They never adopted the name for themselves

“They never adopted the name for themselves” is a never-ending series from Stéphane C. He has been working on it for years. It forms an enigmatic piece of work which may be quickly perceived as drifting away from plain documentary. On the contrary it should be approached as a personal quest, expressionist and poetic, where the technique used (analog photography, vibrant imagery, blur, highly contrasted black and white, enhanced grains…) produces pictures close to paintings. Images which suggest more than they show.

In the heat of the night

The call usually wakes you up in the middle of profound sleep at night. In the excitement you just jump into yesterday’s clothes, put a fistful of film rolls in your pockets and dash out to the action scene with your camera at the ready. A fire is always very easy to locate: its phantasmagoric gleam guiding you like a lighthouse from kilometres away.

Morshihinskaya

Small Russian village on the north of Russia. It looks like many other villages in Russia which are situated far from the capital. The same old and poor, the same far-off and the same wild. But it’s more than an ordinary Russian village. This place is like a small spot in huge Siberia. Life between various small and big lakes, between smell of high trees, loud seagulls and endless days in summer time. Fishermen, insects, dogs and ruins like everywhere. People on the North are more friendly and communicative than in other parts of the country. The traditions and history…