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N&C - Nature & Cultures is very honored to have the privilege of an exclusive interview with one of France's most prestigious wildlife photographers: Michel Rawicki. Born and raised in Paris, his experience as a photographer spans more than five decades. Already a seasoned and respected photo-reporter, in 1988, at age 38, he founded the agency StockImage one of the first independent French image banks. During Michel Rawicki's 20 year tenure as its manager, StockImage became one of the leading agencies of its kind. Michel's passion for adventure and wildlife photography turned into a full-time activity in the early 1990s and produced countless works of photographic art appearing in prestigious publications. Paul McGuiness in BBC Wildlife praised Michel's Polar Bears: A Life Under Threat (pubished in English) as "a glorious and luxurious book, surely one of the finest collections of polar bear photography published in recent times"
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Michel's consecration as one of France's most esteemed outdoors photographers came in 2016 when dozens of his photos were displayed in giant billboard format on the gates of the Luxembourg Gardens in the Latin Quarter as an exhibition titled "The Call of the Cold". To be the subject of an expo of this sort is arguably one of the highest distinctions a series of photographs can receive not only in France but worldwide, a prize arguably comparable to a film receiving the Golden Palm award in Cannes. Among the admirers of that exhibit were reigning Prince Albert of Monaco (see him here with Michel), Canadian astrophysicist and environmentalist Hubert Reeves, one of the French-speaking world's most beloved popularizer of science (who wrote the preface to the companion album of the expo) and Gerard Larcher, president of the French Senate (the second figure of the French state, equivalent to both the US Vice President and US Senate President pro tempore) who wrote
" I invite you to discover these remarkable photographs which testify to the fragile balance of these spaces of extreme beauty, which today are confronted with the effects of climatic upheavals. Beyond the awareness that this exhibition arouses, Michel Rawicki has chosen to share with us through a very sensitive approach his unconditional love of the poles."
N&C - Nature & Cultures would like to extend the invitation to our readers and thanks Michel for allowing us to reproduce some of the photos of the 2016 expo and several others.
" I invite you to discover these remarkable photographs which testify to the fragile balance of these spaces of extreme beauty, which today are confronted with the effects of climatic upheavals. Beyond the awareness that this exhibition arouses, Michel Rawicki has chosen to share with us through a very sensitive approach his unconditional love of the poles."
N&C - Nature & Cultures would like to extend the invitation to our readers and thanks Michel for allowing us to reproduce some of the photos of the 2016 expo and several others.
I took a block of ice in my arms, closed my eyes and felt that it was something good. That was my first “thermal shock” ... Michel Rawicki traces his fascination with the ice as a matter to his visit to the high altitudes of the Alps when he was ten. This is evident in many of his photos of the Far North.
Above (left to right / top to bottom on cel phones):
N&C. Dear Michel, it is in this period of doubt, gloom, even of sadness, that some of us (thanks to your being an active member of our Nature & Cultures FB group who shares your materials with us) have seen on Facebook an extraordinary documentary on your work as a photographer that you posted on your Facebook page and thought that we could add color, maybe even happiness if you allowed us to reproduce some of your photographs and if you shared with us the highlights of your career. And kindly enough, you agreed. This is a tremendous honor that you are granting us – the staff and readers of Nature & Cultures – because it is undeniable that you are today one of most highly regarded wildlife and travel photographers in France, and maybe even the world if we compare your reputation and your achievements to those of great artists like Fritz Pölking, or National Geographic’s Charlie Hamilton James and young Cristina Mittermeier, or Reza (Reza Deghati, Doctor Honoris Causa of our American University of Paris) and many others. But above all it's a pleasure, even a joy that your kindness as well as your youthful and contagious enthusiasm indeed brings so many colors in the lives of those which you meet… and I am not only talking about your photographs!
MR. It is certainly adventure and dreams that we really need at the moment.
N&C. About dreams and adventure, just before starting this interview, you mentioned your journey to the North Cape... Could you share some comments about it with our readers?
MR. Of course, with pleasure. This unprecedented period of confinement, which allowed us all to more or less put things into question – to restore order in our thoughts, in our lives, maybe consider other options for the future following this event – made me realize that after almost 50 trips to the Polar regions in recent years, it was time to consider travel differently and to reduce my carbon footprint, limiting my trips by plane to perhaps two or three per year at maximum as well as reevaluating my relationships with others. When I say others, I mean all these people from the Cold that touched my heart like the Nenets of Yamal the Inuits of Greenland and why not the Saami of Sweden, Finland or Norway...
