The Woman with the Gulls, 2007

Alain Le Chapelier  

"Photography is for me a leisure activity that I practice since my childhood. I learned to photograph and develop the films in the family laboratory and then shoot them under the enlarger. I stayed true to film with a hybrid technique. 

The photos taken on film are traditionally developed and scanned, then printed using a Piezo Charcoal printing process, an inkjet process using carbon pigments. I also use a digital device, so I use digital and analog media together.

My favorite subjects are people in their daily environment, in the street but also in the landscape which very often bears witness to human activity or even in interiors, for example in museums. 

As part of the exhibition of the National Society of Fine Arts, I was distinguished by the special mention Jean Larivière in 2014, by the Jean Larivière price in 2015, by the bronze medal of the price of the guest jury in 2016, and by the bronze medal of the guest jury and the special mention Jean Larivière in 2017."

Le Chapelier works largely with digital cameras, but refuses to employ autofocus. This shrewd artistic decision forces him to anticipate situations and adjust his equipment before taking the shot, such that he can capture his subjects mid-movement, before atmospheric backdrops. Fascinated by the human condition, Le Chapelier’s work documents the lives of both country and city dwellers. His photographic series are constantly expanding, as he continually finds new ways to capture his subjects’ interaction with their respective environments. Alain Le Chapelier's photographs are individual testimonies: each image tells a story. His inspiration is sourced from the instantaneous compositions of Cartier Bresson, but also from Willy Ronnis’ cropped photographic frames, which suggest the entrance of a new element into the picture plane before its formal arrival.