Painting, museums, lovely boys and statues

I am not a painter. I can’t paint. I like doing painting but I am a total idiot when it comes to paint with a part of technical. I did take classes a few years ago, but the teacher was used to stop me and let me sketch due to my lack of motivation. I was imaginative but the technical was a terrible hindrance for me. Then, I just wanted the painting to be close to the greatest artists I worshipped, so it was disenchant any time I was starting a painting.

Nevertheless, I love paintings and watching at them in museum. I could spend my whole time in museums indeed. What I do like in UK is the free access to national museums (excluding temporary exhibitions). For instance, you can go to The British Museum, The Tate (modern or not !) and The National Gallery (one of my favorites in London) anytime and have a look to their astonishing collection without paying a penny. Walking through rooms in The National Gallery is quite comparable to go through Musée d’Orsay and Musée du Louvre, in Paris, you can’t believe to be close to such beauties.

Room 34 at The National Gallery is my favorite spot. It’s mainly Turner’s & Constable’s room (Gainsborough & Stubb too). I could stay sitting in the sofa for hours. I don’t understand how people can walk by and just having a glance at those paintings. Last time I went to the The National Gallery, I was with my best friend, Carol, whom really doesn’t like museums as much as I do. She was surprised by the free access and all those tremendous paintings (she especially appreciated the Stubb’s "Whistlejacket"). We sat in front of Constable’s “The Cornfield” and chatted for a while. It was just a delicious moment.

Room 35, you can also admire Thomas Gainsborough paintings and one of my choices is “Mr and Mrs Andrews”. Gainsborough is a terrific painter. Any of his portrays is so subtle and animate. You could even talk to the characters !

Room 40, I am fond of this Sisley “The Watering Place at Marly-le-Roi”. It is just the most surprising and delicate painting I’ve ever seen. It touches my heart each time I walk by.

 Room 8, I am used to worship this portray from Bronzino “Portrait of a Young Man”. This man always attracted me along with the other portray painting by Bronzino which is settled in Musée du Louvre (room 8 – Denon Aisle – 1^st floor).

Among all the painters I’ve been admiring for years, Turner, Constable, Sisley and Bronzino have not equivalents to me. But I also admire Corot, Raphael and Fantin Latour. In the modern painting, my admiration goes to Soulages and Jasper Johns. As for Soulages, I don’t remember accurately when I discovered his painting but I was astonished by such deep and illuminate black. It shines ! The first souvenir I have from one of his exhibition was in Marseilles, in the Musée Cantini. I was about 16 or 17 years old and stayed about 3 hours sitting in front of his work.

About museums, the choice is rather easier. Apart from The National Gallery, I love British museums such a Victoria & Albert (the fashion dept worth to be visited !), Science and Natural Museums (What a dinosaurs at the Cromwell Entrance !), British Museum (Assyria : Nineveh - Room 9)& Tate Museum (and Modern Tate ; including the London & Liverpool ones). In France, my taste leads me to Musée du Louvre, Musée d’Orsay, Musée Eugène Delacroix and Musée Cluny.

I won’t tell you why I love going to Musée du Louvre on Fridays evening but one of the reasons is that looking around painting and sculpture at night is magic, especially when it’s cold and dark outside, you feel like the only one in the Museum. Of course, you won’t be alone in that museum but, feeling it is rather delightful !

Some departments at Le Louvre are definitely my “objects of desire” : Middle Ages, French & British painting areas, Dutch Painters, & Near Eastern Antiquities (Mesopotamia & Iran).

Musée Cluny is utterly spectacular and sitting in the garden backyard is a real luxury in Paris.

Musée d’Orsay is incredible and the newly Impressionists Department at the top floor can be equaled. Watching to Monet, Fantin Latour, Sisley, Van Gogh, Degas, Manet, etc. is just as magic as it sounds.

Art, and Culture in general, might be quite expensive for most people. I do understand that sometimes you cannot attend to an exhibition in Paris while you live in Marseilles, Perpignan or Toulouse. The train ticket costs, the museum ticket costs and you may need to get a hotel room too. But Internet offers an easy and almost free solution to get Art enter in your life.

Check out the links within the text and enjoy visiting those places. I gave you some clues about my favorites. Which would be yours ?

