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Happy New Year / Meilleurs Voeux 2014


winter trees

Branches and Clouds


ENGLISH:

May you have a beautiful year coming.

We are now sinking into the dead of winter, and eventually we will all be longing for spring. There is something that may help you in this quest, a break before spring:
Monsieur Contraste is coming to town.

That's right,
Monsieur Contraste and The Church of Photography will combine 9 screenings with 9 Churches of Photography for the first time in the world, at the Carrack Modern Art, February 19 through March 1. Only 50 seats are available each evening, so please reserve early. The first event, Feb 19, will be attended by Monsieur Denis Barbet, Consul Général de France in Atlanta, and is dedicated to the French community. The tickets for all events are already on sale here.

These events are sponsored by
Whole Foods and Wine Authrorities. A few other princes of the local food scene are on their way to join. Stay posted.

Please watch the trailer and you will understand why Whole Foods is supporting this event. In essence, they think that the world will be better served if I keep doing what you know me for!

I look forward to seeing you in February. Stay warm in the meantime.

FRANÇAIS :


Tous mes voeux pour 2014.

Dans les semaines à venir, l'hiver va continuer d'étendre son emprise. Eventuellement nous en viendrons tous à languir pour le printemps. Un peu de répit vous sera alors offert:
Monsieur Contraste arrivera à Durham, Caroline du Nord, et il suffira de faire le voyage, bien sympathique à cette période de l'année.

En effet, en avant première des beaux jours,
Monsieur Contraste and The Church of Photography va proposer 9 projections combinées avec 9 Eglises de la Photographie, pour la première fois au monde, et au Carrack Modern Art, à Durham, N.C, du 19 Février au 1er Mars, 2014.
Poster Monsieur Contraste
Seulement 50 places chaque soirée, réservez aussi tôt que possible. La soirée du 19 Février se tiendra en compagnie de Monsieur Denis Barbet, Consul Général de France à Atlanta, et est dédiée à la communauté française. Réservez vos tickets pour toutes les soirées ici.

Cet événement est soutenu par Whole Foods et Wine Authorities qui proposera notamment un superbe vin de la Drôme (mon département natal) en exclusivité mondiale.

Regardez la bande annonce et vous comprendrez pourquoi Whole Foods soutient cet événement.
Green forest
Ils pensent que le monde sera mieux servi si je continue d'accomplir quotidiennement ce pour quoi vous me connaissez.


J'espère vous voir en Février. Restez bien au chaud d'ici là.






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Monsieur Contraste World Premiere




Cucalorus Film Festival_Thalian Hall



TEXTE FRANCAIS EN BAS DU BILLET



From the minute Rodrigo Dorfman asked me, 18 months ago, if I wanted him to do a film on me and my work, I jumped with abandon into this way of explaining the complexity that my life has been, and possibly its merit. We worked for months, just the two of us and
Monsieur Contraste emerged. I was delighted early on by the shape that story was taking on screen, and that only got better over the months of fine tuning, but I was also keenly aware that I was too close to the subject, to the making, to fully trust my own judgement, and I could not even find really neutral third parties whose opinion would seem to be impartial. I guess none of this breaks much news.

It was therefore a true liberation to witness the vibration of the public during the premiere, and discover that the reaction was very much along the lines of what I had thought, and actually better. That reaction from the audience even materialized by nice sales at the traveling
Church of Photography that I had set in the main hall thanks to the wonderful spirit of the festival's organizers, and everybody knows that sales are the best compliment an artist can get. José Arthur used to say "the only one that matters."

Until
Monsieur Contraste is shown in your town or on your TV, feel free to watch the trailer as often as you wish.

All in all,
Cucalorus was a delightful experience, a low key event, exempt of the snobbism, red carpets and VIP segregation which is often present in the celebrations of the film industry. Cucalorus takes place in Wilmington, North Carolina, a charming little coastal town which until the beginning of the 20th Century was North Carolina's largest town. There is spanish moss here and a definite feel of the Old South. Nowadays, Wilmington is the third largest production area for film and tv in the U.S., hence the popularity of the film festival in town and the hordes of movie goers and film afficionados.

