After a year in India, Denis, propelled on the front of the stage thanks to the prestigious Prix Niepce and with the support of the Rapho photo agency, settled in Paris and started to live decently of his job: illustration, reportage, architecture photography, portraits etc ………… But the “pavé parisien” ( the Paris cobblestones) as he likes to say did not suit him. In February 1958, asking Robert Doisneau what he would do in his place, “I would have left already” the few simple words helped him take his decision . A short time after that Denis arrived in the Luberon, which was not yet “The Luberon”.
He moved to the beautiful village of Bonnieux, living in a cabanon with summary comfort: no electricity, no running water, but the nature around him, dandelions within sight, in short what he had dreamed. To which He found in addition a welcome and the extraordinary kindness of the people of the village that helped him to face his great loneliness. His great buddies are then called Marcel, Abel, Arthur Bourgues, former usher who read Greek in the text, the butcher Beranger, Joseph Blovac the blacksmith, great specialist of Jean Rostand, Danton, the greatest boar hunter, Caporal the auxiliary postman and musician, Emile Gardon, lumberjack and naive painter, then a little later Julien Levy, Vadim Andreyev. Great personalities. He made their portrait, posed or not, and his only regret today is not to have devoted enough time to his friends. But everything is explained, it was not a job, it was only the pleasure to photograph them.
Solange Brihat