Last exhibition attended : “Hommage à Delacroix” – Musée Eugène Delacroix, Paris,

Next exhibitions I attend to  :

-          “Degas et le nu”, Musée d’Orsay

-          « Queen Elizabeth II by Cecile Beaton », V&A Museum,

-          New Frontier : l'art américain entre au Louvre. Thomas Cole et la naissance de la peinture de paysage en Amérique, Musée du Louvre.



My blur songs....

Oh well, that is ! Blur is back at the headlines since the announcement of the Closing Olympics Ceremony gig in Hyde Park, due on august 12^th 2012 and my obsession is back on track (did it really weaken ?) !

You do know this chorus “last night a DJ saved my life”, thus you should understand my own chorus “2 decades ago, blur saved my musical life !”.

A bit of my blur life sum up :

Early spring 1990, my former boyfriend whom were nightclubbing a lot in London, was used to (audio) tape me some sounds from the bands he had listened to. On one expected tape he then sent me, I heard half a song and got chill. I don’t remember why I felt that but I wrote him back to check out whom that band was. He did and told me that their name was “kinda of blur” and that they were performing the week following our conversation over the phone. So he went and recorded another song and when I got the audiotape by the regular mail, I fell for blur. Thus, I went and joined him spending time out and I attended to my first gig of blur in june 1990. You know what ? What I felt then was love at first sight. Not physically but musically. Nothing compares to that feeling I had that night. Blur will be always and forever the only band to move me to tears on a simple song.

Anyhow, since that june 1990 evening, I’ve been a major “fan” of them. I don’t like the “fan” word because it sounds like for me a bit of “fanatic” and “hysterical”. I never wanted to get involved into any forum (signed up to some to read, but not interfering that much, especially not thinking that I’m a specialist !) or “fan club”, nor even chasing the band for an autograph or a photograph.  In the early years, I met them a few times backstage and wherever else, but never was imposing myself and acting hysterical. I saw many female fans whom were just acting like bitches to attract the attention of one of them (mainly Alex & Damon though) and it was just pathetic to my eyes.

I love them, four of them, for their music, the vision they have on the music, lyrics and compositions. Sometimes, I do like their vision of life and world but I don’t mind if one of them said something which is contrary of what I do believe truly. It does not interfere with my love for their music.  By the way, did I mention that I fancy Graham too much to talk about that ?

I am surely the most uninterested fan of them. I am not into their lives, their wives, kids’ names etc. Yes, I do know those facts about them, but what the point ? They have their lives and I am sure that I would appreciate discretion from a fan, if I were them.  I don’t collect stuff either. Yes, I do have many, many albums, cds, audiotapes, books and some magazines, but I am not trying to get everything in sight.

A couple of years ago, I knew where and when a member of blur spent his holidays. I was living nearby and I could have easily met him “accidently” many times. I never did a move. I even avoided going to a party or a restaurant diner knowing that he was invited too with his family. I went through to an event and spent a few hours around him and I never mentioned that I was a huge fan of his band. Even though I would have loved to ask him a few questions about the future of the band and even some points about a special song to me, I just smiled a few times when someone mentioned to him “I love your music, I am your biggest fan !”.

So, indeed, you won’t ever meet me waiting hours outside a concert place or a hotel ! Probably never yelling their names in the street or disturbing them in a private event.

I did see a few concerts from 1990 to nowadays. I won’t count them here because it shall be too much work for this paper. Some were more special to me because of an atmosphere or a particular person I attended it with. Liverpool & ULU 1990, Reading, Liverpool, Paris 1991, Rennes & Reading 1992, London 1993 were my incredible souvenirs from those early years.

After those, it was not really the same, it was highly amusing to get tickets and to attend to a gig due to thousands fans that joined to after “Girls & Boys” hit.  Paris & Bordeaux 1994 & May 1997 were a great period too. 1999 was hectic (again Reading). Paris & Liverpool took my heart in 2003 but the one which really brought me down is the July 3^rd 2009 - Hyde Park gig. “The first gig that we put on sales” Damon said that night. I went through this year in a dream because I thought I would have never seen them all back together on stage. I think that those two hours were too short and too intense to fade away one day.

NME put on line their 10 best Blur songs last week, and I thought, why not !

Explaining the context of the song and why I do like were harder than I thought it would ! 

