo reporter is the medium between the real and the audience, and he/she only uses his/her personal talent to express what happened. It is almost nothing, but it is everything !