In these old residences aged by time, we often pass through there without seeing anything. However, light, colors or graphics are often there to remind us that even in these unusual places we can discover beautiful things where we do not expect them.

This photograph is part of a series taken during the summer of 2020 in an old house where I was invited for a photographic stay with friends. The photographic challenge we set for ourselves was to take a set of 20 cohesive shots inside or outside the house. I had no idea what to do when I arrived on the site but I was the only one to go with the idea of photographing the items in this house. Most of my colleagues go for more traditional wide-angle photographs and encompass as much as possible in the photographic frame.

For my part, I was immediately struck when I entered the different rooms of the house by the light attenuated by the transparent curtains which entered through the windows open to the outside and the resulting harmony of colors. The atmosphere was like magic and all the details appeared to me like an invitation to contemplation and an incentive to capture everything with a photograph.

Then the choice for me was to choose between a traditional 2/3 format or a square format. After several tests I realized that it was necessary to isolate the subject from its environment to restore it in its simplest form and highlight it by its lines and shapes associated with the colors and contrasts recorded during the shooting in this room.

It is from this reflection that my series “The poetry of simple things” was born, which you can find on my blog mentioned a little further on. This series is not completely finished but I found in its realization a new inspiration which allows me to consider new shots for which the light, the contrasts, the lines and the shapes are more important than the object himself.

What do you think are the TWO most impactful features that make your image a good photograph? Don’t be shy!

I chose to work for this series in a square format through which it seems easier to highlight the subject and isolate it from its environment. I wanted to make an image that speaks to all of us built for a simple reading, around a harmony between the guidelines, the colors and the contrasts brought by the ambient light in this room. I wanted to highlight simple things that we have already seen but that our memory has never recorded.

If you would be able to make this photo once again, what would be the ONE thing you would like to do better or different?

Difficult to answer. I don’ know really.

Bernard Moncet shared this photograph in the FRAMES Facebook Group.

Photographer

Bernard Moncet, Villefranche sur Saône, France

WEBSITE

Equipment and settings

Fujifilm X-Pro2, XF23mm F1.4
ISO3200, f/4.5, 1/250 sec.