MR. It is certainly adventure and dreams that we really need at the moment.
N&C. About dreams and adventure, just before starting this interview, you mentioned your journey to the North Cape... Could you share some comments about it with our readers?
MR. Of course, with pleasure. This unprecedented period of confinement, which allowed us all to more or less put things into question – to restore order in our thoughts, in our lives, maybe consider other options for the future following this event – made me realize that after almost 50 trips to the Polar regions in recent years, it was time to consider travel differently and to reduce my carbon footprint, limiting my trips by plane to perhaps two or three per year at maximum as well as reevaluating my relationships with others. When I say others, I mean all these people from the Cold that touched my heart like the Nenets of Yamal the Inuits of Greenland and why not the Saami of Sweden, Finland or Norway...
Click on the photo above to view Michel Rawicki's beautiful film Archambek, Son of the Eagle (in French). Also, view his slide show on Polar bears (left / below if using a cel phone)
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N&C. … Or the nomadic hunters of Mongolia that you showed us in your moving video...
MR … and of course the eagle trainers of Mongolia. My idea now is to encounter them in other ways, i.e. with a vehicle specially designed and spend more time... more time for myself, in order to go to the people I'm going to meet. It is said that the important thing is not so much to arrive as to go towards. This "going towards" means setting off in order to seek out and sometimes to find has become more important for me than this plane trip after which one arrives directly on site... when I say " directly " I mean that after the airport one must take into account the transfer by car, by dog sled, in a "Buran" [Russian snowmobile], cross country skiing, or with snowshoes... It’s not that I would land directly on the spot that I intended as my destination but now I want travel at a slower pace… load my snowshoes into a car, not an airplane…
N&C. Could you describe the special vehicle you just mentionned? What will it look like?
MR. Well, it's a pickup truck, atraditional a king cab with two small doors in the rear, with two folding seats to load luggage and a roof compartment rigged with a dry toilet, a mini- kitchen, a 160 bed above the cockpit. I am having it made very far from home in the Vaucluse, near Salon de Provence. It is equipped to travel in the cold with a small heating system which can withstand altitudes of 2000 meters and extremely low temperatures. It has waffle boards to get out of ruts, specific equipment for a photographer, USB sockets connected to the battery, a small refrigerator – anyway and a little layout for comfort to be able to sleep in any weather in my vehicle that I will have at my disposal next February to be precise. At that time, perhaps I will depart, I will leave France to go encounter the Saami in Sweden during this memorable celebration which brings them together every year in February.
MR … and of course the eagle trainers of Mongolia. My idea now is to encounter them in other ways, i.e. with a vehicle specially designed and spend more time... more time for myself, in order to go to the people I'm going to meet. It is said that the important thing is not so much to arrive as to go towards. This "going towards" means setting off in order to seek out and sometimes to find has become more important for me than this plane trip after which one arrives directly on site... when I say " directly " I mean that after the airport one must take into account the transfer by car, by dog sled, in a "Buran" [Russian snowmobile], cross country skiing, or with snowshoes... It’s not that I would land directly on the spot that I intended as my destination but now I want travel at a slower pace… load my snowshoes into a car, not an airplane…
N&C. Could you describe the special vehicle you just mentionned? What will it look like?
MR. Well, it's a pickup truck, atraditional a king cab with two small doors in the rear, with two folding seats to load luggage and a roof compartment rigged with a dry toilet, a mini- kitchen, a 160 bed above the cockpit. I am having it made very far from home in the Vaucluse, near Salon de Provence. It is equipped to travel in the cold with a small heating system which can withstand altitudes of 2000 meters and extremely low temperatures. It has waffle boards to get out of ruts, specific equipment for a photographer, USB sockets connected to the battery, a small refrigerator – anyway and a little layout for comfort to be able to sleep in any weather in my vehicle that I will have at my disposal next February to be precise. At that time, perhaps I will depart, I will leave France to go encounter the Saami in Sweden during this memorable celebration which brings them together every year in February.
