Interview with Bruno Mercier
by Marcin Stawiarz |
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| #1 Please introduce
yourself: |
Well, if my
nickname, Pixydream, is well known on numerous forums on the Internet, my real name is
Bruno Mercier. I'm a french photographer and I currently live on the seaside in a small
town called Carteret, in the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy, just in front of the Jersey
Island. It's a marvellous place to live and work and it provides me with opportunities to
explore wonderful seascapes and landscapes, furthermore I love the quality of light in my
area. |
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| #2 How did you get
interested in photography? |
In fact, my
first encounter with photography took place in my childhood. My father was really addicted
with photography, and he guided me in my first approaches and tentatives. Nevertheless at
that time of my life I prefered drawing. I started as an illustrator and a comics author
both for magazines and publishing houses in the mid 1980's. During years I let photography
aside. I came back to photography very recently when I bought a DSLR in 2006, I found in
photography, and especially in B&W, all I always wanted to tell. It was a revelation. |
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Port Racine (2007)
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| #3 Do you have an
artistic/photographic background? |
I studied
architecture and spent half of my life to be an illustrator. I think you learn a lot in
that kind of job, composition, light, framing, density. I used to think a part of my style
comes from my work as an illustrator and comics author. I really enjoy to tell stories in
my pics I always considere photography as a narrative medium. |
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| #4 Your playing with
the light and shadows as well as rhythms is incredible, what other sources have been
inspiring your art? |
I have a great
admiration for the XIXth century engravers like Gustave Dore. Engraving is really a great
inspiration for me and is of course the very basis of my work above all for the inner
"clair obscur" quality of those works. |
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A Night In Versailles Grand Trianon (2007)
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| #5 Most of your
photographs were taken in low-key lightning style, why have you chosen to present them in
this form? |
That's right I
always prefered to work in low-key style. If you will study the works of the old masters
(painters and engravers) you will note how they looked into the shadows for the critical
detail that makes their pics so exciting... I often used as a personal quote the famous
sentence "Light shines in darkness". I think Low Key style give a wonderful
feeling of depth when backgrounds provide the opportunity to wrap light with a much more
dramatic effect around our subjects, something almost impossible to do in high key and
that's I try to do in my work. |
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| #6 There are no people
or even people's silhouettes on your photographs, have you ever considered shooting
portraits or some other pictures? |
Thanks for
this question. Yes a lot of people often ask why I always work without human subjects.. In
fact it's not exact.. Because I considere the viewer as a part of my compositions. My pics
are like an invitation to enter the world I show. YOU are my main subject. This is YOUR
story I tell.. I just try to open a window to your dreams. |
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On The Border Line Carteret Beach (2006)
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| #7 Could you tell our
readers how to reach such excellent results in photography? |
It's difficult
to answer such a question. I don't know.. I could say some usual sentences like "Work
hard", "Take a lot of pics" etc. But it's a fact I don't know. A style
comes from a personal story, from artistic background, art-culture, books etc. I didn't
start as a photographer, I come from another art and my own style is directly inspired by
my life. The only thing we can say is to open the eyes and to observe the world. |
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Transatlantic Terminal I Cherbourg (2008)
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| #8
Do you work as a professional photographer or do you pursue the art as a hobby? |
| No I'm a
professional photographer, it's a passion and a work. I used to earn my life with that
job. |
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| #9
What do you do in your life besides photography? |
| I love to
ride my motorbike. I drove bikes since I was 14 and I'm 46 now. I'm in a french motorcycle
club, the VFR Club de France, I own a Honda 800 VFR, they call it "interceptor"
in the US. It's a wonderful bike, resistant, comfortable and very (not politically
correct) fast.. |
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Wind and Wuthering I Dunes d'Hatainville
(2007)
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| #10
Are you planning any exhibitions of your works in near future? |
| Yes I'm
going to participate to several personal and collective exhibitions in the next weeks and
months and we are creating (with some french fine art photographers, Julie and Xavier Rey,
Michel Rajkovic, Philippe Mougin, Philippe Leclerc, Antoine Soubigou and me) a group to
present "Fine Art" style in France in november in a great show with a lot of
international photographers we'll invite. |
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| #11
Can you tell us about the equipment that you use? (digital or traditional) |
| When I was
young I started with an Hasselblad but today I only use Digital reflex. I own a Canon 350D
(Rebel XT). And more and more often a friend of mine lend me his 5D. I think I'm going to
buy his camera. |
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Time Machine Château des Ravalet (2007)
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| #12
How do you prepare your prints? (LAB, darkroom, digital printing, etc.) What is your
favorite kind of paper? |
| I always
shoot in Raw format and then convert my file in B&W with the help from Adobe
Lightroom. Then I use a very old version of Photoshop (6.0) to prepare my file for the
print. In general before to print I reenforce contrasts and sharpen a bit. All my
photographs are printed (giclee) with a Epson PRO Fine-Art Ultrachrome K3 pigment-based
printer at 5760 x 1440 optimized dpi in greyscale.. I use different papers, Epson Matte
Archival for my exhibitions and open edition prints and the excellent Photo Rag 308 by
Hahnemühle for my limited signed prints. |
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| #13
Is it possible to purchase your prints and, if so, where? |
| Yes of
course, you can order my prints via my official Web Site, www.pixydream.com, just use the
contacts page to tell me what pic you want and if you prefere limited edition or open
edition prints. (they're not at same price of course and certain pics are only available
in limited signed edition). Then you can pay with your credit card via Paypal, I send the
print within 7 days everywhere in the world. |
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Under the Pier Port de Carteret (2006)
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| #14
What future plans do you have? What projects would you like to accomplish? |
| I'm going to
open my own gallery, "De Lumiere et de Vent" in my home town in july. It's a
wonderful project. |
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Bruno Mercier Official Website:
www.pixydream.com |
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Dielette Phare sur le port de Dielette (2006)
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