Raymond sees his DEPARDON books published in the Collection Points Seuil, pocket size. These are beautiful books well edited and accessible, then you should take advantage ... is what I am trying to do and in fact I think I bought all the available titles. I've read / seen most for several weeks. Let me tell you about those three: Around the World in 14 days , Solitude happy traveler and Wandering .
The driving principle of first Around the World in 14 days (subtitled "7 stops, 1 visa") is simple. Depardon decides to take a tour of the planet by going to places where possible, cities it does not already know. This applies, for example, Washington, Singapore, Honolulu, Cape Town. The common thread is the journey aimlessly. Each call is vaguely presented and succinctly captioned each photo. The images seem very uneven quality, in proportion to the interest that Depardon places as he breezed through. The volume ends on a note a bit silly: the earth is round ... : /
Notes , two interviews Depardon twenty years apart. The first is extremely poorly written: in 1978 Depardon is already at its peak photographic art, but it has not yet refined his writing. The "there" awkwardly punctuate the text, in a tone of false rough type "in life, there is" , or rather "in the photo, there a. .." . The result is quite distressing to blankness and vagueness. In the second interview, the 1998 is unfortunately the interviewer who strike while undergoing psychoanalysis countertop photos Depardon. Equally distressing. Fortunately there are the pictures that follow, entitled The Solitude happy traveler, while relegated to the end of the volume of a block, after the speech. As something that be earned. And in this case, these photos are among the best Depardon, as far as I know them. The problem (as he always there is one) is that it is compiled: gather the best photos of Depardon for grandstanding, it's a little easier. Not easy to have captured all these great pictures over the years, no. But too easy to throw it all at once. Each photo is made by a place and time, contradicting previous perfect the 45 pages in which Depardon was mourning of photojournalism. Brief. Fortunately
therefore, there are pictures. And especially those of Notes, part of the book. Depardon flees the end of a love in Paris and rushes heart and soul into the most violent armed conflicts of the era: from Beirut to Pakistan from Kabul to Peshawar. He wants to commit his life, he wants to risk it and show the distance it takes. His guide is a young French soldier heard his name is Masood. Striking photographs from the body of the action, chronic daily hassles of a French boy lost in a history that surpasses it.
The third and final volume is the masterpiece among the three. It's called Wandering and corresponds to the most recent work of Raymond Depardon. Finally the process is clear and consistent Finally, the language is up to the image. Depardon is once again around the globe in search of uninhabited places. For once the human presence is not wanted. For once the horizon is centered and the landscapes are captured in a vertical format, 6x9 with an old movie that no longer exists: the Kodak Verichrome Pan. Depardon is trying to escape the traditional quest for "time" photographic and focuses on environments that emerge from certain locations (intersections, roads in the desert, dusty villages ...) when nothing happens . And then he thinks about wandering as a photographic concept, societal, aesthetic. is much more than a book successful: it is a masterpiece in its field.
al. Threshold point - 8 € per volume
Another review Wandering : by HERE!