After almost 50 trips to the Polar regions in recent years, it was time to consider travel differently and to reduce my carbon footprint, limiting my trips by plane to perhaps two or three per year at maximum as well as reevaluating my relationships with others. When I say others, I mean all these people from the Cold that touched my heart like the Nenets of Yamal the Inuits of Greenland and why not the Saami of Sweden, Finland or Norway...»
Above: A Nenets caravan and a Nenets encampment, Yamal penninsula, Arctic Ural region, Russia.
NC. Now, could you tell our readers who you are? What are your origins? In which schools did you study? What finally led you to this extraordinary life that many only dream of? And why were you particularly attracted by the Far North more than by fascinating warm countries like for example Indonesia, Papua New Guinea… or Polynesia as the great explorer of the Arctic and Antarctic Paul-Emile Victor who chose these islands as his place of residence?
MR. Actually, you don't know how timely is your mention of Polynesia! I have been to Polynesia twice! I have also made many trips to Asia and Africa in my life as a photographer. But my first “thermal shock” which made me discover and love the cold dates back to when I was ten. As early as then, I got a surprise from my parents; they took me to the Aiguille du Midi above the Valley of Chamonix and during this visit in the Ice Cave, wearing my short velvet pants, my first camera, a little Kodak Brownie Starflash, slung over my shoulder, I took a block of ice in my arms, closed my eyes and felt that it was something good. That was my first “thermal shock”. I did not know why I had this feeling, this sense of déjà vu, of something that I had already felt, but I realized long afterwards in being in touch with the cold there is something vital, of importance to me and that this was a way perhaps to oxygenate myself, to regenerate through this contact with the cold... maybe also to calm the heat that boils inside of us... but anyway... here it was: my first thermal shock when I was only a little boy and who just at that time happened to become interested in photography.
Life in the great outdoors was something that was part of our family history, starting with my grandfather who was a lumberjack in Russia and continuing with my parents who were with whom I often worked in open-air markets earning a few coins by helping them unpack their produce. It was a life on the road that connected you to nomadism – a kind of nomadic life only on the outskirts of Paris but which expressed my parents were always on the move.
At age twelve, my parents enrolled me at the Lycée Charlemagne. On the way to school when I used to walk on Rue des Archives ( I lived in the Marais which at the time was not yet the fashionable neighborhood that has become), I passed along a photographer's shop and spent several minutes looking at the prints on display and the sophisticated cameras in the window wondering what all this could be used for, and one day I decided to open the door and enter the store and I met this photographer, 1 large old gentleman that I was huge in his gray blouse with which he made his drawing s e n working in his laboratory at the back of the shop. On entering I asked him questions and a relationship slowly settled between him and me; we started to exchange, I learned things, and I bought him my first SLR camera, a Russian Zenith with interchangeable lens screw my career as a photographer started at the age of 16 I started to photographing street scenes in Paris that's a bit of the story of my beginnings and then I left Charlemagne high school I went to Colbert high school where I learned Russian as a third language and I created the first photo club at Colbert high school that I animated for 3 years until not very interested in high school courses except French philosophy and Russian I gave up the cry high school in 1969 during my final year to join Claude Lelouch and his Films 13 company working as an assistant for several months.
MR. Actually, you don't know how timely is your mention of Polynesia! I have been to Polynesia twice! I have also made many trips to Asia and Africa in my life as a photographer. But my first “thermal shock” which made me discover and love the cold dates back to when I was ten. As early as then, I got a surprise from my parents; they took me to the Aiguille du Midi above the Valley of Chamonix and during this visit in the Ice Cave, wearing my short velvet pants, my first camera, a little Kodak Brownie Starflash, slung over my shoulder, I took a block of ice in my arms, closed my eyes and felt that it was something good. That was my first “thermal shock”. I did not know why I had this feeling, this sense of déjà vu, of something that I had already felt, but I realized long afterwards in being in touch with the cold there is something vital, of importance to me and that this was a way perhaps to oxygenate myself, to regenerate through this contact with the cold... maybe also to calm the heat that boils inside of us... but anyway... here it was: my first thermal shock when I was only a little boy and who just at that time happened to become interested in photography.
Life in the great outdoors was something that was part of our family history, starting with my grandfather who was a lumberjack in Russia and continuing with my parents who were with whom I often worked in open-air markets earning a few coins by helping them unpack their produce. It was a life on the road that connected you to nomadism – a kind of nomadic life only on the outskirts of Paris but which expressed my parents were always on the move.
