Marine photographer is not an easy title to define; it means much more than being able to catch a maritime landscape on a picture. Of course, some techniques are essential: anticipating a wave to ensure a straight horizon; evaluating depth of field needed to capture the density of a landscape; recognizing the right moment when two sailboats meet each other, and so many other obvious skills.
Reproducing the sea on a picture, it is the ability to express a perception. Benoît Stichelbaut looks through his objective with his sailing experience, knowing deep inside the motivations of those who leave for the sea, be it for their own pleasure or as a profession. He respects the silence of the sailors, listening to their sometimes brief explanations and knows how to integrate them to their profile. His photographs are not only aesthetic; they also capture a moment of life. By the wobbling of an angling boat in the Raz de Sein Straight, we can imagine the power of the waves, threatening to unbalance the boat at any moment.
Catching the moment when two multihull cross each other near the coast shows all the tension animating the crew on board these speed machines. The sailor bending down in the sight of a wave which will soon break on the bow reminds us the icy sea water drops which will ooze in his back, in spite of his fool weather gear.
Here is the point of view Benoît Stichelbaut wants to reproduce when he photographs the sea, far from the aesthetic objective, sometimes dehumanized. Brittany, by the richness of its contrasts and the variety of its men and landscapes offers him a wonderful playground.
Pierre-François Bonneau
|
