Nicolas Levy - Del Barrio

Happy New Year

2012-01-03T07:22:00.001-08:00

Working

2011-10-27T06:09:00.000-07:00

I graduated from school last june, and my "career" kind of took off lately.
For the last two monthes i've been working as an assistant and i barely have time for my own projects...

This is what my workplace looks like.

I wanted to go to Venice next month, but i've had to reschedule it twice because of assignements.
Now i don't know if I'm gonna go at all, it's too expensive to constantly change my tickets.

However, I'm planning a little trip with photographers Victor André and Dylan Calves in November...
Stay tuned.

i'm still here.

2011-08-25T15:11:00.000-07:00

I said i wouldn't stop blogging here but i kind of did.
But i just realised this blog still gets some clicks...
Who are you people, and why wouldn't you read my other blog instead?
Well sure it's in french...

Anyway, here are some recent pictures from Estonia :

The rest of the serie can be seen on my website

Stay tuned.

New website

2011-04-12T15:20:00.000-07:00

I'm launching my new website : www.nicolaslevy.fr
(I'm using my last name again)

I'm also starting a blog in french that's embeded with the website.
I guess this means i'll be blogging here a bit less, but i have no plans to stop now.

Glasgow (part 1)

2011-03-20T03:20:00.000-07:00

Jackson, in the kitchen of the alba hotel, Anniesland, Glasgow.

Glasgow wood recycling company, glasgow.

A visit to the Airforce

2011-03-14T15:07:00.000-07:00

This weekend I went to an Airforce base in Rochefort to visit my little brother.
there was a short ceremony, then i was allowed to hang on the base for a couple of hours and take a few pictures.

Meet Taryn Simon

2011-02-04T06:02:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, you encounter an object that is so intriging and fascinating you're compelled to photograph it.

American photographer Taryn Simon has a unique talent for finding those things.

Here's a copy of erotic magazine "Playboy" for blind readers :

And this is where the transatlantic data cable comes out on the american side.
Most internet connections and transatlatic phone calls are made through this optic fiber cable:

Make sure to check her serie An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar for photographs of the C.I.A art collection, a flask of live H.I.V and many more...

Ireland

2011-01-28T12:52:00.000-08:00

I've just booked a trip to scotland and northern ireland next March.
So I dug up some of my pictures from a trip to Dublin I took in nov 2009, just to remember the mood...

Inspiration : Nadav Kander

2011-01-13T05:15:00.000-08:00

Today i'd like to introduce israeli photographer NADAV KANDER. Besides shooting iconic album covers like Placebo's MEDS cover, he has a very interesting style for landscape photography. The serie I dig the most is "God's country", from witch the image above is taken.

Digging in my archives

2011-01-13T03:17:00.000-08:00

I was looking for an old image, and I found this one instead.
It's a scan for a negative from 2009.
Once again, it's a proof that my film/digital workflow could realy be improved.
I'll have to do something about it someday.
Untill then, i find it kind of exiting that there might be some cool images like this one somewhere, waiting to be discovered...

Back in Paris

2011-01-10T10:57:00.000-08:00

I've now been back in Paris for two weeks, and I just started working on my Non Places project again.
Yesterday I found a huge parking lot near Charles De Gaule Airport and shot these.
I'm very exited about shooting color film again, though I know the light isn't gonna be that gorgeous all winter...

Two weeks off - Last days

2011-01-10T10:46:00.000-08:00

Two days before leaving Nice, I visited a couple of abandoned houses.

Waving goodbye to Nice... And it's time to go back to Paris again.

Two weeks off - Chrismas

2011-01-05T11:01:00.000-08:00

We spent chrismas eve in my mom's cabin, in nice's back country.
At 00:00, we drove to a small village in Italy to watch the traditional bonfire.
It was a great night, but I was a bit too drunk to take any good pictures...

The afternoon before chrismas, everything is set in the village of Trucco, Italy.

Waiting for the bonfire in a local bar.

Stay tuned.

