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. 

Caterpillars...

I told you many times how fond of photography I am… and I can stay quiet and silent for hours to take the perfect picture. I learnt photography with a Leica, so at that time, you couldn’t delete the photo, Photoshop it or correct it automatically with your digital camera. The camera focus and parameters were your vision, your way of thinking and your learning in data. So, even if I do use a digital camera nowadays, I don’t use automatic data, I am still in manual using and I just want to control that myself.

Because the digital automatic looks for the best photo, the flawless photo, I don’t ! I learnt that somehow the flaws are the best in life. So, many of my photos might be a bit flawed but they are not Photoshopped ! I don’t use that. I am not trying to twist the reality. If my photo is not that good, it is not that good.

As for this photo with those 2 lovely caterpillars, I followed them both for about 2 hours on the walnut tree in our garden. Yes, 2 hours ! Everyone in the house were yelling “Izzy, lunch time for God’s Sake !”… but I wanted to shoot my caterpillars first ! They were great models.

Then the miracle happened. They did exactly what I was expecting.  Aren’t they lovely ?

Arctic Monkeys gig in Paris

First of all, I need to confess something : I am a huge admirer of Blur. A fan, if you prefer. I’ve been in love with Blur since june 1990 and still. And I just realized that I never explain my taste in music… another paper will come soon to talk about “my music universe”.

Anyhow, Blur has been my first and true musical love for 22 years now, but back  in 2005/2006, my ears stopped over a MySpace page pointed by one of my former boyfriend. Fans were putting videos and songs from a Sheffield (UK) band whom didn’t even know about that page ! 

I liked them immediately ; They captured my ears and I decided to follow those young teenagers.

When they appeared on MySpace, they were very young, around 17/18 years old, but Alex Turner, Arctic Monkeys frontman/singer/compositor/author, had already this nervousness charisma behind a post-adolescent face

Whatever some say, I didn’t fell for Turner. I still don’t. I like his voice, his way of performing, his way of writing songs and his fucking talent ! He is gifted ! I often compare him to Damon Albarn, Blur frontman, because of his skills and huge abilities to do anything related to music. He already did 4 albums for Arctic Monkeys, 1 with co-star Miles Kane within the combo The Last Shadow Puppets, 1 soundtrack (Submarine) and co-wrote last Kane’s album. So, this young, tiny and boy-next-door is just one of the happy few whom can do anything !

I already saw them several times in concert and in the early years, they were static on stage, very shy and a bit surprised to be here in front of an audience, but lately, they are turned to be performers !

I saw them last late august in Paris while Rock en Seine festival. They were good but the audience wasn’t only their fans… So, when, I’ve been informed of their 3 gigs in Paris early 2012, I had to go to, at least, one. I would have loved to attend to the Olympia one, but I had another appointment away from Paris. I went to the Casino de Paris on January 31rd.

I am not going to mention the audience, because all ages were represented and some seemed to come in without having a damn clue about the band.

After Miles Kane excellent performance, Arctic Monkeys came on stage and Turner was terrific ! Looked like a 50’s rock singer but quite sexier … They performed greatly and really put fire in the Casino de Paris.  Some songs were perfectly sung and I truly appreciated the show. 

My fave songs this time were Brianstorm, Crying Lighting, Don’t Sit Down ‘Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair, Pretty Visitors, She’s Thunderstorms, Do Me A Favour, When The Sun Goes Down and, of course, the already mythic 505 (video below).

I had a ball there. It was just wonderfully great to attend with my friends and share this gig with them.

Those 4 little guys from Sheffield would be greater and greater. Just follow Turner’s path !  He deserves  it ! 

a tomato, my grandma & I

My grandparents were used to make veggies in the garden and my grandma, until the day before her death, made the garden proper and wonderful. One day, we went to pick up some veggies and I noticed those 2 tomatoes. But it was a dry and hot day ; Nothing exciting to take a picture of. I asked my grandma to put some water over the tomatoes while I was taking a shot. It looks like dawn dew but it’s fake !  We had so much fun doing this photo. We burst into laugh a couple of times and I even had to put my camera down because I could not stop laughing.

But whenever I watched to this photo, I can clearly see my grandma pointing the watering can over the wooden stake, smiling and laughing. It was just one of our lovely moments spent together in the family house. She was thrilled when she  saw the result of the photo. She loved it and asked me to frame it and put it on one of the house walls.

I am proud of this photo because it occurs that you only need a little help and a kind of “magic” to transform a tremendous moment to a lovely photo.

Have a lovely, peaceful, tremendous and glorious New Year 2012

Wishing you the better and more for 2012... Pick up one single goal and achieve it the best you can...

Moon and back...

I just had a great moment with my darling cousin and we had a wonderful conversation... talked about full moon and I thought that I should share that with you and her...

It's obvious that we are family, because we are quite alike somehow... We are both talented and real artists... (oh, boy !)...

To my fave cousin !