At age twelve, my parents enrolled me at the Lycée Charlemagne. On the way to school when I used to walk on Rue des Archives ( I lived in the Marais which at the time was not yet the fashionable neighborhood that has become), I passed along a photographer's shop and spent several minutes looking at the prints on display and the sophisticated cameras in the window wondering what all this could be used for, and one day I decided to open the door and enter the store and I met this photographer, 1 large old gentleman that I was huge in his gray blouse with which he made his drawing s e n working in his laboratory at the back of the shop. On entering I asked him questions and a relationship slowly settled between him and me; we started to exchange, I learned things, and I bought him my first SLR camera, a Russian Zenith with interchangeable lens screw my career as a photographer started at the age of 16 I started to photographing street scenes in Paris that's a bit of the story of my beginnings and then I left Charlemagne high school I went to Colbert high school where I learned Russian as a third language and I created the first photo club at Colbert high school that I animated for 3 years until not very interested in high school courses except French philosophy and Russian I gave up the cry high school in 1969 during my final year to join Claude Lelouch and his Films 13 company working as an assistant for several months.
N&C. It's an extraordinary story. One would like to make a film in black and white a little like one of the first films of François Truffaut, of Albert Lamorisse or perhaps Claude Berri... In fact, speaking of the New Wave of French cinema... you tell us that your first employer was Claude Lelouch! But he was one of the hottest French film directors at the time! What film did you work on?
MR. It was “ Un Homme Qui Me Plaît ” [Love Is a Funny Thing] with Jean-Paul Belmondo and Annie Girardot …
N&C. A beautiful photographer's film! Beautiful scenery of the Far West of the US!
MR. Exactly! Then gradually I entered the profession, and I continued my career as a professional photographer by doing studio photography, photographing plants. I worked in a studio for 15 years, making pictures of decorative art and doing still life photography. Among other things, I photographed for books; for two years, I worked on projects illustrating bonsai. I spent many weekends during those two years photographing these dwarf Japanese trees that inspired meditation and contemplation; I made these photos in large format, that is with a view camera and I would spend about two to three hours per photo and per tree trying to get out of these trees what they had to say and for this reason I found a sentence, a formula : I discovered life and the being of things through these bonsai.
It was in 1993 that I experienced my second thermal shock while traveling in the Arctic regions, then, in 2003, I found myself in Antarctica which transformed my life as a photographer.
MR. It was “ Un Homme Qui Me Plaît ” [Love Is a Funny Thing] with Jean-Paul Belmondo and Annie Girardot …
N&C. A beautiful photographer's film! Beautiful scenery of the Far West of the US!
MR. Exactly! Then gradually I entered the profession, and I continued my career as a professional photographer by doing studio photography, photographing plants. I worked in a studio for 15 years, making pictures of decorative art and doing still life photography. Among other things, I photographed for books; for two years, I worked on projects illustrating bonsai. I spent many weekends during those two years photographing these dwarf Japanese trees that inspired meditation and contemplation; I made these photos in large format, that is with a view camera and I would spend about two to three hours per photo and per tree trying to get out of these trees what they had to say and for this reason I found a sentence, a formula : I discovered life and the being of things through these bonsai.
It was in 1993 that I experienced my second thermal shock while traveling in the Arctic regions, then, in 2003, I found myself in Antarctica which transformed my life as a photographer.
I have always dreamed of witnessing the birth of icebergs, these ice monsters, and discovering Ilulissat and Disko Bay, the largest iceberg distributor in the northern hemisphere» says Michel Rawicki about his love for ice formations. One of these ice monsters towers over the waters of the Bay of Qaanaaq in Greenland. N&C. You say on your website that you "have always dreamed of witnessing the birth of icebergs, these ice monsters, and discovering Ilulissat and Disko Bay, the largest iceberg distributor in the northern hemisphere". You say that you were " overwhelmed, fascinated by this natural power " and that you " for years you would be confronted with this overabundance ". |
But we can also see that there are persons who appear in your photos of the Far North. You do beautiful portraits. But it is not at all easy to obtain consent to be photographed from the peoples of the Far North or from people among populations traditionally living close to nature. it's not that they are superstitious about cameras ( which is a racist cliché ), but they are well aware of the commercial exploitation and the cultural appropriation that can be derived from their image, which makes them suspicious vis-à-vis any camera in the hands of a stranger. Yet, we see not only from your portraits but from this magnificent documentary that you brought back from Mongolia that you succeeded in establishing very deep personal bonds which makes people trust you. What could you share with us at what about that?
