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.. title: A photographic addiction to trees
.. slug: A photographic addiction to trees
.. date: 2016-04-24 18:03:49 UTC+02:00
.. tags: arbre, arbres, tree, trees, art, addiction
.. link:
.. description: I do photography and trees are one of my favorite subject.
.. type: text
.. author: Alexandre Dulaunoy
.. _trees: https://www.flickr.com/photos/adulau/26292095740/
.. figure:: trees1.jpg
:alt: Lost in the trees...
Lost in the trees..., ƒ/2.0, 35mm, trees_ on flickr
My recurring subjects in my photographs are the trees. This addiction was not something obvious to
me but something that slowly grown in my series. Maybe this inclination is due to my ecologist view
but I think there is a kind of ambiguity.
Perhaps I bumped into the same differences between the work of
`Ansel Adams <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansel_Adams>`_ and `Robert Adams <http://www.masters-of-photography.com/A/adamsr/adamsr_articles3.html>`_. Grandiose versus banality, Ansel was more into incredible landscape where
Robert focuses more than uncommon places.
On the above picture trees_, it's a very common image, you can see this while being in a train. When I took the picture, I wanted to get a set of trees with the passenger being lost in thoughts. The idea is to get the opportunity to think about banality but especially our estrangement from the nature, the trees and our inability to see the importance of nature.
Otherwise in trees2_, I was waiting for the mist and the sun to give an overall impression of majesty in the trees. Even if the trees are very close to a huge chemical industry, the message is more about the flamboyant existence of these salix than the destruction of nature.
The subject (the trees in such case) are not meant to be a common vector of passing an ecological message. But they provide a reference point where it's becoming a more fundamental way of thinking our role in the society, the geography and our direct surroundings. Some of `my set of trees <https://www.flickr.com/photos/adulau/albums/72157626083564097>`_ are even more going into the abstraction of the world or its scientific and mathematical representation (e.g. fractal trees).
Maybe my addiction is just due to the trees being the roots of many topics.
.. _trees2: https://www.flickr.com/photos/adulau/26212984535/
.. figure:: trees2.jpg
:alt: Revival of the salix
Revival of the salix..., f/22, 35mm, trees2_ on flickr

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.. title: Belgian photographers
.. slug: belgian-photographers
.. date: 2015-12-27 18:03:49 UTC+02:00
.. tags: art, belgian, photographers
.. link:
.. description: Belgian photographers the ones I like
.. type: text
.. author: Alexandre Dulaunoy
.. _books: https://www.flickr.com/photos/adulau/23924473921/
.. figure:: books.jpg
:alt: Belgian photographers
Belgian photographers, ƒ/2.0, 35mm, books_ on flickr
At the end of the years, it's the time for gifts and especially photography books. As we have to focus in photography, I'll just
list some of my favorite Belgian photographers and some of their books. There are a lot of books published in photography but some
attracted more my eyes... I really enjoyed "Charleroi, il est clair que le gris est noir" by Stephan Vanfleteren. An incredible
vision of Charleroi, a city in the center of the coal basin and strongly hit by the melt down of the industries. Stephan did
an impressive work (with strong black) while touching the viewer with a forceful human perspective to this city. Another interesting book
is the work of Manuel Lauti with Pages Inattendues. A vigorous relationship with people, reading and connecting them with a small extract.
* Manuel Lauti - http://lauti.photo.over-blog.com/
* Brigitte Grignet - http://www.brigittegrignet.com/
* Hubert Grooteclaes (1927-1994) - http://www.hubertgrooteclaes.com/fr
* Cedric Gerbehaye (1977) - https://www.agencevu.com/photographers/photographer.php?id=214
* Alain Janssens (1956) - http://www.alainjanssens.be
* Matthieu Marre - http://www.matthieumarre.com/
* Nicolas Springael (1965) - http://www.nicolasspringael.be/
* Stephan Vanfleteren - http://stephanvanfleteren.com

