Every season, the magazine Réponses Photo publishes a special edition devoted to a single theme. In the latest issue, Jean-Christophe Béchet and Sylvie Hugues address the question: “What is a photographic series?”
Béchet comments on how everyone has become a photographer and how the practice of photography has never been so widespread, but there’s still a world of difference between amateurs and professionals. The only way to defend the disintegration of artistic values, says Béchet, is for artists to shoot photo series. In this 17th special edition of Réponses Photo, Béchet supports his argument with the intelligent selection of portfolios of six photographers, each with their own distinct approach.
Rémi Noël’s black-and-white series, American Hero, photographed mainly in the United States, features a Batman action figure. It was shot over time and somewhat haphazardly.
“A series risks becoming too heavy. You have to keep it light.” — RN
Sasha is a personal and intimate series by Claudine Doury on her daughter’s Sasha’s evolution from childhood to adolescence. Doury followed her daughter from 2007 to 2010 to discover the secret rituals of growing up.
“A series is successful when you can look at it each time with a sense of wonder.” — CD
Denis Felix is motivated by the need to be close to Man, which is why he specializes in portrait photography. He shot the incredibly intense Polaroid series La matière humaine over the course of 20 years.
Gilles Coulon offers an overview of our contemporary world in For Reasons, a four-part series shot in different seasons in different countries: France in winter, Tunisia in spring, summer in Spain and autumn in Mali.
“The press has changed. Our profession has changed. It’s up to us to discover new ways to show and tell stories.” — GC
A combination of documentary, poetic fiction and private history, Désert Russe is a long-term project shot by Ljubisa Danilovic over several winters and following the legendary Trans-Siberian railway.
“I’m only interested in series that are born slowly, out of necessity.” — LD
The issue finishes with Thomas Vanden Driessche’s series How to be a photographer…, a humorous portrait of the photographer accompanied by a user’s manual with several “lessons.” The series began as a joke but was soon widely exhibited and is now available as a book.
“A series must have meaning to have value.” — TVD
The special edition will be on stands until the end of December.