So, here are my ten favorites :

-          She’s So High : This is the very first song I’ve heard from them.  So, it is just special to me. Then, I just can’t stop smiling whenever this song pops up. And hearing Damon singing “I think of her… It doesn’t help me”, was quite a pleasure back in 1990 because it drove my former boyfriend crazy as he didn’t like the band and the “handsome jerk front man”. The July 3^rd 2009 version is unique too. When they performed it in Hyde Park gig, it was the first song played and I could not believe that I was there, in London, in Hyde Park, among my friends and waiting for the reunited band on stage. Yes, Reunited, at least !

-          Best Days : If I feel low, whatever happened and wherever I am, I put that song in my MP3 and listen it loud. “Other people turn around and laugh at you if you said that these are the best days of our lives…” sound just so right to my ears and I am used to tell it to myself to go through sometimes. The melancholy and the softness of the song have most likely touched my heart.

-          The Universal : This Is A Low is one of the most incredibly moving song to me (along with Sweet Song), but The Universal is just as touching as Tender is. Despite the video which is basically an amazing one, the lyrics and the way of performing are major attractions to me. “When the days they seem to fall through you, well, just let them go” is kind of a motto for me. I don’t know why but I’ve been receptive to this sentence since the very first time I heard the song. The Great Escape was and still is a glorious album (but not the best for me !) and The Universal is major class. Quite a classic indeed. Unfortunately, some commercials put it on air lately in UK, making it a bit too “popular” in the most negative meaning.

-          Slowdown : Yes, I can see your reprobation saying that you don’t get it. Slowdown, for God’s Sake ! It’s not a song, some say. But it is funny enough and quite hilarious somehow. It reflects too a certain period of time when people were used to say “slowdown a bit, would you !”, but performing by blur, it ‘s an easier reason to calm down ! It’s also my name on forums.

-          Coffee & TV : Yes, it should be clear to anyone knowing me a bit, Graham sings ! Apart from that main interest, the lyrics are great, the sound is brilliant and the video is one of the cutest ! Again, vocally speaking, Graham is not Damon, gets this tiny little voice, but he is so adorable. It’s quite hysteria whenever he performs it live.

-          Sing : Probably one of the most significant song of them, and from Leisure. I do know that Leisure is quite a minor album for many (most ?) and it is not what we can call it “the origin of blur”, but it was just amazing back then.

-          No Distance Left to Run : Wanna make me cry ? Let’s listen to that song. Unexpectedly, when I first listened to it, it was a bit too still and gloomy for me. I was just under the Tender attack on 13 and didn’t really mention this song. A few months later, I attended to another band gig (yes, undeniably, I can like others bands !) and talking about their fans, one told me “blur ? gosh, I hate this moaning song – No Distance Left to Run- !”. I meant not to be offended but I really didn’t care of it. When back home, I put it and I felt like hit by a train…  How could I ignore that one ? Since the releasing of 13, I was in a very “shinny happy people” attitude, and nothing could depress me. No Distance Left To Run did. Sort of. I felt pain and suffer and I still do. It makes me feel alive. Amazingly alive.

-          Theme From an Imaginary Film : Right, second reprobation look toward my choice. I can hear you screaming that my tastes are shit ! It sounds like a silly song ; might be by the way. Anyhow, I quite adore this song. I still don’t know the reason why, but this song features my MP3 and my “save my day MP3” with the essential songs for me. Believe me or not, I stay irrational to the pressure of erasing it.

-           There’s No Other Way : The title says it all. There’s no other way than blur. It’s crystal. The introduction is about to make me feel a teenager any time I hear it. “Back to the past” ticket for free !

-          Young & Lovely : Oops ! First of all, the ones whom read that paper and aren’t true fans of blur might, at that moment, wonder “what the hell is that song ?”. I guess that this “Chemical world” b-side is fresh and lovely. Not the kind of single you are expected from blur. No doubt that some of you would hate it ! But I love this song.

I may add to that list :  the cover Daisy Daisy, Bang, Tender, M.O.R., This Is A Low, Battle, Ambulance, For Tomorrow, Popscene, Death of a Party, Inertia, Luminous, Sweet Song & Battery in your leg.

Daisy Daisy :

Bang :

Inertia :

Sweet Song :

Battery In Your Leg : 

Any comment ?

