Didier 

Mes Racines

Born in the south of France, in the spray of the Mediterranean, I've been a photographer since 1982 and have lived in Nerja, Andalusia, since 2008.

I'm passionate about light, landscapes and horses.

Spain welcomed me with such generosity that, ten years after settling there, I wanted to show my gratitude. I applied for and obtained Spanish nationality, to make this country, symbolically and officially, my own.

A Philosophy

I don't consider myself self-taught: we always learn from others, from the photographers who inspire us, from the technical books we devour, from the courses we attend and the masters we come across. But above all, we learn from our failures, our emotions, and our thirst to go ever further.

My photography is guided by a simple philosophy: to remain an eternal student. I like to learn, to marvel, to start again.

I try to stay true to this maxim:

"Never ask for directions, you might not get lost."

My debut

When I was 16, I spent a whole summer working as a waiter in a brasserie to buy my first SLR. But in the end, I didn't have to buy anything.

An ageless old man came to drink his coffee every day, and I loved listening to him talk about his professional life as a mountain photographer. He'd tell me about the long hours he'd spent on the prowl to catch a chamois, his solitary hikes in search of the right composition, the magic of a ray of light crossing an autumn forest. Without knowing it, he was the alpha of 45 years of passion. I don't remember his name and I'm ashamed of it, but his generosity was the starting point for everything. At the end of the summer, he gave me something I wouldn't have dared dream of:

a Hasselblad 500cm and three Carl Zeiss lenses.

The Very First Photo

At that teenage age, my only photographic obsession was taking naked pictures of my girlfriend of the moment. To be honest, it was neither innocent nor very artistic, more the romanticism of a pimply sixteen-year-old boy. Art as an alibi for the mystery that lurks beneath girls' skirts... in the end, I only took one photo, a very modest one.

Over time, it became the symbol of this innocence and of my discovery of what photography really is:

not take, but pay homage, observe, love.

A Nomadic Journey

I lived for a few years in New Brunswick (Canada), then in Chile for three and a half years where I worked as an event photographer for the French Embassy, produced portfolios for young models at Elite Chile, photographed for an advertising agency and shot pack shots for Carrefour South America.

To satisfy my taste for travel, I ended up closing the studio and, in 2002, had the stupid and economically preposterous idea, at the height of the Internet boom, of founding a postcard company in Chile. It ruined me, but also enabled me to travel from the Atacama desert to Tierra del Fuego, via Peru, Bolivia, Patagonia and the Andes. Years of adventure, light and encounters. I came back broke, but rich in experience, with a deep sense of having really lived.

Nerja, Back to the Origin

I first discovered Nerja in my youth, on a trip to Morocco with my girlfriend at the time. We crossed the Strait of Gibraltar from Tangier to Tarifa and took a random bus. We arrived late at night, slept on deckchairs on the beach, a jug of sangria in hand, lulled by the sound of the sea, and set off again the next morning. I only walked through the center of the village, but something stayed with me.

Decades later, when I opened my third business in Spain, the choice was obvious: Nerja.

My Way of Photographing

I'm not a photographer of the moment, I never shoot on the spur of the moment, I often visualize a photo for months, sometimes years, before even taking out my equipment. I often return to the same places, without my camera, simply to observe the light, the shadows, the weather, the time of day, the silence...

When I finally take the picture, I already know which lens to use, which tripod height, which filter, which exposure. I still use my old flash meter, work slowly, the old-fashioned way, rarely taking more than two or three shots.

My practice is meditative, stress-free, The landscape is patient. I can return to it again and again, until the moment of grace presents itself.

An Intimate Photograph

I photograph above all for myself, my relationship to the image is personal, almost selfish. If I no longer feel anything for a photo, I don't show it, even if someone wants to buy it, unless of course I need money, and I always do.

I'm not frustrated when a landscape resists me, I know it's there, waiting for me. I don't publish to be seen, nor to feed the networks. Managing to produce two really good images in a year is a great year and that's enough for me.

And now?

Today, as I inevitably approach sixty, I've become the old boomer photographer. Like everyone else, I delude myself and try to slow down time, walking 10 to 15 km a day in all seasons.

I'm not about to offer my equipment to a young stranger, but I'm willing to humbly share my experience of landscape and horse photography, my tips, my favorite places, my composition ideas, my moments of laughter and my silent evenings watching the sun go down.

Sometimes, so absorbed in the beauty of the world, I forget to press the shutter release, and you know what?

That's fine.