Early autumn
Early autumn. The children are back to school, the public benches on the promenade are deserted. The beach huts and the small port tavern are still there but the tourists are gone. The sparrows are all alone, searching for the remnants of summer. As in Francis Cabrel’s song, “it’s the silence that is most noticeable.” All the shutters are down and no small boat is departing from the quay. The atmosphere has changed. We are out of season.
I have been taking pictures since childhood. After practicing film photography for leisure at the academy, I switched to digital at a somewhat late stage and I have since been following training courses in post-processing, on the history of photography and image practices.
My immediate environment is my main source of inspiration. Now that the retiree that I am lives by the sea for a good part of the year, I mainly work on seascapes without wishing to identify myself exclusively with such or such area of photography. I am not trying to fit into current “trends” of photography that could lead to a creative confinement. Likewise, it is important, without depriving oneself of the daily discoveries they allow, to keep a right distance from the social networks which can format the view. Never deprive yourself of going to exhibitions, of visiting galleries, or browsing the books of great photographers.
To me, is the look that really matters, what I see or rather what I feel. This is what I try to convey through my images. I like to express myself in photography in a poetic way. I take pictures of what I like because it is what we like which gives a soul to our photos, which enables to see beyond appearances and to convey – we can at least hope for it – what is moving us and what we are hoping to share.
Roland Deglain
On the web:
My photo site: www.roland-deglain.com
My blog on photography: www.carnetsdunphotographe.wordpress.com