Two weeks off - Day four and beyond

2011-01-05T10:34:00.000-08:00

A few days later, i left Paris to Nice.
Despite the rain, it was a thrill to be back in my hometown. Little did i know that the weather would stay that way for my whole stay.
Still, i was very exited to meet my old friends again.

Stay Tuned.

Two weeks off - Day Three

2011-01-04T11:37:00.000-08:00

On the road back to Paris.

Two weeks off - Day Two

2011-01-04T11:20:00.000-08:00

On the next morning François mum cooked a great lunch for us and his dad showed us around town before we hit the road back to Paris.

STAY TUNED...

Two weeks off - Day One

2011-01-03T12:59:00.000-08:00

The holyday season is the time when we meet our family and friends.
This year, I got two weeks off.
It feels like all i've done for those two weeks was sit in a car, and get drunk from time to time...
For once, I was surprised to realise that the pictures I took during those trips actualy match the way I recall them.

It started on December 16th, with a trip to Le Mans, and François turning 30.

Stay tuned.

La vie de chateau

2010-11-08T08:12:00.001-08:00

(I couldn't come up with a translation for the title)

Today a few of my fellow students and I got to visit - and photograph - this amazing house.
First thing that I though when I entered the palace was :Patrick Faigenbaum!
So I decided to quickly pop some portraits of my friends.
I wish I had planned this ; I could have brought more gear and more models...

Thanks a lot to models Magali Hernandez, Melanie Rey and Maxime Valentin.

Cleaning up my closet

2010-10-30T02:48:00.000-07:00

Recently, I came upon the book NEVERLAND LOST by Henry Leutwyler.
The book presents photographs of some of Michael Jackson's favourite objects.
Of course MJ was quite a strange character, and one gets strucked by the weirdness of the things he owned...

But a few weeks later, I had to clean my own appartment, and when I realised how bizare some of my own things were, I decided to photograph them.

This is a washing glove that some foreigners forgot at my place.
I've never tryed it, but i'm scared it would be a little rough for my delicate skin...

This is a lock of my hair.
I realy don't know why I kept this.
I had to search old pictures of me to check how old it was. It seems like I wore this sometime in 2006. One of the reasons i photographed those things is that now i can throw them away.

This is actualy brand new, but i had never seen it untill i cleaned my place.
It's a present that some guests left in my apartment but i didn't find it!

Stay tuned for more.

More winter pictures.

2010-10-18T13:32:00.000-07:00

Here's some pictures that I didn't include in the Norvigian serie that i put up a year ago, and shared on this blog last week.
I just happened on these photos right now, i had never realy noticed them before.
I think only one of them as what it takes to be part of the serie, but still, it's fun to realise how much you can miss if you don't look at your work carefully.

Winter is my best friend

2010-10-13T12:59:00.000-07:00

A serie made in Norway in 2009.
I owe a lot to this country.
The emptyness, quietness, flatness and mute colors of the norvegian winter realy influenced my photographic writing. Now when i photograph even the most colourfull places, i seem to carry a bit of that norvegian winter with me at all times...

Burried in the white
Lies an old dream of mine.
The air cut like crystal
In the silence of November nights.
That was when winter held my hand
And carried me home.

Macadam Cowboy (part II)

2010-09-29T00:58:00.001-07:00

Tribute to Macadam Cowboy, (almost) final image.

Model is fellow photographer Benjamin Schmuck, make sure you check out his work.

The water, the light, the wind.

2010-09-27T14:53:00.000-07:00

Ongoing project about Normandy.

Movie study II

2010-09-22T08:56:00.001-07:00

Another study for a photograph inspired by a movie : John Boorman's 1972 Deliverance

Macadam Cowboy (movie study I)

2010-09-19T12:20:00.000-07:00

These pictures are a preliminary study to my next assignment ;
a tribute to MACADAM COWBOY.

Model François Bachtoub, assistant Marie H.

How to photograph parties? (part I)

2010-09-14T04:22:00.000-07:00

Today, i'd like to try to answer the question that every photographer faces sooner or later : "How do i photograph parties?"

There are many diferent ways to photograph parties, depending on what camera you use, how much you want to commit, and how patient your party mates are.