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.. title: Influential Photographers
.. slug: influential-photographers
.. date: 2015-02-19 22:06:58 UTC+02:00
.. tags: art, photography, photographer
.. link:
.. description: Influential photographers
.. type: text
.. author: Alexandre Dulaunoy
Influenced? We are influenced in our life for good and bad reasons.
If you are doing photography, it's very rare to start from scratch.
You are kind of on the shoulders of giants. Even the simple fact to
start photography, you are influenced. The first time you have a camera
in your hand because someone decided to make a gift, a camera.
Brooke Hayward has offered a Nikon camera to Dennis Hopper for his birthday in 1961.
So Brooke indirectly influenced Dennis to do photography...
I mention Dennis Hopper because he was a photographer who influenced me.
Some years ago in Amsterdam, I saw an exhibition where some photographs of Dennis Hopper and
I was really touched by his work.
I didn't know why I was touched by his work. It was quite standard black&white pictures
nothing more but something touched me personally. It's not the only photographer who influenced me
but that's the first who really change my way of doing photography.
Very recently, I found this quote from Dennis Hopper:
*I think of that with my photographs. I think of them as ‘found’ paintings because I don’t crop them, I don’t manipulate them or anything. So they’re like ‘found’ objects to me.* **Dennis Hopper**
.. figure:: trainstation.jpg
:alt: Snow and Train Station
:align: center
Snow and Train Station (Arlon), ƒ/2.0, 1/50, 35mm, snowtrainstation_ on flickr
.. _snowtrainstation: https://www.flickr.com/photos/adulau/16494850922/
That's how I feel when I'm doing photography. So it seems that's my initial interest
in the Dennis Hopper photography. Even without knowing this quote, he transfers this feeling
into his photographic work. Don't forget while reading photographic books,
when going to exhibition and to the museum, you might be influenced for the best.

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.. title: Mirrors and Photography
.. slug: mirrors-and-photography
.. date: 2015-05-17 07:03:49 UTC+02:00
.. tags: choosing, mirrors
.. link:
.. description: Mirrors and Photography
.. type: text
.. author: Alexandre Dulaunoy
.. figure:: series-mirror/final.jpg
Moving duplicity, ƒ/4.5, 35mm, movingduplicity_ on flickr
.. _movingduplicity: https://www.flickr.com/photos/adulau/17719989512/
A mirror is a critical element in photography and especially in some models of camera. But I don't
want to talk about technique but more about the mirrors to represent, view and feel
the world in a different way.
Everything is an image and mirrors are here to duplicate the representation of our surrounding world. I'm always curious to see those mirrors in public spaces. There are often used to expand the space and reassure the people. Those mirrors are often a great opportunity to acquire new perspectives and sometime "to trap" moment of life indirectly. I got this opportunity at the cloakroom at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Brussels. They have a mirror at the entrance of the cloakroom where people can have the impression of a larger room.
At the entrance, there is a small area where basically you cannot be seen in the mirror (at first sight). I waited there with my camera especially to catch the movement of people and especially trying to get the two perspective of a same person.
.. figure:: series-mirror/6R3B4413-s.JPG
.. figure:: series-mirror/6R3B4414-s.JPG
.. figure:: series-mirror/6R3B4416-s.JPG
.. figure:: series-mirror/6R3B4418-s.JPG
.. figure:: series-mirror/6R3B4419-s.JPG
I kept and crop the movingduplicity_ because the movement was a kind of integral part of the whole picture. Due to the setup, I couldn't frame exactly the picture as I wanted during the shooting. So I decided to crop the upper and right part to split the frame between the mirror and its other part.

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.. title: Old and New
.. slug: old-and-new
.. date: 2015-07-29 07:03:49 UTC+02:00
.. tags: old, new, urbex, abandoned
.. link:
.. description: Old and New. How to explain the interest in old and abandoned places for photographers.
.. type: text
.. author: Alexandre Dulaunoy
.. figure:: curtain.jpg
We might need to change the curtain, ƒ/22, 14mm, curtain_ on flickr
.. _curtain: https://www.flickr.com/photos/adulau/15261666538
While doing photography, I became slowly interested in the old and abandoned places. I released some of my pictures in
a `small urbex album on flickr <https://www.flickr.com/photos/adulau/sets/72157647990347697>`_. But my interest for such place
is irregular and especially with some peaks. These wanderings into a kind of decrepit world could be in contradiction with my
work on the movement, nature and people in the street. I strongly think that is the opposite where these dirty and old places
are there to show the evolution of life. There are not still pictures, the picture of the abandoned places is the key to the new
or the next step in our lives or environment.
The quote from the photographer, Sally Mann might reflect this:
"Photographs open doors into the past, but they also allow a look into the future."
-- `Sally Mann <http://sallymann.com/>`_
Urban exploration is not an adequate term as the main focus is made on the journey into old and lost worlds.
And the photography is relegated as an inventory step. I don't feel this as a tourist but more as a method to ensure that we are still alive.
My peaks seem to be a kind of fearless interests in decayed world to take picture of an ending world but showing the future. Photography is an act of living.