In memoriam of photographers whom died in war zone

I was already shaken by the death of Tim Hetherington (born in Birkenhead, Wirral Peninsula, UK) last spring in Misrata, Libya (along with his colleague, Chris Hondros, ©Getty photographer). He was working for Vanity Fair for instance, and I’ve been admiring his work for a few years. He was a great photographer and did major pictures in war zones.

So, when I woke up early this 22^nd of february and heard that Rémi Ochlik, French photojournalist, winner of a 2012 WorldPress Photo prize for his work in Libya, died in Syria, I felt again very sad.

Many photographers were killed over the years in war zones and journalists too. Some could say that it is the risk of the job. Indeed, it is. I am sure that all those journalists and photographers whom have been killed lately, knew that fact.

They did know the risks, the fear and the obligation of their work. Obviously, we do too, but some consider that as they do know how risky it is, it’s their entire fault whenever they’ve been killed. It is NOT ! Whenever you cover a war, you know the cons and pros, but you have to. Of course, nowadays, with Internet, smartphones etc. you could easily think that journalists/photographers could stay nearby their homes and do their jobs retreating information from the inhabitants of the zone in question. But what do you do with objectivity and neutrality ? We all know that a political regime can orientate the facts and influence the information, so it is useful to get another option to let the world know.

Years ago, it was obvious that they had to go and inform the world of the situation in some countries. And I do think that they still have to go.

I admire them, all of them indeed, because I would have never had the guts to go.

Sometimes, whenever I look to a “war photo”, I feel like that a photograph should be able to go and take a picture in any circumstance and not only shooting animals, architecture and models. I thought many times that I could have done it too but I am honestly too scared not to be able to handle that risk. Call me a coward !

They were aware of that and all of them loved their lives, their families and the people. That is for people and freedom that they went to those countries to let YOU know about the casualties of war.

Do you ever really think that if Rémi Ochlik didn’t go to Libya last year, taking those photos, you would have been able to understand the horror of the civil war ? Words can do a lot of understanding and journalists do that very well, but a photo impacts you deeper. You SEE the people dying, slaughtered, tortured, in pain or smiling for hope. You can imagine it through words, you CAN SEE, FEEL and BREATH death, fear and sometimes hope.

So, please, whenever you look to a photo from a war zone, just think of the photographer whom risks his life voluntary to inform you, to let you know, to let you think and to let you free to react against that situation.

In memoriam of Tim Hetherington, Chris Hondros, & now Rémi Ochlik, 

and all those whom lost their lives to inform us, 

I pray for you and thank you for your sacrifice 

and the love you felt for mankind. 

Cinema & my lists ... ooooops !

Writing my former paper upon cinema made me realize that I could make a listing of the major films/actors/filmmakers I truly adore. I need to say as an introduction that it won’t be exhaustive listings… How can it be !

Let’s start with the easier list : Actors/actresses. 

Even though I do understand that some of their films might be nearly crap sometimes, I still like them even more :

Louise Brooks, Jean Harlow, Buster Keaton, Paul Newman, Elizabeth Taylor, Gena Rowlands, Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, Kevin Spacey, River Phoenix, Jude Law, Cate Blanchett, Paul Bettany, Kate Winslet, Ben Whishaw & Cillian Murphy.

Among them, my “true love” is, no doubt, River Phoenix. The first time I’d seen him was in 1985 in this Joe Dante’s film “Explorers” (introducing Ethan Hawke as co-star). He looked like a nerd in it, and one of my friends whom came with me at the cinema, was totally shocked to hear me say “he’s so cute”. The following films I’ve seen of him was “Stand by me” and “Mosquito Coast”. It made me fall in love with him, physically and on his way of acting. Still, he is the only one whom makes me cry a river (sic) whenever his parents left him behind in “Running on empty”. River Phoenix was not just an actor to my generation, he was an artist : actor, singer, etc. he was plenty of things and, of course, as many, died too young. It will be 20 years next year and I still remember the moment when I heard about his death. It was on the November 1^st 1993, very early morning (probably around 6 am), I was listening to the radio in the bed when the guy on air said that a “young and talented actor just died in L.A. off the Viper Room club”. I was half asleep but I felt that it was River. I hadn’t heard the name and checked out all the radios frequencies to get another “breaking news”, which I did a couple of minutes later and heard “River Phoenix died in L.A.”. Saying that I was astonished, devastated and crying is obviously true. I guess that I cried for half the morning and decided myself over a tattoo that morning with his full name. I had that idea of tattoo in my mind for a long, long, time, but I wasn’t sure of what to do… at the precise moment, I knew. I had to link River to my life. Now that it has been done, I feel happy daily watching at it.

