September 2021


Drawing


The Drawer is a bi-annual drawing review published since 2011. Great little source of inspiration and/or a cue to read something physical twice a year.

Subscribe here.


Architecture


Never Too Small - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_zQ777U6YTyatP3P1wi3xw

An architecture channel that anyone can benefit from: how to optimise small spaces (where most people live), on a practical level, but also the “feeling” aspect: add sensations of warmth, safety, calm, focus, creativity, when you barely have room to store your belongings.


Photography


Bastiaan Woudt - https://www.bastiaanwoudt.com/

Probably my strongest influence for photography lately. Among the distinctive features of Bastiaan’s images:

• Rolled off whites providing a milky, soothing aesthetic.

• Subtle texture, reinforcing softness. Edges are often feathered, fading away beautifully.

• Shapes all around, complimented by clear tonal contrast. It reminds me of Serge Lutens’ work for Shiseido, but here in black and white.

You can subscribe to his own newsletter: Bastiaan Woudt’s newsletter.


Education


The Profoto Academy is a resource for photography education, and one that doesn’t only consists in rehashing concepts, but goes a bit more in depth in semantics and demonstration. Some of their content is free, like this one where they examine soft light: what does it refer to in the context of photo/videography, why is it defined that way, and if you accept this definition, what are the different levers to shape the intended light, going beyond “relative size to the subject” basics.


Comments, discoveries and links are all welcome.

August 2021


Video


“It’s like winter”.

How do you capture something that you love. Your passion, your city, your partner, your family. The persisting feeling that no matter how hard you try, it will not only never measure up, but you will disgrace that very thing you cherish. If you feel that way too, I’m sorry to say I have no solution. But I have this Rapha Rides series that Ertzui Films made for the cycling brand – or perhaps they just made it for cycling. I recommend the entire playlist, and this specific video, and this specific passage from 3.05 to 3.40.


Photography


In the same vein of “synthesizing feelings”, Maura Sullivan is a contemporary photographer with this ability to convey a wealth of information and suggestion, while resorting to simple visual cues: a limb, a line, a reflection. An abundance of contrast and texture which compliment both raw intimacy and ethereal impressions. Timeless aesthetics, visual poetry.

(Discovered through Baastian Woudt’s newsletter – more about Baastian’s work next month).


Composition


Beginner’s tip

After having a few of friends asking for feedback about their photography, I ended up compiling a list of tips and concepts that address recurrent improvement areas that I noticed over the years, including in my own images. This might materialize one day into something hopefully more exciting than an ebook, but in the meanwhile, some of these notions will appear here from time to time.

This one is very simple, and we’ve mentioned it in the previous paragraphs: to suggest more than to describe, by showing less (crop tighter and/or « enter » the subject), showing differently (through shadows, abstraction, symbolism, blur). The viewer is often visually educated and has probably seen the scene you are showing a million times. By giving them more room for interpretation, they can fill in with their own narrative, and we all love our own narratives. This is inherent to books, while other art forms such as photography often need a little restraint.


Sanity


Speaking of a little restraint.


Comments, discoveries and links are all welcome.

July 2021


Travel & Interior design


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Saint-Paul De Vence is one of the oldest medieval towns on the French Riviera. Another reason to visit would be to stay in this house owned and lived in during the 1940s by the legendary French poet, writer and screenwriter Jacques Prévert: https://www.airbnb.fr/rooms/18621072 (no afiliation).


Illustration


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Un Jour Un Sempé

Anyone whose childhood was lulled by Le Petit Nicolas – or who has a heart – will rejoice over the unjourunsempe Instagram account. The account owner was asked by the right holders to stop maintaining it, however the already published collection remains as a precious gift.


Visual Education


Julien Apruzzese

If you speak any French, and have interest in photography/video/retouching or more broadly in getting a better understanding of how light works, those are probably the most useful workshops I have taken in the last decade:

Comprendre la lumière (Understanding light).

Comprendre la post-production (Understanding post-production).

(still no affiliation).


YOUTUBE


Sometimes there is just not enough content to procrastinate further. Fortunately, LEMMiNO is here to help, with well researched and animated videos that are equally qualitative and infrequent.


Comments, discoveries and links are all welcome.

June 2021


PHOTOGRAPHY


1934, Encampment, Wyoming, exceptional images of ordinary life by Lora Webb Nichols (http://www.lorawebbnichols.org/)


PODCAST


99 Invisible - Razzle Dazzle

A short episode of 99 Invisible about disruptive camouflage as protective design.


AUDIOBOOK


Leonardo Da Vinci biography by Walter Isaacson on Audible.

Curious as a kid his whole life, Leonardo Da Vinci observed everything around him, kept a habit of not delivering projects in time or at all, and pushed unprecedented connections between nature, science and art, relentlessly. The ultimate polymath.


YOUTUBE


Raspy voice and sarcasm = satisfying 4 minutes.


Comments, discoveries and links are all welcome.