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.. title: Photography a solitary art?
.. slug: photography-a-solitary-art
.. date: 2014-10-25 21:14:54 UTC+02:00
.. tags: alone, photography, art
.. link:
.. description: Photography a solitary art?
.. type: text
.. author: Alexandre Dulaunoy
Is photography a solitary art? Difficult to say but I usually take my best shots
while alone or with other photographers who understand the practise of photography.
The idea of this post came from Bob_ who asked me to take a selfie_. We tried to
take pictures in front of a large mirror in a hotel's lobby.
But photography is time depend, you need time to think about a picture and some time
to represent a picture. The time requirement was not meet for the selfie
but we did overcome the challenge. Sometime you hear that photography is solitary art but
is it really? Thinking about it, it's not the act of being alone but to control time.
You just need a set of people in the same spacetime. Bob_ and I_ tried to be in that
spacetime but the surrounding were obviously much faster than us.
Next time, we will control time. We will get rid of our watches and ride the spectrum of
time with our cameras.
.. _Bob: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bvdkamp/
.. _I: https://www.flickr.com/photos/adulau/
.. _selfie: ./the-difficult-exercise-of-self-portrait.html
.. _selfiehotel: https://www.flickr.com/photos/adulau/15437538459/
.. figure:: self.jpg
The Difficult Exercise of Self Portrait, ƒ/6.3, 35mm, selfiehotel_ on flickr

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.. title: Photography is not only a matter of cameras
.. slug: photography-is-not-only-a-matter-of-cameras
.. date: 2014-11-30 21:33:37 UTC+02:00
.. tags: camera photography
.. link:
.. description: Photography is not only a matter of cameras
.. type: text
.. author: Alexandre Dulaunoy
Usually interactions with people help me to get subjects for my blog posts. One of them is the photographic equipment. When you "shoot" in an event, people grab you and ask you many questions about your photographic gear. The most regular question or should I say statement: "You have good equipment, you must take amazing pictures". At first, I was unsettled by this kind of question. Trying to explain that a tool is just a tool and you need an eye to take pictures. But my argumentation is usually vain and people still think a tool alone makes great pictures.
My strategy changed over time. Now, I give my camera and tell them: "Now, do some amazing pictures!". And you know what happen? I don't remember to have seen an amazing picture. Just a lot of statements like "Where is the automatic mode?" or "Where is the zoom?" or the best of the best "It's too difficult".
.. figure:: bob.jpg
:alt: Alex and Bob
Kodak Portra 400, Hasselblad, self-portrait_ on flickr
.. _self-portrait: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bvdkamp/15905258015
Technique is just technique. We don't really ask to a writer which model of pencil used for his/her last novel. It seems in photography, it's quite different because the tool used seems to be more omnipresent. But this perpective is wrong, the tool is just a support for the expression. Just like the theater scene is a medium of expression for the artist.
You might see a paradox by explaining the film, the camera or the focal used for the pictures in my blog post. As the blog targets people who do photography, this is a kind of sharing experience with my peers. Among peers, we share good (and bad) practices and techniques.
To take and share pictures with your public, it's not a matter of techniques. It's just a matter of sharing feelings with the public. Maybe the best to express this, was Léo Ferré who wrote a letter to the belgian photographer `Hubert Grooteclaes <http://www.hubertgrooteclaes.com>`_.
"Votre appareil à vous est dans votre poésie. Vous êtes un artiste et les techniques que vous employez restent un moyen de s'exprimer alors que dans d'autres mains, trop souvent, elles ont la pâleur de l'artifice et l'incroyable démangeaison des conquêtes publicitaires."
-- Léo FERRÉ in a letter to `Hubert Grooteclaes <http://www.hubertgrooteclaes.com>`_

