France

RIVERS OCEAN, THE LANDSCAPE OF MISSISSIPPI’S COLORS

On my final day in Arles I went to see Nicolas Floc’h‘s marvelous exhibit. When I first entered the large space, I was somewhat disappointed. On the left-hand wall were several large, framed prints, each of a single colour. Opposite, on a diagonal partition bisecting the room was a grid of smaller framed prints with different colours in each column and each row showing a top-to-bottom darkening gradient of the image above it. These were all images taken in different spots and depths of the Mississippi. But, as you turn a corner, to view the other side of the partition and the other 2 walls of the space and a small, windowed alcove, you discover something much more interesting. There are large B&W prints of spots travelled to along the Mississippi and its many tributaries and feeder rivers with a tall stack of colour images showing the colours of light in the water at different depths at that location.

Transcendence

After the Musée Réattu I did finally find my way to Vague to see the Transcendence show.

La Petite Ceinture

Almost a year ago, I visited a delightful park in Paris called La Petite Ceinture (the little belt), created on the remains of a disused little railroad circuit. Imagine my surprise to see this photo story at the Musée Réattu taken back when the railroad still ran.

Musée Réattu

Hunting for the Transcendence show at Vague, I came upon the Réattu Museum, its courtyard and windows on the river (Rhône). I came upon a well-known French photographer with whom I was not familiar, Jean-Claude Gautrand, who documented many important stories for the latter half of the 2oth century and into the 21st. Click on images below to see them larger.

I Shutter to Think…

More Arles street scenes

Par-ty!

There are lots of late night parties at Arles. At this one I noted the colour of the sky against the colour of the lighting.

Tower Steps

In the last post on La Tour I had been trying to see Joel Coen introduce his curation of Lee Friedlander’s photographs but the crowds were too big and I was turned away. I returned the next day to see the show without Joel and capture some more of the stark geometry of the place.

Lord of Things

Michel Medinger creates still life images from constructions of objects he has collected. Learn more about this show here.

Neither give nor throw away

Sophie Calle’s well known project, The Blind, was spoiled by flooding and subsequent mold. At Arles, she gave it all a final resting place, together with some other items of hers that she no longer wanted but wasn’t prepared to throw away. Read all about it here and see more below (click to enlarge).

I missed it

Sitting in the shade at the Place de la République I saw this priest walking across the square and reached for my camera. By the time I had it out of the bag, he had turned and started chatting with this cyclist and the shot was gone. In the meantime, other photographers were attempting images with their Leicas (lots of older men wandering around with Leicas in Arles, shooting, I don’t know what…). Anyway, I clearly missed the shot and didn’t even nail the exposure.

Wash Day

Glass Cube

I’m not sure what this structure was exactly. It’s a reflective cube built over a pond or marsh that one reaches via the short footbridge in the lower left quadrant of this image. I couldn’t resist walking across to see and, of course, take a reflective self-portrait, below.

Arles Reflections

École National Supérieure do la Photographie, Arles, France

Vista

École National Supérieure de la Photographie, Arles, France

The End of Arles

La Tour

The heart of Luma is Gehry’s La Tour (the Tower). An interesting structure on the outside, it boasts more entertainments and interest on the inside. It was here that I saw Joel Coen’s curation of Lee Friedlander’s work. The images below are all interior shots (click on them to enlarge).

Arles Street Scenes

Arles is lovely and quaint. I don’t know what it feels like to live in any of these buildings but they possess an ancient , very European charm and a certain grandeur to look at. Click any of the images below to see them full sized.

Portrait of the Artist as a Dog

Magnum had an event with lots of their photographers conducting book signings and an exhibit of a dialog of photographs and commentary on Gaza. Needless to say, I found the one place where I could photograph myself. I tried to line myself up with the legs in Erwitt’s famous photograph but failed.

Three Trees

Love is Blind?

After seeing the powerful Mary Ellen Mark retrospective and Reflection: Japanese Photographers Facing the Cataclysm at the Espace van Gogh, I moved on to see some lenticular images by Mustapha Azerroual and Marjolaine Levy at the Cloître Saint-Trophime and, as is my wont, I photographed the space rather than the exhibit (see below).