N&C. You say on your website that you "have always dreamed of witnessing the birth of icebergs, these ice monsters, and discovering Ilulissat and Disko Bay, the largest iceberg distributor in the northern hemisphere". You say that you were " overwhelmed, fascinated by this natural power " and that you " for years you would be confronted with this overabundance ". But we can also see that there are persons who appear in your photos of the Far North. You do beautiful portraits. But it is not at all easy to obtain consent to be photographed from the peoples of the Far North or from people among populations traditionally living close to nature. it's not that they are superstitious about cameras ( which is a racist cliché ), but they are well aware of the commercial exploitation and the cultural appropriation that can be derived from their image, which makes them suspicious vis-à-vis any camera in the hands of a stranger. Yet, we see not only from your portraits but from this magnificent documentary that you brought back from Mongolia that you succeeded in establishing very deep personal bonds which makes people trust you. What could you share with us at what about that?
You have to show respect above all. I can start working on the second day or on the third day when I feel that trust is building, but I try to honor this respectful code of behavior as best I can." says Michel Rawicki about photographing Indigenous populations.
MR. It takes patience... You have to show respect above all. I can start working on the second day or on the third day when I feel that trust is building, but I try to honor this respectful code of behavior as best I can. |
N&C. Let's go back to this experience of plenitude that you mentionned … what you call the “ thermal shock ” of your 10 years. You were talking about how you took in your arms a piece of ice and how that made you feel well. Isn't that what makes these Indigenous people of the Far North or other regions with very cold winters able to live there so happily? In fact, does the cold not stimulate the body and therefore the mind?
MR. We are not all equal in our relationship to the cold. The female part of humanity has more trouble with the cold... [the interviewee hesitates ]. Yet I have some friends that love it but I almost want to say that the cold is feminine and like everyone else I have a feminine side that allows me to see things, feel things, photographically speaking, and open pathways... But I’ll confirm it : the cold stimulates, the cold keeps awake, the cold maintains you in a good shape, and in my case, yes, it allows me to keep me in a state of physical and mental alertness.
N&C. And we sleep much better afterwards, in the evening !
MR. Ah! Being in a tent, in the cold, in Melville Bay, with ice on me, lying on a dogsled with outdoors temperatures a little below 20°C or 30°C! And yet, I slept like a baby. I never sleep as well as when I'm in my sleeping bag in Mongolia or elsewhere and it's minus 20 ° outside while in my sleeping bag it is +35°C! I never sleep so well ! I get nine to ten hours of sleep !
MR. We are not all equal in our relationship to the cold. The female part of humanity has more trouble with the cold... [the interviewee hesitates ]. Yet I have some friends that love it but I almost want to say that the cold is feminine and like everyone else I have a feminine side that allows me to see things, feel things, photographically speaking, and open pathways... But I’ll confirm it : the cold stimulates, the cold keeps awake, the cold maintains you in a good shape, and in my case, yes, it allows me to keep me in a state of physical and mental alertness.
N&C. And we sleep much better afterwards, in the evening !
MR. Ah! Being in a tent, in the cold, in Melville Bay, with ice on me, lying on a dogsled with outdoors temperatures a little below 20°C or 30°C! And yet, I slept like a baby. I never sleep as well as when I'm in my sleeping bag in Mongolia or elsewhere and it's minus 20 ° outside while in my sleeping bag it is +35°C! I never sleep so well ! I get nine to ten hours of sleep !
Ah! Being in a tent, in the cold, in Melville Bay » An Inuit hunter and musher and his team of dogs, Melville Bay, Greenland. Note how the dog team's harnessing places the dogs in a fan-shaped front. The front presented by the dogs is not a regular arc: they are placed in different positions (like a basket ball or football team) according to each individual animal's strength, speed and other particular abilities. This disposition is better suited for crossing vast flat expanses such as the one above, while attaching the dogs in a line, one by one or in pairs, is more practical on uneven terrain and when travelling through forests.
N&C. Oh yes ! You really sleep like a baby in the Far North !