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.. title: Select or Die
.. slug: select-or-die
.. date: 2014-09-21 14:02:29 UTC+02:00
.. tags: trees,tree,arbre,arbres,choosing
.. link:
.. description: Select or Die? The Art of Choosing Pictures of Trees
.. type: text
Being addicted to trees_, it's often very difficult to select
the pictures you want to publish and share with people who like trees_ too.
And the most difficult part, it's usually the selection. Today, I'll try to explain this process...
Saturday morning, I took my camera and wander next to a river close where I live.
My addiction to trees_ is huge and I can usually remember where a specific tree profile (as they are all unique)
is located as long I saw it one or two times during summer and winter time.
“Never worry about being obsessive. I like obsessive people. Obsessive people make great art”
-- Susan Sontag
Trees have a kind of presence which make them unique depending of the context and framing. Just like people.
So taking pictures of them is usually a challenge (even if they don't move) or seem to be stable in the environment.
For the following tree (that I knew for the past few years), such profile is quite common due to the "evolution" of the agriculture. Before being a meadow, it was a field where maize was cultivated. With huge machines, trees are not welcome and farmers tend to cut those and often partially when it's not directly on their fields.
With the surrounding constraints, the tree develops itself and grew. Initially, I wanted to show the contrast between the wildlife and the control of nature. As seen in picture 1, the tree was more far away and you can see the field. But the contrast between the two was not too well marked. On picture 2 and 3, the river helps to stress the contrast between the two parts. If you look carefully, you might see the small path where animals are using to pass by.
.. figure:: choisir.png
:alt: 3 pictures of the same tree
I took 3 pictures but which one to select?
Why did I select the picture 3 at the end? Because the grasses in front are more exposed and showing
more the contrast between the nature and the controlled nature.
.. _trees: https://www.flickr.com/photos/adulau/sets/72157626083564097/
.. figure:: select.jpg
:alt: Morning Trees
Morning Trees, ƒ/9.0, 14mm, morningtrees_ on flickr
.. _morningtrees: https://www.flickr.com/photos/adulau/15291924331/
Selection can be a difficult process but, in my eyes, it's part of the photography act.

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.. title: Soundscape and Photography
.. slug: soundscape-and-photography
.. date: 2015-09-09 07:03:49 UTC+02:00
.. tags: soundscape, photography, exhibition
.. link:
.. description: Soundscape and Photography. How to build a soundscape to improve immersion in a photographic exhibition.
.. type: text
.. author: Alexandre Dulaunoy
.. figure:: train.jpg
Every second is the beginning of something, ƒ/2.0, 35mm, train_ on flickr
.. _train: https://www.flickr.com/photos/adulau/17450085919
One year ago, the opportunity of doing an exhibition helps me to experiment something new with photography. In some past exhibition, I
had the impression that some viewers cannot be immersed due to surrounding sounds (e.g. noisy environment or people talking too loud).
The idea was to enrich my artwork with a soundscape supporting the viewers' feelings. The soundscape will be there to limit the
overall noise disruption from the exhibition. The experiment looks fun to do and I try to document my journey to build a soundscape
to support my photographs.
My theme for the exhibition was the train and I already selected a series of photos. Based on this photographic material, I draw some
indicators that could be used as key elements or references for the viewers.
* Sounds of train starts (1)
* Sounds of train stops (2)
* Environmental sounds of train (e.g. doors(3), railways(4), people talking(5), ...)
* Vocal announces inside or outside (6)
Having these in mind, I recorded sounds during some trips in various trains or train stations in Belgium. I had the luck to borrow a `Zoom H6 Six-Track Portable Recorder <http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DFU9BRK>`_ from a very kind colleague. Recording in public spaces is not so far from photography. The difficulty is the sound framing. Where you need to highlight a specific element in the sound and discard the rest. I was not used to record sounds, so it was pretty new to me. Similarities with the act of photography are interesting, being alone, avoid distracting elements in your frame or record the right instant.
After 3 months of recording raw materials (don't forget to limit level and record in raw WAV/PCM format), I did a selection of the sounds (`another similarity with photography 'select or die' <http://www.foo.be/photoblog/posts/select-or-die.html>`_). I classify the samples to use in loops and the others which are longer samples. What's the process to create a coherent soundscape for the `photo set <https://www.flickr.com/photos/adulau/albums/72157652166570610>`_. I wanted to recall the train atmosphere were you have some kind of monotonous sounds but which shouldn't be boring and tend to be forgot after a certain number of repetitions.
So I started with the loops, this is an art in itself. While listening to the raw materials, I selected some repetitive sound patterns. From the each of the selected repetitive pattern, I cut some seconds that could be repeated to reproduce the original sound patterns of the raw sample. The seconds selected should be clear without distracting noises. Then you can create the loops, tests it (keep the loop playing and listen) and save it (still in raw WAV/PCM format or FLAC). For this process, I used `Audacity <http://audacityteam.org/>`_ which is a simple but advanced free software to edit audio samples. The software includes functionality like finding the `zero crossing point <http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/edit_menu.html#zero>`_ to have smooth transition in the loops.
After the creation of the audio loops (4 and 4bis), I had long samples with some specific element like doors closing(3), train starting(1) or stopping(2), vocal announces(6). How can I play all these samples sequentially and find an accurate pattern for my photo sets? I tried some audio software to do that but these are often huge and utterly complex to use (e.g. you need to use a graphical user interface to shuffle a list of sample for each experiment). I end up using `bash <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bash_%28Unix_shell%29>`_ and `SoX <http://sox.sourceforge.net/>`_ to do the composition. This approach helps to focus on the content and just write some lines of shell script to create my soundscape.
The whole play script used for the soundscape written in Bash shell and using SoX:
.. code-block:: bash
#!/bin/bash
looprepeat="7"
fadeout="fade t 0 0 3"
LONGSLEEP=40
SHORTSLEEP=10
VSSLEEP=5
while [ true ]
do
play BelgianTrainLoopOK2.flac repeat $looprepeat $fadeout; play BelgianTrainAnotherStopOK.flac $fadeout
sleep $SHORTSLEEP
play BelgianAnnounceBruxelles.flac $fadeout
sleep $SHORTSLEEP
play BelgianNewLTrainStart.flac $fadeout
sleep $SHORTSLEEP
play BelgianTrainLoop2.flac repeat $looprepeat $fadeout
sleep $SHORTSLEEP
play Arlon-to-Marbehan.flac $fadeout
sleep $VSSLEEP
play BelgianTrainDoorClosing.flac $fadeout
done
I also did a `quick visualization of each samples <http://www.foo.be/art/audio-cuestart2015/output.png>`_ to find out any glitches or issue that cannot be directly spot by listening. The above script runs during the exhibition and based on the mood of the day, you can change the parameters (time between samples) or the order of the samples.
Not sure if my first experiment is a success but I had interesting feedback during the exhibition. An old lady told me that remembers her when she took the train with her parents. Some where indeed more attentive to the photos or came back when they started to hear the soundscape. And another funny discussion was a guy working at the national train company in Belgium who remembered the exact model of the train.
The overall soundscape including samples and scripts `are freely available under a BSD 2-Clause License <http://www.foo.be/art/audio-cuestart2015/>`_.

