Interview with Arnaud Bertrande
#1 Please introduce yourself
First, I’m a French photographer, living Bordeaux. It’s often said that a photograph is a reflection of the “personality” of his photographers. I think this is partly true making it difficult to talk about his photos without talking about his privacy. I am a self-taught man, someone curious, attentive, alert and learning by tracing his own road. I love learning, but in my own way, by studying and reproducing. I prefer practice to theory. I try to to push away the limits of imagination, to stage my dreams and emotions. This is also the beauty of digital technology : to enrich the expressive possibilities of the photo, to open horizons of creation.
#2 How did you get interested in photography?
The passion for photography came to me later, around 2007. I knew I had something to say but I couldn’t find by which medium. And one day, I had a click. Digital photography is a means of expression rapidly accessible. I speak little but I realized that I could speak in pictures. I felt in smells, sensations and emotions, my eye perceives that and can catch it.
#3 Do you have an artistic/photographic background?
No I’m autodidacte. I learn by myself through magazines or web.
#4 Which artist/photographer inspired your art?
I’m more inspired by nature and movies than by photographers while I admire their work.
#5 How much preparation do you put into taking a photograph?
Before you take a picture the place as I seek what I want to do. After that I watch the weather (water, sky). On the spot I take the time to watch, enjoy the moment. After two or three tests shots my picture is taken. Sometimes in the same day or shortly after I returned because my mind has recorded something I had not seen before.
#6 Which places have been your favorite shooting sites so far and why?
Every place I found was a secret. I travel as soon as possible to be enjoyed near of the nature. I seek intense places like Iceland or Scotland. I’m in love with Switzerland because I myself feel good … there beautiful environments for escape and dream.
#7 Photographs with such long exposure make the world look really desolate and lonely. Why have you chosen to present your works in such a form?
By discovering the long exposure, I found the opportunity to work abstraction, loss of bearings. A part of me can express itself through this technique, everything which concerned in escape, purity, dream trip.
I’m not interested in classical long exposure, I prefer to seek detachment from reality, this shift into another dimension, in a more intimate interior and imagination.
I try to to push away the limits of imagination, to stage my dreams and emotions. This is also the beauty of digital technology : to enrich the expressive possibilities of the photo, to open horizons of creation. Despite the use of a digital box square format has emerged naturally.
This format appears to be closed and strict allows me instead of working the notion of infinity and freedom.
Today I realized three series: Histoire d’ô, Dark City and Mystery. Each series has its history.
“Histoire d’Ô” is a series of long exposures taken on the theme of water. It’s all a part of me that is expressed through this technique, all that relates to the escape, the purity, the perfect journey. This work on white, on white light represents for me an opening on the poetry, a passage to somewhere else exotic, softer, smoother, more peaceful.
“Dark City” is a series in black and white on the theme of the city.
The work on light and shadow draws the black areas of the imagination with subtlety. The night here is éternelle..Man is a mere spectator invisible without a past, in search of its future.The work on the black strengthens the dark and mysterious side of the city. The technique of long exposure sometimes leads a stream of light making us lose track marks in time and space.
“Mystery” is a series in black and white high contrast plunging us into a mysterious world sometimes scary. Silence is the key to the mystery. The sky and water are two opposing elements. He sometimes has a balance of power. Nature shows her “dark” side and we do travel to the unknown.
#8 What do you do in your life besides photography?
I dream 🙂 I do sports (diving, squash and running), I go to movies regularly (it inspires me a lot) and I try to go to various exhibitions. I don’t go out much but when I’m out I go to nature.
Website: www.abertrande.com
