The photo I submitted to “We Are All Photographers Now!” was projected on March 23, 12:32.
But nobody to see it!

It’s a good day… in Brussels.

For the “We Are All Photographers Now!” exhibition (see my previous post), I could have chosen one of the 2 pictures below that show people taking photos in funny positions. I won’t submit them because the quality of the original is not so good (the resolution is too low so I can hardly improve them). I took both of them at the Kiyomizu Dera temple (my favourite one!) in Kyoto in 2002, not the same day though.

There is currently an exhibition called “We Are All Photographers Now!” at the Musée de l’Elysée in Lausanne (where I live) and anyone can participate to it by sending a picture through the exhibition’s website. Photos are projected onto the walls of the museum. This project shows through this interactive installation that digital tools such as cameras, cell-phones, internet sharing sites, etc. are greatly impacting the world of photography.

Today I’ve submitted the picture below. Why did I choose this one? Because this is one of the very few pictures I’ve got on which the people look at the camera. I always feel guilty of taking people’s eyes as if I was trying to steal their minds. I like portraits but I’m very bad at it. Moreover in this picture, you see the kid telling a nice “Fuck” to me! Haha! So now it’s my turn to forward it to people at the exhibition! I’m the 24,107th contributor to upload a photo…

I like observing ruins, seeing the effect of time on materials, seeing how the nature recaptures its territory. And often scenes are very evocative; it seems people just disappeared, forgetting tiny pieces of their lives at that place.

I’ve discovered the website of a japanese photographer who seeks abandoned factories, hotels, hospitals, houses, parks all over Japan and takes wonderful photos. He must be my favorite photographer actually.

There’s a great gallery on Hashima Island.

Hashima Island (端島) is a small island in the Nagasaki Prefecture about 15 kilometers from Nagasaki itself. At the end of the 19th century, Mitsubishi installed a factory for retrieving coal from the bottom of the sea. A bit later, they built large concrete buildings for accomodating the workers. In the late 50’s, the island had the highest population density in the world. Mitsubishi closed the coal mines in 1974, the island is completely abandoned since then. It is also called “Ghost Island” by the way, and the access is prohibited.

If you visit the gallery, don’t miss the “Next Page” link at the bottom right (it’s written in japanese but you should find it).