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.. title: Still Photography Versus Videography
.. slug: still-photography-versus-videography
.. date: 2015-11-24 07:03:49 UTC+02:00
.. tags: photography, videography, still, art
.. link:
.. description: Why still photography is a different art than videography?
.. type: text
.. author: Alexandre Dulaunoy
.. figure:: living.jpg
Living our photographies, ƒ/22, 35mm, fagnes_ on flickr
.. _fagnes: https://www.flickr.com/photos/adulau/22347892143/
Discussing with strangers in the train this is often an opportunity for a new blog post. The main issue I have with new comers in photography (read people buying a camera), they usually focus on technical aspect and not on the act of photography. But sometime, I have interesting questions and especially this one: "Do you think there is a real difference between taking pictures or videos?"
This question was in my head for the past days... Photography is very different of a video. Photography is the ability to stop time at an instant. To create a new interpretation of an instant and build a new timeline in your surrounding environment. Some still photography is just so intemporal that you cannot even define when it was taken. I feel videography as ensuring a continum where you extend time where you don't keep control of the time like in still photography.
While searching in my archive, I found a series taken in the Virton train station. Every picture is a moment but it looks like a movie. The paradox if you add all the pictures all together, this is like a video which is not.Maybe the impression is linked on how you dream, it seems you have the impression of each steps, these steps are just a moment of our lives.
.. figure:: train.gif
43 still pictures of a train passing who passes...