As weird as it can be, a few weeks before his death, I noticed this young british actor called Jude Law, who became one of my favorites… well, basically, my favorite ! The film was “Shopping” and was a real crappy film.

Filmmakers list :

No doubt, I would have loved to be a filmmaker. I like photography and movies and I guess that against all odds, this job is probably the more interesting in the cinema world. I am not keen on being an assistant, but I could apply for the job for any of those filmmakers :

Oliver Stone, Ken Loach, David Fincher, Terry Gilliam, Kenneth Branagh, Tim Burton & Jane Campion (a girl, yes !)…

Indeed, they all are contemporary filmmakers but “old fashion” ones drew my attention too. I like mainly 20’s and 30’s cinema from USA, UK, France, German & Russia.

Saying that Oliver Stone is my biggest fascination in cinema is so obvious. Everyone close to me is sick of hearing me talking about “how great he is”. I already said that I discovered him with “Salvador” and definitely adored his vision after “Talk Radio”. Even though he did some so-so films lately, his vision of life and the world makes me think and want to know more. Sometimes, when you watch a film, you don’t have another purpose in mind that the basic story, but whenever the director of this film opens you the world and makes you wonder about a certain topic ;  it is the main point for me. Stone is this kind of people. He basically puts a clue in the film he directs that makes me want to know about that. I guess that I read many books on Salvador, Vietnam war, Alexander the Great, etc. after watching his films. Then, I like his vision of the world.

For Ken Loach, his way of filming social environment and problems is just true and sensitive at the same time. Two of his films I love the most are “ae fond kiss”, a true love story with cultural difference, and the magnificent “When The Wind Shakes The Barley”. Nothing worth this film ! The irish context, the relationship between the brothers and the sacrifices, the difficulty of conviction and to stay focused on a decision, etc., everything is just perfect. It is one of the most moving films I’ve seen. I can’t help crying at the end of it. 

As for Terry Gilliam, I just adore his craziness and his amazing stories ! Nothing else can be added. Gilliam is just Gilliam. You like it or not. That is.

Kenneth Branagh is quite academic, very technical and his Henry V version is one the most remarkable I’ve seen. 

Tim Burton and his imagination and his way of telling are just fabulous. “Sleepy Hollow” is just a jewel of beauty and romantic moments, despite the bloody environment ! 

As for Jane Campion, the only woman from my listing, fascinates me because she has a poetry in her films. “Bright Star” is the typical sample. The images are pure, the movements are just so soft and the colors pop up to your eyes.

films list : 

The hardest part for me. I checked out the DVDs I own to try out to find out a shorter list. I could not make up my mind. I still can’t. Thus, here are the very few I love to watch regularly :

Seven, eXistenZ, Sleepy Hollow, The Breakfast Club, Half Nelson, Wall Street, Babel, Ae Fond kiss, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, Usual Suspects, Running on Empty, Mosquito Coast, Bright Star, Across the Universe, Peter Pan & Penelope.. and MANY MORE !

Among all those films, The Breakfast Club is special to me. It’s just my teenage film and the wonderful moment of cinema… here is  :

Any student and pupil should see this film with a very teenage eyes and the fact that, whatever you are, you are truly living the best age of your lives !

Cinema & I

I can’t remember a single evening without watching a movie when I was a kid. Here again, my grandparents were the teachers. Western films were popular and my granddads loved them. War, Thrillers or suspense films too. They let me watch 20’s films like “Le Cuirassé Potemkine” which was fascinating. I saw French, American, British, German films from 20’s to 70’s. From 7 to 14, I was just influenced by my family tastes, my friends’ and classmates’ or the teenage magazines’ choices. One of my first love was Western (Ford, Hathaway, Fonda) and some musicals.

Two films changed my point of view on movies : Outsiders by Francis Ford Coppola (1983) & Salvador by Oliver Stone (1986).

“Outsiders” were a shock because I had never heard about that novel before and never been interested into American 60’s culture (I was 13 then). But the context, the story and the characters were extremely attractive. The way Coppola filmed it too. I remember going to the bookstore to get a copy of the novel and read it straight after. I think that I saw this movie about 4 times within the month ! So far, whenever I watch to it, the feelings pop up and I am still moved to tears immediately. And believe me, I am not an emotive person at movies !

