Rabari series now online!

Yes the long awaited Indian series is now online. It took me like 4 months to work them out. It was eventually worth it. There is a total selection of 22 fine art portraits which can be seen by clicking on the picture bellow.
On the other hand, I am now being permanently represented by a fine art gallery called L’Oeil Ouvert, based in Le Marais district in Paris. 4 of my Ethiopian portraits are for sale there:
OEIL OUVERT
Another trip planned for the 2010 season but which still has to be determined. I have my ideas but will let you know my final choice in a few weeks. One thing for sure and no matter what my choice will be, the spot is going to be amazing  with extraordinary people. Other than that I’m going to have another exhibition done this year, yet the exact location is also to be determined.
Well what else could I say apart from thanking Mitchell and Hardik one more time, without whom I would have never had the chance to meet the Rabari people. I will never forget them.

Updates

I know it’s been quite a while since I wrote my last post. I have had 2 very hectic months: August being my journey to India and September being post processing and many other things. On top of that I am being integrated in a pretty slick Parisian fine art gallery in which my work will be permenently exhibited. I will come back later on this with more details.
Gaia Auction contacted me soon after my Spring exhibition downhill Montmartre as they wanted two of my prints to be on sale at the fall auction which will also take place in Paris, too bad though I will be in Hong Kong meanwhile the sale takes place. They specialize in African Art so my Ethiopian series was a lot convenient to them I suppose. More details of the catalogue here: GAIA AUCTION

Now, about my second Indian journey, so many things to say! First off, I’ve got to make a few rectifications about where and how it happenned! In fact, I originally thought the Rabari people I was looking for were based in Rajasthan. Wrong impression. Most of them are actually in the Gujarat state where barely any tourists are going comparing to the very very popular and over crowded Rajasthan! Good for me I’d like to say. There I have seen the most genuine and unspoiled ethnic group ever. I won’t be lying if I tell you that for most of them they haven’t seen white people in 10 years! Some villages are so remote (nearly on the Pakistani border) and out of interest for tourists that it has been a great pleasure to me to discover people that will forever remain in my memories. I met this Indian bloke called hardik whith whom we took a ride across the Kutchh desert… over 2,000 km in the Gujarati roads swinging between cows, bulls and goats. Special thanks to Mitchell Kanashkevich without whom nothing like this would have happenned.
Will post the series very soon!!

More updates to go over the next few days. Bellow a couple of shots of me taken in Pushkar – Rajasthan by my cousin Greg whom I’ve met after the exciting Gujarati ride!

Warm up

Hell, only 2 weeks to go and I almost forgot I was going to India! Nevertheless, I got gently  warmed up last week end by shooting a French actress, Alexandra Naoum, seen in lots of teenage series and movies. A very expressive bird she is, hence the photos bellow. It feels quite good to grab the shooter after such a long time without using it

Facing East

Only those who went to India once could understand the reason why someone would want to go twice. This is obiously my case. Having been there late 2007, the desert of Rajasthan is now calling me. This is where my next and long-awaited journey is to take place – from the 8th till the 31th of August 2009 baby!! Main target will the Rabari ethnic group: click here
My first journey to India took place in Benares mainly (one of my favourite spot in the world). Benares (also known as Varanasi) is famous for its heavy spirit vibe and the sadhus. Bellow two portraits I took during the first trip and the route I’ll be taking next August:

A random but yet revealing selection of my last journey…

Yes, my last trip was Ethiopia and I went down the Omo Valley along with a couple of pals to shoot local tribes. I thought I’d upload of few of them so you could enjoy the view too
This is the third ethnic trip I’m doing (previous ones were India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Syria and Lebanon) out of hopefully hundreds of others, may the sweet lord help me in my forthcoming quests, amen!

All good things come to an end

Indeed… the small but yet charming “In My Room” gallery has been running an exhibition on my Ethiopian tribes portraits for nearly two months now and which is to end up on the Saturday 27th of June. I’m pretty happy with the feed back of it and the considerable change that it brought to my career.
Media wise the impact was  quite unexpected with cool features here and there, which helped bringing a pretty substantial number of visitors from time to time. The coolest feature was rue89.com with more than 6,000 visitors on my article in less than 24h, ain’t that sweet!
A massive thanks to those who came to the warming party by the way! Bellow some shots of the “last supper”: