Blog
Le Chocolatier
The French know a thing or two about food and chocolate is no exception. France might have its share of big brands and chocolate factories, but independent chocolatiers also thrive. Thousands of qualified specialists across the country develop recipes and make their own chocolate products for sale. ‘Entre mes Chocolats’ in Vence is the only chocolate shop in southeast France to have a working kitchen fully open to the shop.
Taking Time
Precision of time is a watchmaker’s raison d’être. So I was suprised to be told by watchmaker Florian Wulleman during my recent production of his audio portrait, that a minute is not necessarily a minute. And that we are better off relaxing and not clockwatching at all.
I spent the day alongside Florian in his atelier in Vence, a medieval hilltop town between the Côte d’Azur and the French Alps. Working alone, he repairs and sells watches and clocks, most of which have been in service for some time.
Ultra’s World
Salvador Dali’s muse. One of Andy Warhol’s chosen ‘superstars’. Ultra Violet, now well into her seventies, still has a steely gaze and the considerable charisma that you might expect of her.
I took her portrait at the apartment in Nice, where Ultra spends time when not in her New York home. In one lounge, another photographer was lost in concentration shooting her latest installation piece, ‘Self Portrait’. Tradesmen were rushing to and fro. Ultra was alone at the centre of it all, calm and regal.
I Love…
“I love…” How would you complete that sentence? The only rules in this case are that it cannot be 1) someone you know or 2) something that someone else has already put.
I tackled members of France’s defence services with this question for a portrait series made at an annual defense and security recruitment fair near Cannes. One by one, French policemen and women, firemen, soldiers and even one of Monaco’s Royal Guards, struggled gamely to put chalk to slate in a quiet corner of the showground.