MR. Absolutely ! Yes, I confirm you that the cold is for me an engine, a power generator, while at the same time it induces calm and... acuity! Visual acuity but also an acuity of the heart which again is this feeling of belonging to a universe which is beyond any system of belief, beyond everything... It is a feeling of being exactly in the right place; it is what I wish to for every traveler in his or her life.
N&C. It is perhaps as reconciliation between the camera that captures images -- which is an interruption of the journey -- and this experience of fulness that you mentioned before?
MR. Absolutely true. Now each one of us communicates in own’s way with one’s own artistic tools. I am lucky to have fallen into the world of photography very early ... 50 years ago! [Photography] is a tool for me like others use a pen or a brush...
MR. Absolutely ! Yes, I confirm you that the cold is for me an engine, a power generator, while at the same time it induces calm and... acuity! Visual acuity but also an acuity of the heart which again is this feeling of belonging to a universe which is beyond any system of belief, beyond everything... It is a feeling of being exactly in the right place; it is what I wish to for every traveler in his or her life.
N&C. It is perhaps as reconciliation between the camera that captures images -- which is an interruption of the journey -- and this experience of fulness that you mentioned before?
MR. Absolutely true. Now each one of us communicates in own’s way with one’s own artistic tools. I am lucky to have fallen into the world of photography very early ... 50 years ago! [Photography] is a tool for me like others use a pen or a brush...
When I'm in my sleeping bag (...) and it's minus 20 ° outside while in my sleeping bag it is +35°C! I never sleep so well ! » |
N&C. So let’s talk about "pens " and "brushes". Let’s talk about pure technology. What are the cameras that you used after your first Zenith? Given the length of your career that you have just revealed to us, have you therefore had to use a number of devices that have evolved over the years?
MR. I have used all the formats since my beginnings. As I've told you, after my first Zenith, I photographed with other 24x36 format, and to photograph still life subjects I switched to a large format with a view camera. I still use a panoramic camera which produces slides in the large 6 x 17 format that can shoot landscapes and other subjects found in nature in very large size.
N&C. Do laboratories still exist that work with these traditional films, photographic papers and large formats?
MR. Absolutely, there are of course laboratories which still master these techniques.
N&C. Which view camera did you use?
MR. A Sinar -P view camera. I still have one. I bought one more ten years ago that I still have with me. I still use a large format Polaroid once in a while to photograph various things. The great luck with this job is that you never tire of it: you go from portraiture to a still life of flowers (I have photographed a lot of flowers). Right now I photograph my dpg a lot. You never get tired because there are so many opportunities to photograph and interact with those around us like taking the portrait of a bearded old wrinkled man in Mongolia, or of a smiling woman in Provence, or of a piece of ice in Greenland. You never get bored and you always learn. I'm still learning, again and again. The equipment changes and evolves and indeed I first moved from the Zenith to Pentax and Nikon.
N&C. What kind of Pentax?
MR. It was a Pentax Spotmatic with which I photographed Tina Turner during her European tour in 1972 (my boss was ill and sent me to cover the story).
N&C. Was it was an automatic or manual device?
MR. The focus was manual, always manual of course.
N&C. Of course you have gone digital today but do you continue to photograph in manual?
MR. Usually when it comes to focusing I am in autofocus except in special weather conditions when it is snowing and I photograph a bear and the focus targets the falling snowflakes which makes the animal blurry, so I sometimes disengage the autofocus.
I sometimes take pictures with manual focus. As for the measurement of the light, I always do it in semi-automatic mode with priority to the speed and to the diaphragm according to the circumstances.
N&C. But isn't focusing today much more difficult now that the viewfinders are far less sharp than the old film SLRs that allowed the eye to see an extraordinarily sharp picture and to focus much faster using the rings on the lens which were very sensitive to touch?
MR. That may be true of hybrid cameras but with digital cameras that have a traditional viewfinder you get to focus easily. On the other hand, devices are evolving very quickly. This is less the case with electronic viewfinders.
MR. I have used all the formats since my beginnings. As I've told you, after my first Zenith, I photographed with other 24x36 format, and to photograph still life subjects I switched to a large format with a view camera. I still use a panoramic camera which produces slides in the large 6 x 17 format that can shoot landscapes and other subjects found in nature in very large size.
N&C. Do laboratories still exist that work with these traditional films, photographic papers and large formats?
