Carte Blanche Photography: It’s always Summer… somewhere (Part 1)

When I moved to the US last winter, I had this idea of California as year round warm and sunny place. And to be honest, it’s true if you think about LA or even about the Silicon Valley, but I decided to move to San Francisco, and that’s a completely different story! I guess in a way it reminds me of my native French Brittany with warmer winters, which is not a bad thing…
Anyway they say it’s never summer in San Francisco and that’s partly true, but the last couple of days have been so hot and sunny (some say too hot for the locals!) I guess this is finally our Indian summer. These few bright days gave me the desire to explore the world and enjoy a few vacation days at the beach… So here we are, embarking for moments of pure sunshine and touristic entertainment…

Massimo Vitali

To get into conditions for our summer trip, there is no better way than immersing in Massimo Vitali’s work. Click on the link to his website and you’ll hear the movement of the Ocean and the waves running against the sand… (Yes, I mean it literally!) Scroll through his portfolio and you’ll feel the sunshine on your body, the brilliant Mediterranean light in your eyes, you’ll hear the laughs of people playing in water, the shout of the ice cream seller…
But Massimo Vitali’s images are much more than pretty beach images. The saturated shores and other vacation spots disappear to reveal their occasional inhabitants. In a décor where the sand is so white and the water so turquoise, the intrigue is in the critique of the role played by the crowd. An anonymous crowd that surely reveals itself to viewers lucky enough to see these amazing photographs printed as large-scale murals. But also a crowd that transforms these naturally beautiful landscapes in overwhelming, maybe even claustrophobic environments… What does it reveal? Maybe the necessity to be surrounded by our peers? Maybe a certain non-sense in our ability to follow normality at the expense of our freedom and space?

Massimo Vitali

Also check out his other projects (pools, discos, and more…) on http://www.massimovitali.com/

Zhang Xiao

Through his project ‘Coastline’ Zhang Xiao offers a new perspective on China by confronting us to unusual photographs of Chinese’ leisure activities. In a way, he brings us closer to a population not that different from us. Many Chinese leave their countryside to search for an easier life by the coasts and we see them here having fun and practicing usual beach activities.
Zhang Xiao describes the coasts as ‘beautiful and painful’ and I guess we can say the same thing about his photographs. There is a beautiful melancholy in his images created by both the impenetrable foggy landscapes and the people’s attitudes. And there is something beautifully soft, gentle, humble in the way he photographs his compatriots. But there is also something painful in the sometimes-deserted landscapes, in the construction sites that represent the speed of Chinese development, on some sad faces. Maybe a feeling of quiet loneliness, of nostalgia that makes us uncomfortable because we’re not sure we’re allowed to smile to some situations that have a definite sense of humor…

Zhang Xiao, Coastline

Watch a video presenting the project here:www.youtube.com

More on Zhang Xiao: http://www.zhangxiaophoto.com

Patrick Smith

Did you know that “65% of the French population gathers together during 2 months on 3% of the territory”? This stat seems extremely exaggerated, but what it tells is a reality. And obviously a similar phenomenon happens in many countries around the world. This is this phenomenon that Patrick Smith has decided to capture in his series called 'leisure territories'. Of course he depicts the amusement and enjoyment of the holidaymakers but also he questions our relationship to tourism and the irreversible damages that it causes to the environment. Mass Tourism changes the face of the planet leaving permanent scars on the coastlines: a tall building to welcome the vacationers, a new shopping mall right by the beach, a man-altered beach to replace rocks by sand… Our leisure and pleasure is the priority, the impact it has on the environment is too often a secondary consideration. France is not the worse country when it comes to preserving its coastlines, but the effects can be subtle, and by showing us our ‘industrial’ intrusion on natural environments without only showing the damage Patrick Smith asked us to just think about our exploitive interaction with the environment. For how long can paradise beaches stay paradises?