Le panier, 1979

Claude Vesco  

Born in 1950 in the Panier district of Marseille, he became interested in photography very early on thanks first to the folding which is used to fix the family's vacation photos, then to the instamatic Kodak which replaces the camera. bellows, more discreet and handy, that he likes to take from time to time with him to Lycée Thiers, to photograph his friends during or after lessons.

From the 70s he began to photograph during jazz or blues concerts, unwittingly starting to build up valuable archives on jazzmen and bluesmen, archives that he would continue to feed for five decades.

In 1982, the Mayor of Marseille, Gaston Defferre and the Secretary General of the City of Marseille Alain Bidou asked him to create an internal newspaper intended for 1,200 municipal employees. He tackled this task for three years, producing reports (texts and photos) for this publication entitled "The City of Marseille and its officials", chosen by G. Defferre rather than the title he proposed, "Intramural".

Publications punctuated the 80s in various reviews and publications: Actuel, Thursday's event, Télérama for subjects that are proposed to him and that he deals with in a reportage mode, he works discreetly, quickly, and 'as much as he recognizes himself in "street photography", popularized by great European (Cartier-Bresson, Ronis, Doisneau) and American photographers, whose footsteps he strives to follow, while gradually building his own style of image through his travels, his meetings and his projects.

A first part of his work is in the context of film photography, from which we can extract three subjects: Jazz and blues musicians, the city of New York and Marseille.

Subsequently, he continued to photograph with digital cameras, continuing to enrich his archives through his travels and the chance of encounters.

His work on jazz is now part of a generic title, "Jazz, the lost world" which testifies to his encounters with great musicians of whom he keeps precious traces, Bill Evans, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Jaco Pastorius, Sonny Stitt, Sonny Rollins, Don Cherry, and many more of the alumni or rising stars.

Regarding urban photos, he tirelessly continues to be this discreet passer-by who tries to pull out poetic or surprising images at random, by the chosen moment and the framing, a peaceful hunt whose goal is to share with those who, like him , like spontaneous photography, devoid of artifice, rich in encounters and light.

A photographer and a work to discover.