Stranded on a beach of black volcanic sand, strange formations of millenary ice make a last stand before drifting away at sea, never to return. These ephemeral totems, sculpted by Elemental forces, are the gateway to a phantasmagorical dream, a dream in which ice under the spell of arctic light would have a soul.
I am a 36 year old French-American photographer living in Paris. To me, in many ways, photography is a journey of uncertain destination, images a starting point for the mind. An image must speak, it's all about the story, whether documenting and sharing an experience or opening doors beyond the confined boundaries of reality. Color, monochrome, shape and form, are irrelevant to me, rather what matters is meaning and emotion, it is then that photography transcends science to become art.
It is not for me to say whether any of my images achieve this nor where they take you. What I can say is that I wish to invite the viewer's mind to travel, within, to explore his or her "Imaginarium" using these photographs as a base. In that sense I am happy to be labelled a travel photographer.
Since as long as I can remember, travel has been a part of my life nourished by the the spirit of adventure and discovery. I will never be the first man on the moon, but I would like to dream that I could.
As a remedy, I decided to seek out places remote and untouched, far from civilization as we know it, be they of cultural or natural wonder. Loosing my own bearings, I feel free and, at times, privileged to be the witness of the extra-ordinary, filling me with that sense of wonder I had as a child: from the last salt caravan in the unearthly Danakil depression, to auroral lights dancing above a glacier lagoon, from sharing a morning pipe with a Himba tribeswoman, to viewing infinity on the Uyuni Salar.
Transcribing these and other vivid scenes in an image that affects you is my challenge. In many ways, I am still at the beginning of my journey and finding my way. In a sense, I hope I never do.
Whilst seeking subject and light, at times I have encountered magic, but the true gift and joy of photography is that of sight. The pursuit of photography teaches you you how to see, and as I learn, with or without a camera, there is hardly a day I do not feel rewarded.