Of course, if you use the cheapest digital camera, want to keep a drink in your left hand at all times and are at a party where everyone is dancing like lunatics on a 180 bpm techno mix, you might as well drop the camera and enjoy the party, cause you won't get any decent pictures anyway...

I'll skip the obvious advice like "don't hang out on the same sofa all night waiting for something to happen", "don't shoot only your friends", "don't be afraid to ask the girls to show some flesh"... And get straight into the first technique :

USING B&W FILM

Black & white film has been used by journalists for one thousand years (more or less) to capture the action in low light situation.

Here's a few pictures i've been taking saturday night with a 35 years old camera and a 3,5€ roll of film.

Later I'll make similar posts about other ways to photograph parties (including small digital cameras).
When I've covered it all, I will compare the results from the diferent technologies.

By the way, you can find great old film cameras for 35€ on the web, and bring them to parties!

Stay tuned.

Blame it on the weather.

2010-09-06T02:51:00.001-07:00

These four pictures are the product of my four weeks stay in Nice in August.

It's the view from my mother's appartment.

She uses that tower as her living room clock. If you want to know what time it is, you have to watch out the window.

One of the reasons i'm posting this is that I'm back to school -for the last year ever- tomorow.
After a rather quiet summer, I can hardly wait to start some new projects.
Even though that means I won't be seing my home town for a while...
Stay tuned.

156 portraits

2010-08-31T12:01:00.000-07:00

My beloved school asked me and 4 other senior photographers to prepare a welcome project for the new students entering this year.

We each had to build a portrait set and shoot all of the freshmen and women.

My set was one of the less crowded - guess my style isn't up to the taste of the new generation... But still it was one of the longest and busyest days in my life.

I was realy glad that some kids even dressed up to match my theme (they had been warned the day before). That made for terrific pictures.

And at least, none of them asked to improve my ligting!
(it happened to another photographer!)

One last thing : this look is a (poor) tribute to the legendary photographerMarthe Sobczak.
Make sure you check out her work.

We wander for fulfillment but we travel for distraction.

2010-08-29T15:03:00.000-07:00

This was in Budapest, August 2006.
Axel was posing in front of the pool, then this old guy came behind him and started mimicking him.
It was hilarious. I was laughing my head off and Axel had no idea of what was going on.

We arrived In Ostersund (Sweden) on the 19th of August.
We had been riding trains for two or three weeks, playing guitar in the streets to pay for our trip...
It was early in the morning and we decided to wash in the lake.
The water was freezing cold, but we were so happy to get clean...

"There is no such thing as bad weather - only the wrong clothes" [Billy Connely]
In 2007, we spent the winter in Montreal. It was so hard to be outside we would hang out in a fast food for hours. After a few weeks we decided to move to mexico...

I just loved wide angles back then.

Norway 2008 :
"Take the picture, I want to see what I look like when I leave!"

The full serie is on my WEBSITE

Young photographer : Daniel Shea

2010-08-29T10:04:00.000-07:00

I was suposed to shoot this weekend.
But I hurt my left shoulder on friday afternoon and i'm not gonna be able to hold a camera (or anything) for a few more days.

Hence I wanted to introduce a young american photographer whose work i've been following for a little while.

DANIEL SHEA graduated from art school in 2007, but he's already been producing a fair amount of inspiring pictures, mostly in his hometown of Baltimore.

I find his serie "(Untitled) Baltimore" to be quite inspiring.

Enjoy.

Nights in Delhi III

2010-08-25T05:18:00.000-07:00

For seven years I dwelt in the loose palace of exile
Playing strange games with the girls of the island
Now I have come again to the land of the fair
And the strong and the wise

Brothers and sisters of the pale forest
Children of night
Who among you will run with the hunt?

Now night arrives with her purple legion
Retire now to your tents and to your dreams
Tomorrow we enter the town of my birth
I want to be ready

Non places outtakes.

2010-08-24T07:58:00.000-07:00

As the title suggests, those are the pictures that didn't make it into Non-Places.
For some reasons, they didn't qualify, or just didn't fit with the others.

