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NICOLAS GENETTE | PHOTOGRAPHY Light as brush |
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| CESURE | DIVERGENCE | OCEAN | NATURE | FOVEA | Latest work |
Backstage ! |
You are many, during exhibitions or by this site, to ask me questions about a little more technical aspects of my photography. Film or digital, do you make your prints yourself, what zoom, tripod or not, in studio, special techniques, etc. ... These are all themes that I will try to address here, a visit behind the scenes in short, to provide an initial answer. Which won't prevent us to discuss this next time we meet, of course.
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Why digital
I am in digital image creation for more than twenty years now, when I became interested in computer graphics with my first computer. I discovered Photoshop, 3dsmax, and the possibilities of compositing and video editing. Manufactured Images, far from photography, but I developed an expertise in digital imaging, colorimetry, calibration, etc.. All of which became natural for me but which repels more than one, which I can understand. One of my biggest frustration at that time was related to prints. 15 years ago, I must say that inkjet prints were catastrophic. Very little choice of paper, restricted color ranges, no depth, but above all, greenish or yellowish prints after a few months! It was really not usable at this time ... It's only around 2004 that I get into photography, after having thought about it for a long time but prefering to control all from shot to print, I saw hardly turning my bathroom into chemical laboratory room.. So I waited a certain maturity of digital photography, especially with the advent of affordable DSLRs, to get into smoothly, integrating it into my digital knowledge and experience. It is also very recently that inkjet prints have reached a quality and durability which opened them the doors of art galleries and museums. Because I'm focused on quality in everything I do, I knew from the beginning that I would never do posters or prints of lesser quality at 500 or even 150 copies. Everything was combined to put in place a process of quality from shot to print ! Top
Gear
I personally use a Canon 1Ds Mark II body, several optical zoom or fixed, from 17 to 400mm. Essential for me, a robust tripod and a solid and handy ball-head (a Markin M20), and a cable release to avoid vibration (with mirror lock-up of course). Top
Outside shooting
The Cesure collection is more "special" technically speaking, as exclusively shot with long exposures. It's indeed the fundamental theme of the collection, a timeless vision, a pause of time, otherwise invisible as such in reality. These photographs are shot with exaposure around 30sec, so obviously on tripods. Top
Studio shooting
Some photographs are taken in the studio, mainly Fovea and Divergence collections. I don't necessarily have a preference for studio, but I like geting there, alone, quietly, like a producer. The framing approach remains the same, although at working distances much closer, sometimes to the order of mm. But all the work on the light, their placement, their power, their quality, provide other sensations, maybe more surgical. The photographic material, apart studio equipment, remains the same, with the addition of more dedicated lenses, like the 90TSE. The close-up photographs (macro) are done with much closer apertures to maintain some depth of field. This highlights a common problem: dust! So we must also know how to clean a sensor ! Top
Development
All development work is done on the computer and not anymore under the enlarger (position altogether more comfortable!), with software dedicated in the development of these files, such as Lightroom. This software can finetune exposure, contrast, color temperature, change to black and white, but are not manipulation software. I make no manipulation on photographs, and use photoshop only to better control the quality of the print. If a photograph is a dude, photoshop won't change that, but rather another shot! Development is an important part of the process in more than one way. First, because it can guide the shot towards the vision and the sensations perceived during the shooting, like choosing black and white, square format, high-contrast, etc.. But it's also the technical quality of development which allow high quality large prints, in terms of tonal transitions, grain, density, etc.. On a large print, any smallest defect is made visible ! Prints
Achieving such prints requires some investment and a significant rigor. Shooting and development are oriented from the beginning towards high quality prints. I work on a calibrated screen displaying faithfully the photographs I work on in terms of colors, contrast and tonality. I have a color profile per couple inks-paper to calibrate it, and thus be sure that throughout the chain, the photograph on which I work will be faithfully printed on paper, with a maximum depth. The prints themselves are made in the rules of art, on acid-free art paper, selected for their rendering and their longevity. The printing process is the Digigraphie, on large format Epson, with pigment inks. These inks, encapsulated, retain their properties over time. This process, on such papers, produce prints that are durable more than 100 years. Finally, each print is signed and dated, with a pencil also with pigment ink, and accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity (Hahnemühle, unfalsifiable watermark), giving the date of the print, the title of the photograph, the paper used, etc.
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ConclusionWell, this little tour behind the scene ends. I hope that answers some of your questions, and will complete it from time to time. Digital technology offers great possibilities for treatment, but because we can do it not mean we must do it. I choose digital because I was surrounded by digital creation long before photography, but over the years, I realize that I have a more film, a more painting approach. I prefer spending time with the subject and the camera than spending hours on a computer ! The rest is a matter of vision, care, and rigorous processes. That takes some skill and time, but ultimately allows me to provide quality work, and share my feelings with you. A complex relationship with technology, but in photography and art in general, I would even say in life, what is more important than sharing and exchange ? Nicolas Genette, April 24, 2010 "S'il est vrai que je suis poète par la grâce de Dieu - ou du diable -, je le suis aussi par la grâce de la technique et de l'effort." |
One question that comes up most, especially after seeing the prints, is: "Are you shooting with film ?"
When I started, I looked deeply into photographic technique in order to identify possibilities and best use of them compared to what I felt and how to pass it through an image. I confess that in recent years, it interests me a lot less and I finally speak little about technique. Yet one aspect that often comes up in discussions. Most digital cameras today are of such quality that it makes little difference, which has just always been the case. At most we must carefully choose our gear according to what we want to do and what we expect from it. This is a tool, which requires skills, but it does not create anything!
Generally, I shoot very ... few ! I may have uses the burst mode once, to see what it is... My feeling of photography is really towards the shot, I am taking my time, first to observe, let me invade by the subject, and inspiration do the rest. Sometimes I go an entire day without having triggered once. That is something we do not control, and I learned to live with it, especially not to try to force it. I shoot very little, I frame only in the viewfinder, and photograph 90% of time on tripods, with a cable release. Not necessarily out of conviction but because it suits me best. This allows me to always work at low ISO and preserve maximum image quality. So, I have very little editing to do (the selection of photographs to keep), and I never reframe/crop my photographs. Square formats are just cut on the edges. I use square more and more, It gives me some stability in the picture, so I changes my focusing screen in order to frame square while shooting.
A studio is an investment in equipment: flashes, backgrounds, umbrellas, softboxes, trigger system, tripods, and a whole bunch of accessories ... It's also a different way of working, another approach to the subject and light, much more technical, but also very creative! Everything is possible and anything goes! No need to wait for hours these 5 mins of amazing luminosity at the end of the day! The lair of light...
I shot digital, specifically in raw data sensor format, the "raw". This format allows you to keep all sensor informations, and especially not to apply any automatic treatment. The body thus serves only to shoot, as with film, with exposure, ISO and aperture.
For me, the purpose of photography is definitely the print ! This site show my work allround the world, and fit this role very well, but comparing a picture on the internet or on a screen and a print is pointless. Some exhibitions are printed by some professional labs on very large prints or for exterior (coating), but my concern is small series of "handmade" prints, so I personnally do all the prints I sell myself.
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