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Inspiration
One week in Perpignan, for the traditional photo festival Visa pour l'Image, admiring the inspiring work of great photojournalists and improving my understanding of the world, in its best and worst aspects.Back at the office, the portraits of two of my colleagues stand next to a condolence book. Another source of motivation. We better have to be outstanding now...
05 September 2015: Visa pour l'Image, Perpignan, France.
Intifada
The room smells like books (Wonderland, At War) while Chet Faker is competing surprisingly well against an inspired Bonobo (listen to the last minutes). I feel my heart beat slowing down.My two phones have been switched off, new symbol of a laissez aller, encouraging my brain to let go and to enjoy the fresh breeze. I wish I could be dancing in a cold fjord.After 3 months and 7 days, my plane-free detox stopped, with a return to Europe announcing the beginning of a new mission. I am, finally, going to Yemen.And the music get louder…
Cycle(s)
More than 10 years after its publication, I read again the book/comic "The Photographer", taking place in Afghanistan and particularly in Badakhshan. Strange feeling than to realize that what was a source of amazement and admiration a few years ago is now a source of memories and nostalgia. Working in Afghanistan wasn't always easy but definitely was a fantastic and rewarding experience. End of a cycle... for now.
21 February 2015: Bagan, Myanmar/Burma
Now, with my bags and trunks ready, a new standby started today. New mission in Yemen and already a feeling of frustration not to be there with and for my team. Soon... inch'allah.
24 February 2015: Mandalay, Myanmar/Burma
Evolution
2001: My first flight ever to Southeast Asia is booked and a wave of panic is hitting me, hard, as I am realizing I am about to leave my confort zone. “What am I gonna do if I fall sick, can’t communicate with people or simply don’t feel comfortable, so far from home?"
24 February 2015: U Bein bridge, next to Mandalay, Myanmar/Burma
2015: I'm reading at the back of a taxi driving to Bangkok center. My body is relaxing while my mind is getting increasingly excited about the idea of going to my favorite Japanese restaurant in town. While I look outside, checking if the driver is taking the right road, I start thinking of the different places I like in Bangkok and would like to go back to in the coming days. Once again, being here suddenly feels like Home.
20 February 2015: Mr. Aye Kyaw Htay, vendor in Zegyo Market, Mandalay, Myanmar/Burma
And while my heartbeat keeps dropping, I wonder how I would have reacted, back then, in 2001, if someone had predicted 2015 to me. A punch in his face, maybe. Or, more certainly, a stronger panic attack... ;-)
In(ner) Peace
“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” - Rumi
Yes, 10 days of yoga and meditation make you more flexible, quiet and a bit cheesy ;-).
16 February 2015: Glen, Koh Pha Ngan, Thailand
Heading back to Myself
End of mission. Ciao radio, security checks, curfews, IEDs and 24/7 phone. Welcome deep sleeps, books, massages, good food and inner silence. Southeast Asia, I'm coming back.
21 January 2015: Majid, Samanghan province, Afghanistan.
Introspection
Time flies. Two years ago, I was in Yaounde, Cameroon, wondering if my new job really was for me. Today, I am writing my end of mission report in Afghanistan, waiting for a good break, already knowing another challenge is coming.
14 January 2013: Sarah, waiting in Yaounde, Cameroon.
The Last Rocker of Mazar
Miles Davis and a smelly bukhari (Afghan fuel heater) are warming up my mood and room. Earlier in the afternoon, I got the very stupid idea of looking at readers's comments on a Swiss newspaper's website. Reading so many bitter people expressing their frustration on any single subject they could, without even knowing what they are talking about, raised a few questions in my mind. Is bashing everyone and everything around them making them feel better? Why are they considering themselves as "being a 100% Swiss" and why would it matter? "Hell is other people" wrote Sartre...But who cares... I finally got the chance to take a portrait I was initially supposed to take a year ago :-)
20 December 2014: Curzio, Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan.
Redefining Priorities
After more than a year in the field with a technically limited camera (poor or no AF, limited ISO, poor ergonomic), I bought last Summer a Fuji X-T1 with two lenses. It is not the first time that I'm trying to have a smaller camera, easier to carry than my usual Canon 5D and lenses (filing a backpack on their own). I bought a few compact cameras in the past but never really felt confortable with them and finally always preferred to work with my Canon. However, 18 months ago, the security situation in the places where I was working and the difficulty to travel with that heavy backpack forced me to change my plans and to use for some time a camera, limited to max 800 or 1600 ISO, with a pathetic AF system but great picture quality.While it restricted the number or kind of shots I could take (e.g. low light portrait), it surprisingly also improved my way of shooting. It forced me to better prepare my shoots, to care less about sharpness and more about content. And because I did not have enough shutter speed at low light, I was then forced to improve my slow shutter speed skills, learning something new.Since I bought a Fuji X-T1, I received several times the same questions "Is it better than Canon?" "Don't you miss a full frame sensor"? No, it is not as good as Canon (slower auto-focus, less ergonomic). But I can carry it with me more easily and adapt my pictures to its limitation. Like too many before me, I certainly wasted way too much time in the past focusing on equipment or picture's sharpness, rather than trying to improve my pictures and my eye.I had the pleasure to talk lately with another enthusiastic photographer about camera, photography in general and how photography coule make us become more attentive of things around us. A particular light, some expressions or any small details, making our life a bit different. And that's certainly what matters to me. Photographing those instants, those details that I like; or capturing some faces or moments I would like to keep for me.Maybe my camera can not shoot all the things another one could (e.g. challenging sport shots). But at least, I can have it with me in any bag and take the kind of shots I really like.
21 November 2014: A bread vendor during a buzkashi match in Mazar-e-Sharif, Northern Afghanistan
Back on his Feet
Taking pictures during an official visit has never been my favorite activities in photography. The usual same handshaking, the same discussion, the same attitudes and the same problems to manage (remain discrete, try to fit as many VIP as possible in the frame, avoid people looking at me, etc...). Not unpleasant, but usually not the most exciting neither. Except when side moments give you some interesting opportunities...
22 November 2014: A young patient at the ICRC orthocenter in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan
For my first weekend in months without setting a foot in my office, it actually feels weird, but nice, to end up processing two big batches of pictures again.
Winter is Coming
2°C in Kunduz and a strange feeling of déjà vu.
07 February 2014: Ghulam Hussein, Kunduz, Afghanistan
Up in the Air
My good old friend Bonobo is flirting with my ears with his new album live. And time and gravity don't exist anymore...
Stress management lesson One
17 October 2014: Talia, Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan
Uzbek Break
Quick visit to Uzbekistan, for the weekend of Eid. It is always very surprising to find tourists, bars, women laughing in the streets and perfectly restored ruins, only a few hours north of Afghanistan. Even more when some vendors address you first in French and then in English...
04 October 2014: Uzbek vendor and artist in Bukhara, Uzbekistan
05 October 2014: Mir-i Arab madrasa, Po-i-Kalyan complex, Bukhara, Uzbekistan
Humans of Afghanistan
Driving about 20km to visit an old city and listening to a guy speaking about the challenges faced when renovating the local mosque is rarely a weekend highlight. But when it happens in Afghanistan, visiting Balkh city and the Masjid Sabz (Green Mosque) becomes a fantastic adventure. Another reminder that, without the war, Afghanistan could be a great place for tourism and trekking.
16 August 2014: Young Afghan in Balkh city, Northern Afghanistan
P.S: And yes, I'm the happy (so far) owner of a Fuji x-t1 with a 23mm 1.4. Let's see what I can do with it...