I though i'd share them to give a sense of what the project could have looked like, and what it's like to dismiss otherwise good shots for the sake of the serie.

More Non-places pictures coming up in september.
Stay tuned.

America in color 1939-1943

2010-08-19T07:01:00.001-07:00

I haven't taken any pictures for a while ; i'm on a holyday.
But before I start shooting again (soon), i though i'd share some of the things i've been looking at lately.
This is a piece from the Denver Post's blog presenting color pictures from the famous F.S.A photographic campaign in the 30s and 40s.

This work is compelling to me, not only for the rare opportunity to see original color photograph from the 1930's but also for there mere artistic qualities.
Enjoy.

The complete collection is HERE

Days in Delhi II

2010-08-07T08:33:00.000-07:00

Nights in delhi II

2010-08-07T08:30:00.001-07:00

Nights in delhi

2010-08-05T08:58:00.000-07:00

Delhi never sleeps.
The later it gets, the stranger the people you meet are.
From shop owners at 9pm to drunk taxi drivers at 3am, they all stare at the camera for a moment then keep walking. And i take the picture.

Days in Delhi

2010-07-30T02:22:00.000-07:00

Earlier in July, I spent Three days in Delhi, India.

I stayed in the neighbourhood of Pahar Ganj, famous to all the backpackers who stay there.
It is roamed by thieves, beggars, shoe shiners, chai wallahs, and many indians who are curious of meeting europeans.
It is also one of the cheapest place to live in downtown delhi for indian families.

Non Places V

2010-07-05T09:08:00.000-07:00

This is the last batch of Pictures before i leave to India for six weeks.
As I said, i tried to focus more on people, and less on landscapes.
However, when i'm under the dark cloth, composing the picture, my biggest concern remains the sens of space it will convey.
I wanted to share the feeling of smallness I got when i was walking in the wind, crossing field after field under an endless cloudy sky, surrounded in the roaring of planes taking off. I hope it worked.

Lately the weather as been too good for me to shoot ; I like the clouds better.
I guess i'll keep on working on this project in September, when winter is back here in Paris.

Cell-phone landscape

2010-06-15T07:01:00.000-07:00

When I was working on my "Non-Places" project, i took that picture with my cell-phone, "just to see how it would look on picture".
I had my sunglasses on, so the small picture on the phone's screen looked kind of boring.
But when I saw it on a large screen at home, i wished I had captured it on film too.
But i guess It's still good enough for blogging...

Non Places IV

2010-06-09T12:09:00.001-07:00

I feel like i'm through this first part about planes.
It's now time to focus on the people.
Starting this weekend, i'll be orientating my work towards the other part of this project : the hobbyists.
I'll probably be starting with model planes builders.
stay tuned.

Non-places III

2010-06-05T14:11:00.000-07:00

Non places II

2010-06-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

A place is an organised space.
It's the walking of the pedestrians that makes a sidewalk a place.
For their own reasons, the people move in the places and give them an everchanging personality : a crowded street, a busy street, a quiet street...
The non-places are purpose orientated.
You can't U-turn on a highway, you can't bicycle inside an airport.
The personality of one individual is denied, you find yourself in the non-place to do one thing, and one thing only. You're not expected to behave remarkably, or display the signs of your personality.
You're not here to be yourself,
you're here to be taken somewhere else.

Non Places I

2010-05-31T13:10:00.000-07:00

Once, means of transportations were just tools.
A horse, a car would only be seen as a mean of transportation.
But planes, airports, trains, stations, buses are diferent.
They are places.
Places we don't live in, places we don't meet in, places we don't talk in.
French anthropologist Marc Augé calls them "Non-Places".

(in)sanity

2010-05-28T05:09:00.000-07:00

Canelle, Saint Denis 2010.

Plane Peepers

2010-05-17T10:46:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure what Random Places was supposed to become.
I guess I wanted to expose the emptyness of photography as a medium, it's very lack of intention...
The strategy was pleasant, but eventually I got catched by a more ambitious idea.

Riding the trains and visiting towns I would never have been on purpose, I found people and places that realy inspired me, and made me want to point my camera at something I could see a meaning in.
So I'm launching two new projects that should keep me busy all upcoming spring and summer.