Among the films I saw was
A Royal Affair, which left me shaken and I have not recovered yet. I hope I never do. This is an historic film about a true story of revolution and romance. It is gripping, elating, revolting, shows how revolutionary ideas (here the enlightenment) progress, and can be stopped. It makes one feel thankful for living in a society that mostly has overcome the situations and dominant philosophy prevalent at the time of the film's story, and it helps understand better why the intellectual evolution is still so slow. See it by all means, this is oscar material.


I knew Wilmington already, had been there numerous times, but had never "lived" in it like I had the opportunity to do thanks to the festival. I will never forget this experience. Wilmington has forever a sweet spot in my heart.

  • Eizo, the manufacturer of the world's best monitors just published an interview of Monsieur Contraste. Read it here.


Here is the press about this:

  • In Wilmington.
  • In the Film Industry.
  • In Durham
  • In Valence, my Home town in France:
    img187
















Wilmington Cape Fear River




TEXTE FRANCAIS:


Dès la première minute, lorsque Rodrigo Dorfman me demanda il y a 18 mois, si je voulais participer à un film qu'il souhaitait faire sur mon travail, je me suis dévoué, corps et âme à sa réalisation. Nous avons travaillé pendant des mois, en tandem, dans les côtes, les pentes et les virages, débouchant éventuellement sur
Monsieur Contraste. Depuis les premières séquences j'étais agréablement surpris par la tournure de l'histoire, et cela n'alla qu'en s'améliorant, forcément. Mais à mon âge on a un montant d'heures au volant suffisant pour savoir, que s'il m'est normalement possible de prendre du recul quant à mon travail photographique pour le jauger assez précisément, cela m'était impossible pour ce film, de même qu'il était difficile aussi de trouver dans mon entourage, des spectateurs parfaitement neutres. Rien de nouveau j'imagine.

La première à Cucalorus me permit donc de prendre pour la première fois la mesure du public, et de vérifier qu'il réagissait mieux en fait que nous l'avions espéré. L'enthousiasme du public alla jusqu'å se concrétiser par des ventes de très bons niveaux à l'Eglise de la Photographie mobile que j'avais installée dans le Hall principal, grâce à la bienveillance des organisateurs du festival. Chacun sait que c'est là le meilleur compliment qui puisse être fait à un artiste, José Arthur disait même "
le seul qui compte."

En attendant la venue de
Monsieur Contraste dans votre ville ou sur votre télévision, vous pouvez voir, revoir et revoir encore la bande annonce.

Cucalorus est un merveilleux festival. dépourvu du snobisme, des tapis rouges et de l'ostentation souvent corollaire des célébrations de l'industrie cinématographique. Le festival a lieu à Wilmington en Caroline du Nord, une petite ville portuaire, qui jusqu'au début du 20ème siècle était la ville la plus importante de l'état. La végétation est subtropicale et l'on sent les réminiscences du Sud de l'ère coloniale. De nos jours Wilmington est par importance, le troisième lieu de production film et TV des Etats Unis, d'où la popularité du festival auprès de la population locale qui souvent directement ou non, gagne sa vie sur les plateaux de cinéma.

Parmi les films que j'ai vu, je recommande très particulièrement "
A Royall Affair" dont je ne me suis pas encore remis, et j'espère ne jamais l'être. Il s'agit d'un film historique au Danemark, une histoire vécue, d'amour et de révolution. Le film prend aux tripes, est bouleversant, révoltant et montre comment les idées nouvelles progressent et peuvent être stoppées. On en sort reconnaissant de ne pas vivre dans une société qui a triomphé de l'obscurantisme accablant l'époque montrée dans le film, tout en mesurant combien notre temps n'est pas fondamentalement différent sur le plan de l'architecture sociale et en comprenant pourquoi l'évolution intellectuelle et culturelle est si lente. A voir absolument, ce film devrait avoir un oscar.


