This is my first review, it is of a photographer that really inspires me, she is what I would consider true inspiration. I would call her a portrait photographer but I have seen many different aspects of her work and would hesitate limiting her to that title. The photographer I am describing is Christine Lebrasseur, a very talented photographer who lives in France.
Christines’ photography is beautiful and skillfully executed. Her work allows light to truly be the medium, much like a painter would use a paintbrush. She welcomes the viewer in for a moment with her subject and allows her subjects a voice, they truly speak. You don’t admire her subjects for their polished or beautiful appearances, in fact there is often a textured, high contrasting grit to her images that is a welcome break from the airbrushed subjects of todays’ culture. She shows you who the people are, bumps and blemishes seem more beautiful than ugly because they are real.
One of the best descriptions I would give them is that they are intimate studies of real people that compel the viewer to know more. Her isolated aspects of her subjects give you hints to just what you need to know, nothing more or less and that’s what allows your need for further study. The eyes of her subjects stare into you and don’t let you turn away, they shout to be noticed and you are compelled to notice them. There is nothing contrived about the lighting or the composition, there is no second guessing from the viewer, each piece is a complete vignette that includes everything the viewer desires to see. She doesn’t allow you that comfortable feeling of being a spectator instead you are involved in the image and both viewer and subject seem to invade each others’ comfort zone.
Drama is created by contrast and juxtaposition and the tools she uses support the integrity of the characters she captures. The viewer is motivated to ask questions and the intimacy between her subjects and the viewer is complex like a good wine, something that keeps giving instead of just blurting out the prize, her images grow and change as the viewer rediscovers them with every viewing. Her work sheds the skin of the perfection we tend to deem beautiful and shows you that the dimples and imperfections are what builds character in the face of people. We are compelled to see people deeper than just the surface and that’s a wonderful humanistic skill we can take away from her work.
Besides her black and white portraits and her studies of people, there are also colored images and abstract images and the amazing thing about them, they don’t leave the viewer questioning why she captured them but instead compels the viewer to look at everyday things with more interest and discovery. Her work inspired my previous post and have actually reignited my passion and drive to capture what we see everyday as true inspiration and that’s a gift to any artist or creative.https://plus.google.com/103667447824502944926/posts?cfem=1https://plus.google.com/103667447824502944926/posts?cfem=1