The first one is based on Marc Augé's concept of non-place (1992). It will be a serie of large format landscapes of these non-places, where man goes but witch he doesn't inhabit, where he stays anonymous and lonely (parking lots, gas stations, supermarkets...).

The second one, witch begins today, will be more portrait-orientated.
I'm gonna meet and photograph people who enjoy marginal hobbies.
Whether loners, or groups of organised enthousiasts, I will find people who seek a fuller relation to nature's elements, a passion for technical achievements, and a hint of obsession rather than just a physical feat or competition (witch is what most hobbies are about).

The first of these groups are the Plane Peepers.
So far, all of them are men. They roam around Charles de Gaule Airport with binoculars, and they stare at the planes taking off and landing.
I met quite a few of them in the fields around the airport.
They get as close of the planes as the fences will let them, and they stare.
I haven't met any of them that would talk to the others ; they all have diferent reasons to be there. Some are obsessed with the idea of flying, some are amazed at the technical achievement of modern airplanes, one was there to fight his fear of air travel....
Some of them have notebooks were they write down the models and the schedules of planes, some of them just watch for the sake of it.
They just sit and stare, as the planes disapear through the clouds.

Portrait of a musician

2010-05-12T11:08:00.000-07:00

After taking (and blogging) mostly lanscapes for the last few weeks, i though i'd post an assignment photograph.
This is fellow photographer Thomas Chené disguised as a musician.

Because thomas was nice enough to come to the studio, I wouldn't waste his time for just one picture.
So i took this other one.

A little reminder

2010-05-04T14:22:00.001-07:00

The last couple of days have been pretty rough on us here in Paris.
The temperatures went down to as low as 6° celsius, wich is quite unusual for May.
I've always enjoyed winter. I guess it's because I'm from a very warm place, this weather is realy exotic to me.
However, earlier today, when I was freezing my bones outside, I though i'd dig my archives to find a realy cold winter picture, to show you all what it feels like to be in Paris right now, and to remind us here in Paris that it could be much worse.
Maybe my choice is a bit exagerated though...

By the way, this is the town of Drobak, Norway, in february.

Oops i did it again.

2010-04-29T03:51:00.000-07:00

Boldly breaking the rules of my own project RANDOM PLACES, I went to a place I had already visited before.
Hence this week's picture may look a bit familiar, but I just had to go back and take it.
Helas, just like I was unsatisfied with the first pictures I made two weeks ago, I'm still not satisfied with this one.
However, I'm not going back again, I mean it.

You will not be left alone. (ended)

2010-04-28T12:00:00.000-07:00

"Travel is useful, it exercises the imagination. All the rest is disappointment and fatigue. Our journey is entirely imaginary. That is it's strength.
[...]
And besides, in the first place, anyone can do as much. You just have to close your eyes.
It's on the other side of life." [Celine]

This is the last entry of the YOU WILL NOT BE LEFT ALONE serie in it's original form.
I might add or remove some images later, change some texts, but this is where and how the first draft ends.

Empty line

2010-04-22T14:27:00.000-07:00

Just like this bored teenager was lucky to find a ride with no one queuing, i was lucky to get such an interesting attitude in such a nice light.
Sometimes, a random situation can become photogenic, for just a fleeting moment.
Those moments are given to those who can see them, but the framing and the timing are still your responsability, to turn a moment into a photograph.

A short trip to the bronx.

2010-04-21T08:53:00.001-07:00

Even though i've been to New York quite a few times, I only set foot in the bronx once.
It was one of the last days of my last trip.
I was staying in spanish harlem (E105st) and that morning, instead of going south to manhattan, brooklyn or queens, i decided to go north. I took a bus to 125th street and first avenue then walked across the bridge to the bronx.
I took the picture less than a hundred meters away from te bridge and then called a cab and went back to harlem.
Now that I think about it, it seems to me that more than another picture from nyc, this may be the first of my "Random Places" photographs.