The second shock was directed by American director Oliver Stone ; His film popped up in my cinema life and everything changed. His film : Salvador. I was not supposed to go and see this movie at the theater but my classmates I went to movies with, weren’t that keen on this film and I refused to go and see this “stupid teenage” film they wanted to. So, I went on my own and it was an astound. I’d heard about the Salvador political situation as I am into History but I was not prepared to such violence and images. Oliver Stone became my true favorite director and so far, even though some films weren’t that good, he’s still the most significant filmmaker for me.

I love a lot of movies and I am a good audience when it comes to films. The only category I don’t really like is romcom as American called it : Romantic Comedies. I am not that romantic and a very few romantic films fancy me. The last one I truly liked was “Bright Star” directed by Jane Campion, based upon John Keats’ life… you know, back to Literature and poetry !

In opposite, I like thrillers, Sci-Fi, Historic drama or social films. Apart from Oliver Stone, my favorite directors are Ken Loach, Terry Gilliam, David Fincher, and Kenneth Branagh. Of course, many others directed films I really loved and that I can watch many times, but those directors influenced the creative part of me.

For instance, I guess that Ken Loach still does a great job and “ae fond kiss “ and “The Wind that skakes the Barley” are two must-see.

I am used to go twice a week at movies, but sometimes I don’t have enough time to do so. TV is good alternative solution because you can watch at movies you missed and judge by yourself. I don’t like popular films because this effect of “you must like this film” irritates me. I’ve noticed that the most popular films the fewer enthusiasm I get. I have to be surprised, thrilled and speechless whatever the category of the film is. For Instance, among the latest films I adored, Fincher’s “Seven” is probably on the top of the list. Fincher is a genius ! Literally ! The audience was fascinated with Seven and Fincher made us realized that reality is probably worse than imaginary.

I could go on and on about movies I liked. I should do a list of my “true favorite films”, but it would be too ostentatious and too long to be done in this paper.

Just a few more words about movies ; I can’t talk about movies without mentioning actors. Here again, a few really got me. Some are dead now, some aren’t. But they will keep on mesmerizing me. I would just pay a tribute to one of those : River Phoenix. 

History & I

History… Gosh ! What do I want to explain my link to History for ? Again, it’s a family “business” ; Again involving my grandparents, father & uncle. I can not remember a single day without hearing a “History” conversation, whatsoever. My interest of the WWI & WWII came from my grandparents whom shared with me all theirs souvenirs from those periods. The Middle Ages, the castles, the wars in general came from my father. My uncle interested me into South American & Russian Histories. As far as I’m concerned, I am into german History from 1919 to 1949 and into Russian History from 1790 to 1953. Then, I am fond of History of England & Ireland. Hungary & Chile draw my attention too.

In fact, I am a History freak. I have so many books about History and collect on a few characters and I buy too many more books yearly to expand my shelves without feeling disturbed by the volume of it. One of my most important collections is upon German soldier, Erwin Rommel. I treasure any book I own on him and some photos/postcards/military papers.

When I’ve decided to write a book upon my village in Périgord, it was mainly History which interested me. Geography, Places & people were attracted of course, but knowing how the village had been built, upon which treaty, with whom nobles families, etc. was way to be fascinating for me to stop looking for in Libraries. I wish I could have worked more on that book but I was already working full time and I didn’t had that much spare time to travel by and to major libraries (which some could say it is not an obvious excuse, I bet !). I think that I did a decent job and I am still looking from archives to find out extras details. I think that my whole life shall be devoted to that purpose.  Nevertheless, this village is tiny and wasn’t famous, even though it was strategically located and had been a main interest to many people (Churches, Nobility, etc.).  

In fact, I believe that we have a historic inheritance to carry on our shoulders. We all are from a culture, a religion, a country (or more) and have this legacy in our blood. History has to be shared within a family and beyond that to a larger level. I feel like my family historian and just want to keep on putting along the photos and stories I’ve learnt all my life through the ancients. Nevertheless, I bet that, one day, this legacy would die, more or less, but without roots I think one can’t move on. I remember that an old classmate was adopted and when he turned 16, despite the love he had for his adoptive parents, he went to the country where he was born and looked for any history of his family. He didn’t meet any of them, if I can remember that clearly, but he found out a few papers and a photo in the file of the administration. He told me later that he had found his roots and that he could move on in life with his beloved parents on his side. He was happy to know that he belonged to a civilization and culture and was richer from that diversity.

