Photography is light, only light...
In his youth Patrice loved drawing and engraving. Unfortunately, his professional work kept him away from his passion. In 2005, he received as a birthday gift his first camera, a small Coolpix. It opened the door to the digital world. In 2007, he started to seriously thinking about retiring and considering photography as the perfect hobby to reactivate his appetite for graphic arts. That year, he took one and half day crash course with a professional photographer and one model. The purpose was to recreate five photos with totally different lights. Beside the basic principles of lighting, the most important teaching he received was from the model who told him that a model couldn’t see herself and needed to be guided. She was his first nude model and he was really shy at that time.
Patrice likes to work with amateur models who are more “pliable” and don’t have their automatic best pose repeated over and over again. In some ways, the relation between the photographer and the model is a game of seduction. One is trying to be the most beautiful the other is trying to make his model the most beautiful. And yes, the reward was to see her happy face when seeing her picture.
Patrice is self-taught and has been particularly influenced by Sebastião Salgado whom he greatly admires for the precision, accuracy and poetry of his work, even in the most dramatic scenes. His love for the black and white was also influenced by Salgado. He likes particularly the "chiaroscuro" or effect of light, so popular among Flemish painters, which reflects a timeless interior of the house you have in North of France where he was born, but also the bright light of the tropics where he now lives.
For him, the woman's body is as beautiful as a landscape, sometimes static. He often covers nudity with a drape and uses it in a dance movement. The line that distinguish artistic nude and pornography is very tenuous. Patrice always tries to put poetry in his photos and avoids vulgarity at all cost.
Some of Patrice's recommendations:
Pleasure above all: There is beauty in every being and everything, it is up to you to discover and exploit it. Exploit it but always keep as a priority your own satisfaction which is another key to your success. Patrice is fortunate to have no commercial purpose and therefore has a total freedom of expression.
Study the masters: Often you won't have time to compose. It is therefore important to cultivate your unconscious, your instincts by carefully studying and analyzing the works of painters, sculptors, photographers, dancers and even musicians. Immerse yourself in their skill and the harmony of their works. This is also one of the key to create your own style.
Playing with shadows: It helps to hide or suggest and sculpt the subject. You can also use a transparent veil. Do not neglect the power of suggestion far more powerful than a full nude image.
Show your work: Photography is often a solitary exercise. So, it's important to share your work to get criticism. This is one of the fastest ways to progress. There is definitely a photo club near you, or even on the net that will allow you to do so. Do not hesitate to contact professional photographers, very few will refuse to help you.
No matter the camera: The race for equipment shouldn't be your priority as outdoors, all devices are almost equal. The most expensive devices will only offer real benefits in extreme conditions. Never forget that it is your "eye" that will be responsible for 90% of the creation of the image. For the rest, you need to have a minimal technical knowledge of your camera and its functions. And to know them nothing is better than to experiment, experiment and experiment again. And if necessary, Photoshop will help you get where you want to go. Beware a good Photoshop is a Photoshop that should not be seen!
Print your photos: Patrice has published about thirty fine art photo books on his own account. He thinks that the photos need to be printed to be fully expressed. The great danger of the digital is to accumulate pictures without actually making them alive.
He hopes that the emotion and atmospheres that appear in his work reflect and express his passion for Asia.
Contact
Email: delmottepat@yahoo.fr
Tel: +886 933 710 756
Bookstore: https://www.blurb.co.uk/user/DelmottePat
Dea Villas Bali: https://www.deavillas-bali.com