I am a French photographer who has lived in many countries over three continents and spent the last decade in Northern California, in the San Francisco Bay area.
Initially more of a sports photographer and videographer, I’ve been documenting the local skateboard scene for many years and still do to this day. However a few years ago, following an accident in the Hawaiian surf that left me with a broken shoulder, I had to take a break from my usual sports (windsurfing, bodyboarding, skating) and started walking a couple of hours daily to keep in shape.
That is when I developed an affinity for wildlife photography: walking by itself is not much fun, but I am lucky that my little suburban island of Alameda is a haven for wildlife (especially birds), and it kept popping at me in the most beautiful ways. I then invested in the right material to capture it adequately, turning my walks into daily photo sessions. It quite frankly became a “virtuous circle”, with my walking routine allowing me to capture more wildlife, and my love for wildlife photography pushing me to walk more.
After getting the technical aspect out of the way and becoming quite reactive at exposing and framing correctly (which is a must, as nature won’t wait for you), I also developed a personal sense for spotting interesting wildlife happenings in suburban and urban settings, from the very near (e.g. insects macro photography during hot summer days) to the very far (as I really enjoy very long focal lengths).
Being a minimalist (no tripods, natural light only), it is usually just me and my camera in-hand ready to shoot in a fraction of a second. Besides being reactive at events that may happen before me, I also walk around looking for interesting nicely lit scenes and backgrounds, and will patiently wait for wildlife to perform within these. And it usually does!
Besides some local photography events, I have been very lucky to share my work and develop a very appreciative international and local online following, with hundreds reacting to my daily IG and FB contributions (@checkthetechnick) and sharing the feelings my photos and videos evoke. And this is what my wildlife photography is most about, “mood shots”, so difficult to achieve yet so rewarding for myself and my audience. This is what this “Suburban Safari” project is all about, with every piece meant to trigger a specific mood for the viewer, be it calmness or excitement. I sincerely hope you enjoy my pictures and that they make you love nature even a bit more, because the more one loves something the more one wants to protect it 🙂
