Thierry Maindrault’s Monthly Cogitations
This year, which marks the end of the first quarter-century, seems very long in view of all the events that continue to challenge us about the future of the planet and our own destiny. And yet, this year has passed so quickly, on an individual level, that it is already leaving us with the impression of an unfinished task. While each new year has a reputation for inspiring good resolutions (an idea to ponder in about a month’s time), it is not inappropriate to take stock of this calendar period that is coming to an end and entering history.
With our photography, we are prolonging a bad dream that continues to darken, amid numerous incantations to prevent us from sinking into a nightmare.
Two hundred years ago, the refinement of the black box, with the recording of exposures, caused panic among art painters. The new form of image fixation offered everyone the possibility of capturing and reproducing at will. Except that the necessary mastery of several more or less sophisticated technologies somewhat dampened popular enthusiasm, and photographers were born. It was then that the new talents of true creative art painters was renewed, and so then logically and gradually the eye of the public.
Today, the plot is repeating itself, with machines attempting to replace humans in the implementation of technological sequences. It is true that we are indeed witnessing a massive acceleration in the speed of image production (even in their duplication) and overabundant storage (accessible to all). It is clear that machines will most certainly replace many photographic jobs, but certainly not the true photographers. The authentic creative photographers will bounce back like the Impressionist painters.
This little preamble to our overview of 2025 is not innocent. We have been bombarded with announcements about the bicentennial of the official recognition of photography, specially in France. This is hardly credible given the flood of money that should be flowing from the coffers of a state that lives on credit. The announcements are everywhere, but the budgets are still unknown. Let’s hope that the projects selected will not serve, as is often the case, to install and fatten up a good number of parasites, as has become commonplace whith crooks. Photographers disappear due to lack of income, while the importunates and other incompetent parasites are thriving!
The end of this quarter-century marks the culmination of this exponential growth in the number of photographs taken worldwide. The figures are astronomical, running into the billions every day. This deluge, which is simply too much, trivializes the act, which has no other interest than the performance of the cameras and computers that process and store the images. In the vast majority of cases, these photographs will never come out from the various digital cocoons in which they have been confined, in countless digital centers scattered across the Earth. This individual obsession with appearances and exhibitionism (for whom?) is much more perverse than we imagine. The damages, except for the money moguls whose resources are limitless, of this ideology of exaggerated personalization go far beyond professional peril for photographers alone. These excesses contribute to the psychological evolution of societies, they distort the foundations of communication between people, they rot the balance, which has become so precarious, of our common habitat. The phenomenal amounts of energy consumed and the unimaginable flows of water withdrawn to satisfy this collective demand for “I am entitled to” mark the beginning of self-destruction.
The second phenomenon corresponds to a kind of intellectual vulgarization that suggests that everyone is competent in photography and endowed with proven creativity. However, we all know that photography is one of the most complex techniques for bringing a creation to fruition. Not all of us, due to personal biological contexts, among other things, are composers, sculptors, choreographers, poets, painters, etc., or photographers. This assertion of universal talent, which is objectively false, is only enriching the money-grubbers and our many parasites, those flatterers who live off the backs of those who believe them.
These two scourges continue to harm us. Regardless of robots and their pseudo-intelligence, this approach is proving detrimental to humanity, to creation, and to Art in the long future.
I cannot let this year fade away without paying tribute to our colleagues, whose artworks should live on in the collective memory of the future. Sebastião Salgado, the photographer who surfed through everything to leave magical images for the eyes of his contemporaries. Oliviero Toscani, the Latin iconoclast always on the lookout for controversy, in the service of photographic provocation. Martin Parr, whose mischievous photographs, brilliantly executed with a phlegmatic humor “so British”, leave behind a legacy worthy of Molière, Shakespeare, or Goldoni. They have left us, so let us take care of their artworks, which deserve to be preserved for posterity.
Since we are talking about images, which remain the essential element, in this pronounced drift that would have us believe that a people name is the essential of an event. The height of absurdity is reached when the name in question is not that of the author of the images!!! Look for the mistake.
This year, 2025, has seen a huge number of events centered around photography. Every little town on the planet is claiming to have an “international” photography exhibition. Why not? But please, stop inflicting on us photographs that are disastrous in terms of both content and the appalling mediocrity of prints and presentations. No segregation of prestige. This observation also applies to the biggest festivals. 2025 was definitely not the photographic year of the century. Almost everything I saw and the reliable friend feedback I received were unanimous in their criticism of the poverty of the contents. Too many images, too much repetition, too many exhibitions, there is nothing new in that too much is suicidal.
I was nevertheless able to immerse myself in three exhibitions that stood out from this general malaise. It should be noted that the many so-called emerging artists were neither remarkable nor noticed.
Géométries du Silence by Béatrice Helg, at the Musée Réattu, enchanted me. For the record, the author took charge of her entire exhibition (choice of images, curation, and scenography). This type of choice, though not always wise, is becoming essential to avoid the various incompetencies that now surround projects. In this museum presentation, the absolute photographic expression, so much research, so many creations, so much work, so much allure make all the difference.
With very few exceptions (fewer than the fingers on one hand), Visa pour l’Image 2025, disappointing in its photographic choices, presented Wait & See by Cédric Gerbehaye at the Dominican Church. Seeing the spectators gathered in front of these sumptuous monochrome images, we can still dream of a future for photography, but for photojournalists, it may be a different story.
Edward Weston‘s Modernity Revealed, at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, reconciled me with this space dedicated to photography. The place could no longer claim to be about photography except in its name (in my opinion). The trend seems to be moving back towards the fundamentals. I couldn’t resist “eavesdropping” behind a photography teacher who was explaining the complicated contours of the artist’s private life to his students. As for the constructive concept of images and their constant evolution, which was very well highlighted, it was forgotten. It is true that, on top of that, you had to kneel down to read the technical explanations under each image, which was a blow to the educational aspect. The exhibition was beautiful, and the other rooms of the “labyrinth” were filled with other good photographs for lovers of photographic images.
Photography books have become fashionable, very often self-published for the greater profit of publishers only in name. Gallery directors have become real estate managers, publishers have become service intermediaries.
In the confidential field of artworks as books, my choice goes straight to Hans Silvester‘s Japan 1968, published by Le Renard Pâle. A pure masterpiece, only 30 copies were produced (bilingual in Japanese and French). This book is magical in both its content and its form (hard to believe, but the book can be hanged on the wall).
For the most beautiful gift book, it has to be Les Contemplations by Victor Hugo, published by Editions Diane de Selliers. This beautiful work intersperses images from the period [1826-1910], some of which come from his photo lab in Jersey, with a lot of poems from Les Contemplations. This book, which is very affordable for what it represents, cannot fail to impress lovers of old photographs and 19th-century poetry alike.
There are still a few days left in the year for a miracle to happen, and why not a photographic one! May this period of transition between two years bring you all peace of mind.
Thierry Maindrault, December 12, 2025
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