I got started with photography a little over two years ago now, with a random self-portrait. In a train station. The ideal place for a departure into the world. Into oneself.
The virus hit me as the camera triggered and the self-portrait remained a common thread. Perhaps a therapy. I see myself therefore I am ? But who am I in the still illusion of these images ? Ever since my childhood days, I’ve felt the presence of a veil between myself and reality. A veil, which photography allows me to lift or, on the contrary, to expose.
” EVERY PICTURE IS A PIECE OF ME “
Treating myself like a regular piece of data requires a deconstruction, most likely salutary, of the illusion of the ego. An attempt to get rid of my own lies through photography. In my self-portraits I fix the image of this stranger whose eye, sometimes probing, sometimes elsewhere, is, in the end, only staring at himself. Just like Rimbaud’s “I” is also “another”, I seek the world around me, looking for those similar to me – whether beings or things – in a portrait, a landscape, an animal or a group of anonymous passersby. With some kind of empathy, freeing me from the feeling of voyeurism.
So. I’m a beginner. A humble newbie forever, no doubt. I dedicate to photography the little time my work leaves me. My camera is always with me. As Ansel Adams used to say ” We don’t take a photograph – we make it “. Two years is a short laps of time to delve into the necessary technique this fabrication requires. Even though seeing is much more than a technical matter. Photography requires a lot of energy. It’s a game I try to play seriously. Depending on the days and the results I get I shift from a certain euphoria to raw disappointment. Therefore my pictures are more a spontaneous collection than the result of a rigorously planned method.
Never having been trained in photography I leaned on my readings as well as on the internet to learn the basic techniques, rules of composition, post-treatment… Bearing in mind that rules are only set to be broken.However, my true education comes from my practice. From not spending a day without making images. Again and again.What I’m looking for, above all, is to challenge and surprise myself. Seeking what, in me, could echo in the eyes of others. A silent communion based on what unifies us. This might seem pretentious but what drives us all is a dream ! Put more simply, I like to tackle the way to approach subjects, divert, amuse, if possible.
One comment
Janssens serge
Jul 15, 2013 at 22:14
Ton travail est des plus accompli ,et s’il reflète une partie de ton vécu il me donne une impression de prise de la prise de conscience et du rejet de la société complètement indifférente dans lequel l’on vit.Mes félicitations Guy !!!! serge
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