J'étais déjà allé à Wilmington de nombreuses fois, mais n'y avais jamais séjourné. Je n'oublierai jamais ces quelques jours passés là bas, au parfum suave de l'automne près des anciennes rizières.

  • Eizo, le fabricant des meilleurs écrans informatiques au monde, vient de publier une interview de Monsieur Contraste que vous pouvez lire ici.

Voici la presse:

  • à Wilmington.
  • dans l'industrie cinématographique.
  • à Durham.
  • à Valence, la ville où j'ai grandi:
    img187












    Monsieur Contraste Poster



    Cucalorus_Monsieur Contraste Pass



    Cucalorus_Monsieur Contraste_MCe
    The Master of Ceremony introducing Monsieur Contraste.
    La Maîtresse de Cérémonie faisant l'introduction de Monsieur Contraste.



    Cucalorus_Monsieur Contraste




    Cucalorus_MC Dej_850px
    Photo by Rodrigo Dorfman. Lunch on Navy boat on the Cape Fear River.



    Cucalorus_Filmakers lunch
    Film makers lunch on nay boat on the Cape Fear River.
    Déjeuner pour les Festivaliers sur le bateau militaire du port de Wilmington.



    Cucalorus_Thalian Hall Theater
    Thalian Hall theater.


    Cucalorus_Film makers Lounge
    Film makers lounge


    Cucalorus_Monsieur Contraste_Church of Photography
    Traveling church of photography in Thalian Hall



    Cucalorus_White folks
    People I don't know who seem local.
    Inconnus qui semblent être de la région.




    Comments

    Occupy Wall Street Portfolio in Photo technique Magazine



    occupy wall street_Obama


    Discret. 26 Octobre 2011, Zuccotti Park, Manhattan.


    ARTICLE:

    We bought our house 15 years ago. Two doors down lived a fellow and his wife. We eventually started to talk, and when we had our daughters, they became friends. During those years we have had countless dinners together and countless walks strategizing the political future of the nation.

    PT_OWS_2_1000px
    The fellow, Rodrigo Dorfman, turned out to be a filmmaker, and last June he asked if he could make a documentary about me. For years he had quietly observed me do my thing and had started to envision a story, a character. I respected a strategic delay of a few minutes but eventually gave him the only possible answer, and we filmed epically during the summer of 2011.

    Rodrigo and I had both lamented for years about the political apathy in America, why Americans seem- ingly never take it to the streets as in notably Latin countries, from France to Argentina. Consequently,
    when Occupy Wall Street exploded the status quo (although the movie was already in editing stage) we had to include our vision of the movement regardless of the impact on our timeline for submitting our film to festivals.
    I photograph a lot of different situations, from nature to protests, urban myths and political events. I shoot as much as possible with a Hasselblad 503 CX, unless it is indoors. That allows me to make prints up to 43 inches wide. Size matters: a photojournalistic style photograph that large is like a sledgehammer com- pared to a regular hammer. When I need to be lighter, faster or more intimate, I pick up the Leicas.

    The Leica M is the ultimate in comfort and elegance for reportage. It is quiet, quick and the lenses are super crisp. Ultimately the Leica is more conforming to the traditional “raw” feel of photojournalism, while a Has- selblad photograph, with its optical stylization of the out-of-focus and its crystalline resolution and square- ness, has a more sophisticated allure.

    For all its press coverage, it was difficult for me to know what to anticipate at OWS. Would the lack of light mandate the use of the Leicas? Surely there would be a need for the Blad, but who wants to haul that all day and have it in the way for little use? I am not good at compromising and therefore needed to decide on location.

