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Featured Photographers July 2014

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
The photographers selected for this showcase of OPF images, have been observed by me for some time. I have been privileged to have been able to share impressions on their pictures. We will try to bring to you further photographers who's body of work expresses a clear voice and energy of one unique human being holding up his/her own lantern to us and our world.

I'm delighted to have the opportunity to commend to you, as a start, Antonio Correria from Setúbal, Portugal and Nicolas from Bordeaux, France. I assure you that more of you are to appear in due course!




Antonio Correia Appears in GALLERY ONE here sharing images of Distant Mountains

BIO - Antonio was born in Setúbal, Portugal at the end of 1940s. Photography was a family hobby as his father used to take pictures around their hometown of boats, landscapes and people. A special memory he has is of his father and uncle working very late at night in the darkroom.

During teen years his father lent him his Rolleiflex and taught him how to make pictures. When proficient he was given a Pentax and developed film and print in the darkroom. That love of photography interrupted during compulsory military service in the former Portuguese colony of Timor, (today Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste). On his return he obtained a degree in Architecture and worked as a professional for more than 31 years with little time for photography. Still, some years ago, before his retirement, that pent-up passion for photography reignited!

Returning to his hometown roots he now chairs the local camera group and attends regular meetings every week to discuss experiences, analyze photos, practices, new themes and ways to accomplish them. He feels he's still refining his craft, (despite mastering the fundamental technical issues), always open to learning, experimenting and fine-tuning his skills.

ARTIST STATEMENT - The camera is now a part of Antonio's life and leaves him to concentrate on the aesthetics of an image. He has that freedom to concentrate on the reality behind the facade, capturing the emotions, experiences, and feelings of people in the street.

The great majority of his photographs are black and white; Antonio is convinced that this classic approach is the best way to show reality. The viewer is not distracted by colour, and the eye concentrates on the contrast and lines of a person.

To date he is involved in local collective exhibitions and has been published in collective books. As he continues to expand on his themes he is looking forward to holding solo exhibitions, hopefully outside of his country of Portugal Photography is now a major part of his life. He is passionate, absorbed, committed, dedicated and derives enormous pleasure from making images.


Nicolas Claris

NICOLAS CLARIS

BIO: Based for more than nineteen years in Bordeaux, Nicolas Claris was born in 1952 and raised in Cannes in the fishermen's neighborhood a couple of blocks from the harbor and the famous film festival ...
He began his work as a professional photographer in 1999 for many shipyards, architects and designers.
In 2008, Sinar HY6 entrusts him for a year of intensive testing under conditions beyond standards for such camera.
In 2012 and 2013, a close cooperation with Pentax / Ricoh has been established.

A special note by Asher Kelman in lieu of Nicolas' Artist's Statement.

"Nicolas Claris is too modest to speak about himself, so I’ll try to write more about him, I’m his close friend for nearly 10 years now. I have rarely come across anyone who is more undistractible in his approach to realizing his vision. The truth is essential and color is a living part of that essence. Everything unimportant is set aside and he's able to bring to a project a level of definition and resolve that matters seem to self-organize before his vision. When he looks at a boat, it's not just that, but the yearnings of people to go to sea, the craftsmanship of the woodworkers and the play of the wind and light on the ropes, mast and water. Everything is there always to help make his pictures genuine.

Somehow, this "water & sky-based" point of view has allowed him to approach architecture and even food with the eyes of an adventuring sea explorer who discovers a new land for the first time and judges all the elements for a perfect and sure approach to shore. Here, Nicolas Claris surprises us with his shockingly scrumptious food preparation by a much starred Michelin Chef here in GALLERY ONE."

claris@claris.fr
Claris - 162, quai de Brazza - CS 81217 - 33072 Bordeaux cedex - Tél (33) 5 56 32 42 52

EXHIBITIONS
http://www.claris-photo.com/photo_expo_uk.php

Un été en fleurs
Collective exhibition
Galerie Basia Embiricos, Galerie Photo 1, Galerie Du 10
Paris, May 22 - July 26, 2014

Trois châteaux en hiver
Galerie du Saint-James, Bouliac
May/June 2014

BANGLADESH !
Galerie du Saint-James,
Bouliac, Nov. 2013 - May 2014

BANGLADESH !
Galerie Basia Embiricos,
Paris, juillet 2013

BANGLADESH !
Salon du multicoque,
La Grande Motte,avril 2013

GRAND FORMAT
Dupon Bordeaux, 2006

MÉTIERS DU NAUTISME
Fédération des Industries Nautiques
Paris, 2004
Paris 2005


PUBLICATIONS

Numerous yachting and architecture magazines
Worldwide

BOOKS
http://www.claris-photo.com/photo_livres_uk.php

Catamarans par Marc Pajot (contribution)
Editions de la Martinière 2013

Racing Only Now at the Voiles de Saint-Tropez, 2013

Extérieurs - Interieurs
2012 - Travaux photographique d’architecture.

Chrisco - The making of
2010 - The story of the building of a contemporary style 100 feet sailing yacht by CNB

Nicolas Claris - Photography 2003 - 2010
2011 - An overview of the finest yachts and architecture scenes.

Only Now - From Drawing to sailing
2005 - The story of the building of a magnificent 104 feet sailing yacht by CNB



A client testimonial
Artists belong to either one of two categories: those who have full confidence in their talent and those who need to keep on improving their art to free their creativity.
Clearly, Nicolas Claris belongs to the second category, although it would be unfair to consider the latter category inferior to the first; it would be like saying that Mozart is better than Beethoven just because he could compose a masterpiece in a few minutes whilst Beethoven worked days on each note.
Nicolas loves the sea and everything technical, he was a boat builder, he has sailed the world, managed his own business, and as a photographer, he has never stopped perfecting his work, with technical mastery and with a great knowledge of photography as an art. And this is how he looks at things, considering them from the perspective of both art history and technical possibilities.
Having for many years edited other photographers’ work, he knows that a good picture requires much more than just pressing the trigger. As a writer needs to proofread his work, a photographer only signs his picture once he has done all the necessary touchup work.

Nicolas came to photography just over 15 years ago; a relatively short time considering how much he has already produced, and it is even shorter when one considers the eclecticism of his production. Yachts of course were the theme that led him to be considered today as one of the best Yacht interior photographer, but he has also focused on Architecture and Nature in all its details, such as flowers growing between two stones or a fallen branch dying on the ground.
Nicolas is uncompromising, his convictions have led to the development of his own style, every day he spends as a photographer brings him more pleasure; he will brighten up when the sun sets and he can catch the soft evening lights, but equally his sadness will not be fake when the working conditions are not met. Nicolas will definitely be there catching the dying glow of the sunset, looking for the photographer’s Blue Note.

There are two sorts of artists: the good ones, and the bad ones. Nicolas definitely belongs to the first picture!

Bruno Belmont, Beneteau group

More testimonials:
http://www.claris-photo.com/photo_temoins_uk.php
 
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