MR. Absolutely, there are of course laboratories which still master these techniques.
N&C. Which view camera did you use?
MR. A Sinar -P view camera. I still have one. I bought one more ten years ago that I still have with me. I still use a large format Polaroid once in a while to photograph various things. The great luck with this job is that you never tire of it: you go from portraiture to a still life of flowers (I have photographed a lot of flowers). Right now I photograph my dpg a lot. You never get tired because there are so many opportunities to photograph and interact with those around us like taking the portrait of a bearded old wrinkled man in Mongolia, or of a smiling woman in Provence, or of a piece of ice in Greenland. You never get bored and you always learn. I'm still learning, again and again. The equipment changes and evolves and indeed I first moved from the Zenith to Pentax and Nikon.
N&C. What kind of Pentax?
MR. It was a Pentax Spotmatic with which I photographed Tina Turner during her European tour in 1972 (my boss was ill and sent me to cover the story).
N&C. Was it was an automatic or manual device?
MR. The focus was manual, always manual of course.
N&C. Of course you have gone digital today but do you continue to photograph in manual?
MR. Usually when it comes to focusing I am in autofocus except in special weather conditions when it is snowing and I photograph a bear and the focus targets the falling snowflakes which makes the animal blurry, so I sometimes disengage the autofocus.
I sometimes take pictures with manual focus. As for the measurement of the light, I always do it in semi-automatic mode with priority to the speed and to the diaphragm according to the circumstances.
N&C. But isn't focusing today much more difficult now that the viewfinders are far less sharp than the old film SLRs that allowed the eye to see an extraordinarily sharp picture and to focus much faster using the rings on the lens which were very sensitive to touch?
MR. That may be true of hybrid cameras but with digital cameras that have a traditional viewfinder you get to focus easily. On the other hand, devices are evolving very quickly. This is less the case with electronic viewfinders.
N&C. But don't you miss is those SLR cameras that allowed you to see and turn a knob showing you "1/1000s, 1/500s, 1/250" etc.. on the top of the case to set the speed and turn a ring on the lens a ring showing f2, f2.8, f3.5, F16, f22, etc. to fix the aperture instead of having to read this in the viewfinder?
MR. No, I don't miss it. We must evolve! After all, we can see the values quite well - the speeds on the right in vertical and the aperture horizontally at the bottom in the viewfinder. It is just different. I am nostalgic and I have old fashioned cases - I have Nikon's F that I keep preciously, I have Hasselblads, but you have to let yourself evolve with the changing times and do not indulge too much in nostalgia. What you can do as I do is take a box in your hand, caress it and tell yourself those were the good old days. It is pleasant to the touch - the old fashioned focus and aperature rings...
N&C. What devices do you use today?
MR. I have Canon cameras and I still use that large format panoramic camera which I spoke to you about. It's a Linhof view camera, which does not come with not come with bellows but has a 6x17 chamber that is fully manual - everything is measured by hand with a cell! And it is a film camera which produces slides. Otherwise I have three Canon cameras: D-Mark 4, Canon DX, and EOS-R that offer me different solutions. One allows me to photograph 14 pictures per second, another one is for working with a wide angle, and the third, the EOS-R, is a hybrid camera with a digital viewfinder that allows me to take pictures in conditions of very low light, especially interiors.
N&C. Which lenses?
MR. I have a range of lenses between a Fisheye and a 600 mm.
N&C. No more than 600mm?
MR. I have a focal length extender that can allow me to go up to 860 millimeters and a focal doubler that allows me to go up to 1200 millimeters.
N&C. And what technique do you use in post-production?
MR. Lightroom.
MR. No, I don't miss it. We must evolve! After all, we can see the values quite well - the speeds on the right in vertical and the aperture horizontally at the bottom in the viewfinder. It is just different. I am nostalgic and I have old fashioned cases - I have Nikon's F that I keep preciously, I have Hasselblads, but you have to let yourself evolve with the changing times and do not indulge too much in nostalgia. What you can do as I do is take a box in your hand, caress it and tell yourself those were the good old days. It is pleasant to the touch - the old fashioned focus and aperature rings...
N&C. What devices do you use today?
