art work

A little absurdity is always good and terribly refreshing, especially for the perpetrator. The world of commercial photography can at times be quite conservative and the technical standards are extremely high. Creating this kind of fun photograph is thus fantastically liberating for me. Some photographers as well as other artists find great satisfaction with the perfect and clean images they create for their clients. Not me… I have this strange desire to illustrate a sort of slightly chaotic parallel universe which exists in my mind, complete with some mostly unintentional imperfections – which I’ve learned to embrace as they come along.

My first employer in photography was the very successful Canadian fashion photographer Patrice Masse in Montreal. I’ll always remember a thing he told me after I had been an on-again/off-again member of his team for a few years. Patrice told me: “you’re lucky, you’re free”. At the sound of these words, I paused, trying to absorb this as I scanned his large downtown studio, full of great equipement and with a stunning view over the Montreal skyline. Quite rapidly, he had managed to climb at the very top of the market, shooting huge advertising campaigns for famous brands as well as travelling all over the world. Needless to say, i couldn’t stop myself from feeling jealous and his comment had made me deeply puzzled. Only years did I finally understand the meaning of his statement.

About this image

The subject of twins has always fascinated me. For one, they share a symbiosis, which makes them a powerful team, like having one body with two brains and three legs. Further more, identical twins are just that , “identical”. Wow! Imagine looking at and interacting with an exact replica of yourself. I beleive this is one of the reasons why twins benefit from a head start in life; they have no choice but to accept their imperfections…. At a very young age, they acquire the ability to accept their their physical image.

In the fantastic Australian claymation movie Mary and Max, Max (for those who don’t know the character of Max, he had spent his life addicted to chocolate hot dogs – a recipe of his own invention and very proud of it – and had made a habit of loathing himself, consumed by self-doubt). At one point, he writes to Mary the following which was a comment from his shrink: “If you would be stuck alone on an island, you have would have to completely accept yourself, with all your imperfections, warts and all”. Powerful stuff. In other words, in order to accept yourself means to finally love yourself, at which point, you can begin to live, at last.

Stef the BikeGypsy

When I witness nature, as in feeling the power of ocean waves or walking in a forest, the world takes on this whole new dimension. As if all is as it should be. The rather amusing thing is that is shouldn’t feel strange or appear new. Nature exists only in the true state on the “now” with its own set of rules and messy order. A sort of chaotic system which makes sense. When some highly spiritual people talk about the power of the mind or the higher self, they share glimpses of a dimension, a human dimension, which is omni present and available. One of the drawbacks of modern living is that it dulls us from the wonderful energies of the universe.

I took these photographs in a forest while biking through the very edge of northern Thailand, near the border with Burma. For a very brief moment, I felt completely in tune with nature; nothing but the now mattered.

stefan breton