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.. title: Surveillance Camera Versus Photography
.. slug: surveillance-camera-versus-photography
.. date: 2014-11-14 22:18:23 UTC+02:00
.. tags: surveillance, camera, photography, cctv
.. link:
.. description: Surveillance Camera Versus Photography
.. type: text
.. author: Alexandre Dulaunoy
Except if you live in your basement, everyone can see the increase of surveillance cameras in our societies.
Some photographers like `julie ferguson <http://www.julietferguson.com/cctv/>`_ even questioned this
and reuse images of surveillance cameras to create new photographic `artwork <http://www.julietferguson.com/0000-0000/>`_.
In the past years, there are obviously a parallel increase of paranoia against the street photographers. I argue with someone in the street asking why I'm taking pictures in the street and telling me that I shouldn't take photographs here. We were surrounded by CCTV camera while mentioning this, the guy just left. Questioning myself about this, the answer was not obvious at a first glance. I have a small theory about it (for what it worths).
The increase of video surveillance was done without real complaints from the citizen. It's there and it seems that everyone is living with it. But as a matter of fact, surveillance cameras are there and complaining is nearly impossible. My feeling is the following, it's a psychological displacement. **Basically the aggressive feeling against video surveillance is transferred to a mere allusion, the street photographer**.
.. _cctv: https://www.flickr.com/photos/adulau/15680439035/
.. _julie ferguson: http://www.julietferguson.com/cctv/
.. figure:: cctv.jpg
CCTV in Paris, ƒ/2, 135mm, cctv_ on flickr

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.. title: The Art of Not Showing
.. slug: the-art-of-not-showing
.. date: 2014-12-22 08:13:55 UTC+02:00
.. tags: photography, art, showing, seeing, photograph, learning
.. link:
.. description: The Art of Not Showing
.. type: text
.. author: Alexandre Dulaunoy
If you read some books about photography or go to some photo clubs, you can often hear that "photography is the art of seeing". In this scope, new photographers are told about "seeing differently the most common thing in their life". There is something true, photographer tend to look at things differently and by so, creating their own view of the world. If you are committed enough, you start the see the world as a great opportunity for photographic creativity. But I personally think, this is only a small part of being a good photographer and create interesting pictures.
There is no formula but looking back, there is something more important in photography. The art of not showing. It's kind of a paradox in photography when you are told, as a photograph, to see differently. Looking at what's will touch people while looking at your pictures, it's usually the open gate to their inner feeling. I have the strong impression that a photographic work should not be fully completed in order to keep your viewer free of "preconceived idea". The picture should support the mind of the viewers to float, to be disturbed, to rethink their own feelings or even their own life.
But how do you do that as a photographer? Difficult question maybe when you take a picture, you are trying to reach the same level of questioning or at least allowing your pictures to open the same questionings for yourself. I'll try with some of my pictures but this is only my humble perspective...
.. figure:: tv.jpg
:alt: A dead TV
A dead TV, ƒ/2.0, 135mm, tv_ on flickr
.. _tv: https://www.flickr.com/photos/adulau/13830019825
I took this picture in my home village, the street is known to me. But when I saw the TV set (dropped by a neighbour for the garbage collection), this triggers many questions. Not only the simple fact of having a lost and out-of-context object in a street but the follow-up questions. Is technology so futile? Should we get rid of TV? How much garbage do we generate by just watching TV? So describing the whole reasoning why you take a picture, why you choose a specific framing... It is somehow related to this uncertainty and open questions that appears in your mind. So maybe the fact of seeing the lost TV, you see many other things.
.. figure:: girls.jpg
:alt: Girls talking
Girls talking, ƒ/2.0, 135mm, girls_ on flickr
.. _girls: https://www.flickr.com/photos/adulau/7222620906
While waiting (in an uncomfortable position) on a bridge in Amsterdam, hoping that some people will walk on the other bridge... I heard two ladies talking in my back and moving toward the small river. Then they sit, they were so involved that the surrounding world didn't exist for them. What's the exact subject of the picture? Just some people talking? Maybe they seem so outside of the picture (not only due to the framing) we would like to know more about their discussions. Or maybe this is just a reflexion of our loneliness or the importance of talking.

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.. title: The Difficult Exercise of Self Portrait
.. slug: the-difficult-exercise-of-self-portrait
.. date: 2014-09-25 21:41:32 UTC+02:00
.. tags: self portrait, selfie
.. link:
.. description: The difficult exercise of self portrait.
.. type: text
.. author: Alexandre Dulaunoy
.. figure:: a.jpg
:alt: Three a and a self-portrait_
Self portrait is a difficult exercise for me. It might seems to be a kind of
paradox because I'm taking pictures of the others. And the paradox becomes
bigger at a time where people use their portable cameras (read phone) to make
their self portraits.
I found a single self-portrait_ in my archive. When I took this one,
it was a matter of typography of the "a" letter. Nothing more.
For a majority of people, taking a picture of themself is easy and this seems
a natural process. I enjoy people using camera to shoot themself as they appear
to forget about their surrounding for a short period. It's a little instant where
they forget about the world. Taking this instant, it's kind of magic. Like the
selfie with the lady and the goat_.
.. figure:: b.jpg
:alt: Selfie with a goat_
.. _self-portrait: http://www.flickr.com/photos/adulau/8445182447/
.. _goat: https://www.flickr.com/photos/adulau/15230284561/