    We adapted our traveling style to the 99 Percent motto and went up with an overnight bus. It would test our physical resilience and we arrived in Chinatown later than planned due to a mechanical failure of the bus. I ended up using the Hasselblad very little, although it produced a couple of extremely precious photographs. But on the whole, because of the low light level, the Leicas were technically required, as well as better suited to this rather unglamorous environment.
    For gear I typically have two Leica M6 TTL bodies with me: one with Ektar 100 film, and one with Ilford FP4 Plus film. I can hand hold to 1/15th, 1/8th if I have to, and I also use a Manfrotto monopod when needed. Except for the Hasselblad that I just carry on my shoulder, everything fits in pouches on my Think- tank pro speed belt, the only belt that stays at the right length even under stress. The Leicas fit nicely in Thinktank “Skin 50s.” This is the best and fastest way I can deal with my gear as well as last a whole day with this kind of load. I also have a beautiful Thinktank Airport Security rolling case when the full Hasselblad gear, including the shifting bodies, is needed.

    In places like OWS I am definitely happy to shoot film. Because of the larger dynamic range it can absorb (which there was huge) due to the difference between the light down low and the sky or the reflections of the glass of the buildings. My Hasselblad scanner can extract every detail on the negative, and all that has more resolution than the digital capture equivalent. It is more work for sure, but I also like the organic nature of the photographs. A little grain gives substance to an image, while no grain is “plastic looking.” I don’t do “faux grain.”

    I am a one-man orchestra. Apart from the raw materials, I do everything including mixing my own chemical formulas. I process my black and white films in PMK, the developer that should warrant a statue somewhere for its inventor Gordon Hutchings. I also process my own color, thanks to my JOBO processor that Greg Blank resurrected from the dead. The JOBO gives me the cleanest possible color negatives I have ever achieved. I proof scan everything with my Epson V750 and Silverfast Studio 8 (see the article in July/August 2010 photo technique).

    Coming up with oversized enlargements from negatives captured on the fly requires low blood pressure and low speed film. I use Noise Ninja soft- ware which is a must in color and in the stratospheric levels of enlargement ratios in black and white. I also use Perfect Resize from OnOne Software, without which I could not fully enlarge the Hasselblad negatives.

    The new keystone of my production is my Eizo ColorEdge CG 275 W monitor which gives me a lot of viewing real estate. It is a high precision device, with a built in calibration system that has resolved the color management issues that had plagued me since switching to Snow Leopard. I print most of my work on Museo Portfolio Rag, which gives me the crispest prints with the right amount of warmth and the highest Dmax I have found.

    Following the completion of Rodrigo Dorfman's film on my work, Monsieur Contraste, Photo technique magazine has published in its May/June issue 2012, a portfolio on my series on the historic Occupy Wall Street encampment in Zuccotti park, Downtown Manhattan.
    PT_OWS_1_1000px
    The article is in the left column and the pages of the magazine are inserted (click to enlarge). The article may be dowloaded in pdf format here.

    The entire Occupy Wall Street series may be viewed on this blog
    here.

    Greg Blank (my Jobo repairman) may be reached at 410-795-7734.



    TEXTE FRANÇAIS :

    Suite à la finalisation du film sur mon travail par Rodrigo :,
    Monsieur Contraste, le magazine américain Photo technique publie dans son numéro de Mai/Juin 2012, un portfolio sur ma série traitant de Occupy Wall Street,
    PT_OWS_3_1000px
    le site historique du mouvement qui a changé la façon dont l'Amérique ressent son establishment. L'article (en Anglais) est dans la colonne de gauche, et les pages du magazine sont insérées (cliquer pour agrandir). L'article peut être déchargé en format PDF ici.

    La série entière peut être vue dans ce blog,
    ici.

    Comments

    Hasselblad Celebrates Monsieur Contraste


    Cervantes_850px_©

    NoTokenChange_850px_©




    On March 19, 2012, Hasselblad published an article, worldwide, on my work and the movie it Monsieur Contraste

    Le 19 Mars 2012, Hasselblad publia, diffusion mondiale, un article dont le sujet était mon immodeste travail et le film à son propos: Monsieur Contraste.

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