Philippe Ciaparra - Photographe

www.photography.philippeciaparra.com

After 10 years of organ studies with Louis Tortora in Marseille, during which time I won several awards, I devoted myself entirely to photography.

Although photography – that I practiced since childhood and which I finally learned as an autodidact –, has always been my main activity, I obtained a hotel school diploma, and worked as a sommelier for two years in Marseille.

In 1995, I moved to Paris where I have been working since as a fashion and portrait photographer. I have produced catalogues, press kits and numerous editorial pages for fashion magazines.

In my personal work, I focus on twilight landscapes, nudes, and portraits.

My photographs – made with the unique palladium salt process – during a period of 10 years of travels across the United States and Canada, have been showcased at the galleries of Demi-Teinte and K éditeur.

Landscapes & Transfiguration

A book project composed of 85 photographs
in black and white landscapes selected from photographs
taken throughout Europe, the United States and Canada.

In 2007, during the Finnish winter, I rented a chalet near Torvinen, in the heart of the Pyhä-Luosto forest. I was exalted by these winters; it gave me a sense of well-being, moments of happiness. One morning, after eight days of incessant snowfall and, plunged into the solitude of my inner journey, I saw from the only window of my room a white landscape of absolute serenity, so marvelously bright, that, fascinated by this perfect unity between reality and imagination, a blend of opacity and transparency, I came to a point of confusing heaven and earth united with one another. Making a veil of the reality to better escape from it and soothed by the music of Jana Winderen, I saw a singular world portrayed in this duality. From then on, ready to finally reinvent the real, I was going to live an intimate and unusual adventure.

Far from the Arcadian landscapes of peaceful classicism, these new worlds, whose light I was already receiving, would not be hostile to me because they were devoid of any element that could disturb my dreamlike gaze. I had found a way to be alone with myself and stand up to the illusions of reality.
Basically, that's what I needed. Dreamy landscapes. For it is not without real reasons, that there are no transfigured landscapes, but those perceived by this formidable machine to invent that we commonly call imagination.

How do I photograph?

My photographic equipment is minimal and reliable, a 24x36 body equipped with a single 45mm stabilized lens that can be handled with one hand with thick gloves and can be triggered at very low temperatures. A also take a second fully mechanical body in case of failure of the first.

Just before the total darkness, when a glow of light is still present for a few minutes, the photography is taken. At the limit of the speed / iris combination to avoid camera shake.

During my trip to the United States in 2016-17, where I stayed for 75 days and traveled 27,000 kilometers, 130 black and white films were used.
I was driving a 4x4 vehicle with a high floor lift, vehicle required for the multitude of rough terrain and the icy roads on which I traveled from Los Angeles to Tuktoyaktuk in the North West Territories.

Why film? For the simplest reason in the world: because I like to touch the film, the gestures that accompany it; loading it into the body, as well as the entire development process, which will bring it under the viewer of my enlarger.

Description of the Book:

Hard Cover turned in 24 / 10th fabric ERAMBERGER DUO 7 - 222/105 brikett
Plate mark following your dimensions or - 11 x 18 cm with label stuck inside,
hot stamping 1 color white 949 on flat I and back

Inside 96 pages
Paper: Munken Lynx 170 g / m2
Blank guard pages (2 x 4 Pages)
Paper: Sirio Color Pietra Gray 170 g / m2
Binding: hard cover, sewn section, straight back, headband top and bottom black

The elements used in the making of this book will be chosen to respect the environment.

www.photography.philippeciaparra.com

Your participation :

Depending on the level of your participation in the project, you can acquire inkjet prints, silver prints, a book and even unique handmade prints with the palladium salt process.

The most generous contributors will be invited to a private cocktail party at the new K éditeur gallery in Paris to receive their counterparts in person.

Landscapes & Transfiguration - a photography book

The publications