Pontoon in black and white

Rods on the shore

Rods on their stand at the edge of a lake, in black and white, with a wooden pallet in the water and hills behind.

Nocturne is an archive series, older than the travel albums, in which the photos are grouped by light rather than by place. The pictures carry no dates or coordinates, so the series has no map and no route: it reads as a sequence of frames. Most were taken at sunset, at dusk or at night, and a few were shot in daylight but processed in black and white or sepia so that they sit alongside the rest.

Pontoon in black and white

A wooden pontoon reaching into the lake, with rods resting above water smoothed by the long exposure.

A chair by the lake

An angler's chair and rods on the shore, under a sky where a few stars show.

Fishermen under the moon

Two fishermen backlit on the lakeshore, under a full moon reflected in the water.

Road into the sunset

A straight road between bare trees, fading toward a sky lit by the sunset.

Car on the shore at sunset

A car parked on an empty shore, almost dissolved in the white light of the sky.

The first thread is the shore of a lake among low hills, during a night of fishing. Rods set on their stands, a wooden pontoon, an angler's chair by the water and two fishermen backlit under a full moon: frames in which the long exposure smooths the water and lets a few stars show in the sky. Many of them are in black and white; later, the same kind of landscape returns in color, with the pontoon in morning or evening haze and a pink sky mirrored in the lake.

City traffic at night

A boulevard seen from an upper floor at night, with red and white headlight trails, in sepia tones.

A road from above

A winding road seen from above, with a line of cars on a stony slope.

Lake at dusk

A lake at dusk, with a band of greenish light under heavy clouds.

Bay in the evening light

A wide bay seen from a wooded shore in the warm evening light.

Stones on the shore

Round stones on a wave-washed shore under scattered clouds.

The second thread is the road: a highway fading toward the sunset between bare trees, a car parked on an empty shore, a winding road seen from above with a line of cars, and a city photographed from an upper floor at night, with headlight trails along the boulevard. The four Long lights frames take the idea further: the camera moved during the exposure, and the lights of the street and the cars turned into threads of gold, white and blue.

Long lights I

The first frame of the set: the lights of a street drawn into golden threads by the camera's movement during the exposure.

Long lights II

Threads of white and golden light splitting toward the edges of the frame.

Long lights III

Gold, blue and green lights tangled in a single long exposure.

Long lights IV

The last frame of the set, its lights gathered in a white burst at the center of the picture.

Vineyard at sunset

Rows of plants in a cultivated field at sunset, with a lit house in the background.

The rest of the series alternates landscape and artificial light: a bay in the evening light, stones on a wave-washed shore, a cultivated field at sunset with a lit house behind it, the last sliver of sun over a line of trees, a city of tall buildings reflected in a river and a single flame in the dark. Moonscape shows, in daylight, a small cone of dried mud with cracked ground around it.

Last light

The last sliver of sun above a line of trees, under a darkening sky.

River and city at night

A city of tall buildings lit at night, reflected in the water of a river.

Fire

A single flame against complete black.

Rods at dusk

Rods and a pontoon in silhouette, with the dusk sky mirrored in the lake.

Wooden pontoon

A wooden pontoon on a still lake, with light haze and a pink sky above the hills.

The last frames are wet streets at night. A narrow aperture turns the street lamps into rayed stars, the wet asphalt doubles their light, and the cars passing during the exposure leave nothing behind but red trails.

Moonscape

A small cone of dried mud with cracked ground around it, under a bright sky.

Street at night

A wet street at night, with street lamps and shop windows reflected in the asphalt.

Street lamps

Street lamps turned into stars by a narrow aperture, and a red trail left by a car on the wet asphalt.

Night road

A wet road at night, with star-shaped street lamps and a red streak of light.