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.. title: Watermarking or how to destroy your work
.. slug: watermarking-or-how-to-destroy-your-work
.. date: 2014-10-09 06:58:10 UTC+02:00
.. tags: watermarking, distribution
.. link:
.. description: Watermarking or how to destroy your work
.. type: text
.. author: Alexandre Dulaunoy
.. _tag: https://www.flickr.com/photos/adulau/14994494530/
.. figure:: tag.jpg
:alt: Ma soif de savoir est...
Ma soif de savoir est..., ƒ/2.5, 50mm, tag_ on flickr
While visiting a recent photo-club exhibition, I saw watermarking on a
vast majority of the printed art works presented. This is really
disturbing not only for your eyes but also the concept itself of adding
some text on top of your work.
While asking the members of the photo-club, they told me this is
recommended practise to "protect" their work. I think "protect"
in their view means limiting the distribution of their picture.
Indeed, when you look at a picture with a watermark below
distracts your view, your mind and then, it's just distracting
from seeing the picture. So you tend to move away from the watermarked
pictures and concentrate on the pictures without watermark. At the end,
I was more interested in the work of someone having an interesting
set of negative-space pictures without any distracting marks or tags.
Then one member of the photo-club told me that everyone was really
attracted by those minimalist pictures. Indeed the pictures were nice
and well done but I think the factor of water-marks for the other
pictures is not to under estimate. People focus on the pictures
who attract their eyes (and their brain), this is very human. If you add
some complementary factors, your work is less accessible and by so you'll
get less potential viewers. Especially adding water-marking on art works in an exhibition
doesn't make sense.
For watermarked images on Internet, it's exactly the same. People tend to
move away from the watermarked images. If they search for an image or a topic
in an image search engine, they will see a whole list of pictures. They won't
select/click on the ones having a clear message for them and not the ones
with random text on top of the images.
If you are afraid of someone use or reuse your work, the best is to publish
your work. The more your work is known and attributed to you, the more you protect
your work. The watermarking basically does the opposite, limiting the distribution
and especially the possibility to reinforce the attribution to your work. The more
viewers you have, the more potential attributions you might have.
My work is freely licensed under the CC-BY-SA license (or even the GNU GPL license)
and the non-visible watermarking is in the meta-data (EXIF).
I don't like watermarks, what about you?

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.. title: When does a photograph exist?
.. slug: when-does-a-photograph-exist
.. date: 2014-09-22 07:03:49 UTC+02:00
.. tags: choosing, distribution, printing
.. link:
.. description: When does a photograph exist?
.. type: text
.. author: Alexandre Dulaunoy
We heard often people mentioning that they have tons of photographs but they never select their prefered ones. If they don't select the photographs, they never print these and never show these to someone else. Are these photographs really existing?
After the discovery, selection and publication of the Vivian Mayer's works. Her work started to exist on its own. You can say a photograph exists even without a camera as you can take mental pictures of moments. It's indeed true but souvenirs alone don't do a good photograph. In the process of choosing a good picture, you should be able to lost a part of the history behind like the difficulty perceived when taking the picture.
Sometime ago, I took some pictures in front of a graffiti from Mr. Chat in Paris:
.. figure:: mrchat-contact.png
One photograph emerges from the stack, a lady lost in her thoughts hug by Mr. Chat.
.. figure:: mrchat.jpg
Mr. Chat liks to hug, ƒ/2.0, 135mm, mrchatflickr_ on flickr
.. _mrchat: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._Chat
.. _mrchatflickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/adulau/8752354681/in/set-72157646332883465
The photograph was selected to be part of a series about "movement" in an exhibition in Virton.
The interesting part is that another artist (Jean-Luc Stiernon) got the print of the picture. He even draw
a representation of the photograph in a drawing. A kind of meta-art.
.. figure:: jeanluc.jpg
If the initial selection was not made, such dynamic will never exist.