MR. I have Canon cameras and I still use that large format panoramic camera which I spoke to you about. It's a Linhof view camera, which does not come with not come with bellows but has a 6x17 chamber that is fully manual - everything is measured by hand with a cell! And it is a film camera which produces slides. Otherwise I have three Canon cameras: D-Mark 4, Canon DX, and EOS-R that offer me different solutions. One allows me to photograph 14 pictures per second, another one is for working with a wide angle, and the third, the EOS-R, is a hybrid camera with a digital viewfinder that allows me to take pictures in conditions of very low light, especially interiors.
N&C. Which lenses?
MR. I have a range of lenses between a Fisheye and a 600 mm.
N&C. No more than 600mm?
MR. I have a focal length extender that can allow me to go up to 860 millimeters and a focal doubler that allows me to go up to 1200 millimeters.
N&C. And what technique do you use in post-production?
MR. Lightroom.
Snowy owls in the region of Ottawa, Canada. Snowy owls breed in all Arctic regions of the World, mostly on the tundra.
N&C. In which magazines have you published your photos?
MR. I was in GEO in 2004, I was also in Le Figaro, in many other magazines, and especially in Terre Sauvage...
N&C. [Michel is being very modest and does not mention the countless publications that publish his photos or talk about him, such as The New York Times, Le Monde, Bouts du Monde, the professional online magazine pixelcreation.fr, or the wildlife portal http://www.faunesauvage.fr/. His books have been published by some of the top publishers of France like Albin Michel]
N&C. Can one still make a living with a camera, exercise the full time job of photographer, like writers makes a living with their pen at a time when websites provide great pictures for a pennies, if not even for free?
MR. This is true on photo e-commerce sites, depending on the use made of them, the prices start at $1 or €1 or 1/2 euro. It is pitiful. Can one nevertheless make a living with photography? I've been lucky enough to live on it all my life, but it has become very complicated for photographers today because there is competition. The prices are pulled down. When the old technique was abandoned, that is, film and development, it was believed that production costs would go down, but digital postproduction actually costs a lot of money. Yes, we can make a living from photography but I want to say not like before during the heyday of digital technology in the early 2000s. Therefore, it can be a profession, this is the chance I had work hard at it, to find my place in the game. I sell prints, I organize exhibitions and events. I am fortunate to have a company that I brings me security and some decent money. But it is true that it is complicated for photographers today.
Can't we get there by means of courage and determination? Isn't that what allows you to dominate your competitors with this force and perseverance?
Yes, I have to fight, have determination. I have to network, and also defend my rights. I have to say that there are very few photojournalists who make a good living from their profession - a handful, whether in advertising or in the press. They sometimes have other jobs on the side.
N&C. A very big thank you, dear Michel, for all these inspiring words and for your kindness!
MR. I was in GEO in 2004, I was also in Le Figaro, in many other magazines, and especially in Terre Sauvage...
N&C. [Michel is being very modest and does not mention the countless publications that publish his photos or talk about him, such as The New York Times, Le Monde, Bouts du Monde, the professional online magazine pixelcreation.fr, or the wildlife portal http://www.faunesauvage.fr/. His books have been published by some of the top publishers of France like Albin Michel]
N&C. Can one still make a living with a camera, exercise the full time job of photographer, like writers makes a living with their pen at a time when websites provide great pictures for a pennies, if not even for free?
MR. This is true on photo e-commerce sites, depending on the use made of them, the prices start at $1 or €1 or 1/2 euro. It is pitiful. Can one nevertheless make a living with photography? I've been lucky enough to live on it all my life, but it has become very complicated for photographers today because there is competition. The prices are pulled down. When the old technique was abandoned, that is, film and development, it was believed that production costs would go down, but digital postproduction actually costs a lot of money. Yes, we can make a living from photography but I want to say not like before during the heyday of digital technology in the early 2000s. Therefore, it can be a profession, this is the chance I had work hard at it, to find my place in the game. I sell prints, I organize exhibitions and events. I am fortunate to have a company that I brings me security and some decent money. But it is true that it is complicated for photographers today.
Can't we get there by means of courage and determination? Isn't that what allows you to dominate your competitors with this force and perseverance?
Yes, I have to fight, have determination. I have to network, and also defend my rights. I have to say that there are very few photojournalists who make a good living from their profession - a handful, whether in advertising or in the press. They sometimes have other jobs on the side.
N&C. A very big thank you, dear Michel, for all these inspiring words and for your kindness!