About History in general, both sides have to be read, learnt and understood. You can know only one part of the story. Both sides have interest for Historians and for any person. My father taught me that before taking a decision on a historic fact, I needed to know both parts of the story (or third, if you consider “neutral situation”). I respected that teaching and I am trying to do so.

Whatever you believe in or think of, you need to stay focus that what you were not living at that period of time and you can’t judge from your actual perspective. It would be a deviation of the History. I often remember the discussion I had a few years ago about a book “The Reader” with some acquaintances. They were saying that it was obviously a shame to evocate the possibility of this woman living freely after what she’d done in the WWII. I answered back that they were judging the book over the nowadays knowledge of this period of the war and weren’t taking the ambience back then.

Nor, I won’t be able to say which side I would have been during WWII in France : resistance or the people whom lived egoist not caring about the others to save their own lives. Now, in 2012, no doubt that I shall tell you “I’d have been a resistant” knowing that France was liberated in 1944 and that Resistance sort of won on the battlefield. But, back then, without any clue of the victory, under the Nazi doctrine, with an army totally lost and beaten, with a collaboration political system, I would have probably decided to stay on my path, trying to get food, be safe (and my family) and hoping for better days without being arrested, tortured or slaughtered.

That is why I love History. You have to put yourself in another situation trying out to discern how to react and to think. Moreover, History fascinates me because of all those people whom lived and died for thousand years to build the world I live in. All the sacrifices, the hopes, the defeats, the joys, the wars, the treaties of peace, which lead to today world, had been done from people whom believed in the future. They were not thinking about you, but only their children.

Anyhow, I now think of them and I am grateful, truly obliged. 

Photography & I

I’ve always seen photography in my family. My grandfather on mother’s side was used to take a lot of pictures. He shot some excellent photos when he was sailing oceans back in the 30’s. On my mother’s side, we own a lot of photography from family members which I cherish truly. Those great grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins from another century (19e) with their costumes, their attitudes, look like they are still alive and real. The happiness to look at a photo of your ancestor and realize that you look like her/him is huge and endlessly agreeable.

I don’t know how it comes to me, but I got a camera when I was 7 and started to take photography. I really loved that pleasure and I never stop so far. The first photo I took was a castle nearby Périgord area and its reflect in the lake encircled it. It is not the best photo ever, but I am very proud of it. I kept on learning and shooting. When I turned 12, I realized that apart from architecture, flowers, animals and people, I could take fashion, dresses, models etc. I’ve been a fan of fashion since I was around 10, sketching dresses and I discovered fashion magazines in the attic of my family House. Then, I’ve been keen on models (such as Renee Toft Simonsen, in 1982) and was enthralled by fashion and clothing. Fashion photography opened a large universe to me. You can unite very different themes in a single photo : fashion of course, dress-shoe-hairdo, but always architecture, nature, colors, etc ; recreating an imaginary scene, purpose and changing completely a person. The magic in photography can happen daily.

I am able to stay focused on an animal or a flower for hours to take the right photo. I remember following an ant for about 40 minutes to take it crossing a leaf. Shot and it was a gorgeous one !

 I’ve told you that before, I am not a digital photographer even though I had to be involved in lately due to the lack of rolls of films, but I am fan of rolls, argental camera (Leica & Canon were my first cameras), the one you have to know all the technical aspects of, without risking a blurry image or a total screwed one.

Nowadays, people use digital camera, take photos like they consume goodies : fast and without thinking. All Photoshop or Image software can reduce, correct, ameliorate, brighten, darken or erase a flaw. That is not photography to me. Creating the perfect (or, at least, the closest to perfection) photo without doing a single rectification is very harsh and digital camera assists you in any aspect ! So whatever my digital photo looks like, I don’t correct it. I just barely do it if the client demands it.

Photography is vital to me. I don’t know how to explain the bliss I feel whenever I have a camera in hands. Whatever the subject is, I am someone else, somewhere else, without feeling depreciated or a genius. Just feel myself, alive and happy. Nothing else but writing makes me feel that way.

 Totally blessed indeed. 






photo taken by my granddad in 1929.