I make mistakes too

2010-04-20T11:49:00.000-07:00

I've been using a very complicated camera lately.
Though it's possibilities are nearly endless, I guess it's just too many buttons and screws for me to fiddle with.
So this is me making some rookie's mistakes.
I think it's brilliant how a new tool can just make you feel like a beginer again.
More on that magic camera later.

Random Places II

2010-04-19T09:37:00.000-07:00

This week's random trip took me to the former airport of Le Bourget, now a museum.
The building in itself is what struck me, more than the old planes and rockets that were displayed in the parking lot...
The light was awful, but I took the pictures anyway...

rockefeller center

2010-04-14T04:01:00.000-07:00

I took that one for my mom, she loves those classic posters of New York.

New york city again.

2010-04-11T06:04:00.000-07:00

“I feel that it is healthier to look out at the world through a window than through a mirror. Otherwise, all you see is yourself and whatever is behind you.” [Bill Withers]

Random places

2010-04-09T14:43:00.000-07:00

This is an idea i've had all winter ; using my free pass to take random trains on sundays and explore a distant place.
This is less than an hour away from Paris, on the edge of a small ugly town called Vaujours.
It was raining when I got there, and i had to sit for 20 min in the train station before i could go out.

I walked around the empty streets for some time and the sun finaly bursted through the clouds as I entered the forest.

I didn't walk more than 20 meters into the woods ; the scene was waiting for me right off the trail. I set up the camera and clicked the button.

Then I went home.

A stranger and a friend

2010-04-06T09:56:00.001-07:00

Justine.

Maxime.

Back in Paris, these are my latest pictures, taken yesterday by the canal St Martin.
They look quite diferent, but they were taken moments apart.
The light was changing so fast.
Now i look at them and can't help thinking of the way you're always a diferent self, whether you're talking to a stranger or a friend.

On top of the world

2010-03-29T07:15:00.001-07:00

There is a world on top of the world.
Just like there is a world below the world.
There is a world inside of things.
There is a world made of nothing.

Anouncing the exhibition

2010-03-26T13:55:00.000-07:00

This body of work will be shown for a short exhibition in a small university gallery.
Opening will be tuesday 25th of may.
More info later.

Portraits

2010-03-21T08:37:00.000-07:00

Coney Island [part II]

2010-03-18T04:11:00.000-07:00

All the rides were closed and the boardwalk was empty.
Long ago I wanted to tell stories.
But there's no story here.
Because photography can describe much more than it can explain.

One handed boy [Coney Island part I]

2010-03-15T12:47:00.000-07:00

Pictures aren't memories ; they're just pictures.
I had a notebook where the names and adresses were all writen.
I lost that notebook and i can't remember this boy's name.
He's just a picture to me now, not even a memory.

New Jersey

2010-03-15T04:00:00.000-07:00

If love is the answer, what was the question again?
On the bus to the airport, this is the last picture i took on that trip.
I could have posted it last, but i have some other plans.
Stay tuned.

American night

2010-03-14T12:44:00.001-07:00

Welcome to the American Night
where dogs bite
to find the voice
the face the fate the fame
to be tamed
by the Night
in a quiet soft luxuriant
car
Hitchhickers line the Great Highway
[Jim Morrison]

Lady liberty

2010-03-14T01:10:00.001-08:00

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost, to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door !

Fake plastic tree

2010-03-13T14:35:00.001-08:00

I saw that one in Coney Island, i only remembered the song later.

Charles

2010-03-13T14:11:00.000-08:00

I met charles in the tv room. He'd come to New York to be an artist.
Once, we were watching tv and a commercial for Loreal aired. I wanted to comment it but he was faster.
"They made a billion dollar industry out of dead proteins" he stated, and everyone in the room remained silent because they couldn't tell if he was amused or shocked.

You will not be left alone. (continued)

2010-03-13T12:36:00.001-08:00

In the subway there was a sign that said "If you're feeling like you are going to faint, try to get out of the wagon at the next station and ask our staff for assistance. You will not be left alone."
I flew 6 hours from Paris to read that.
Walking the streets of New York on my own with my camera for days, i came to a point where people were just particles playing with the light in front of me, like dust or water.
I was about to be reminded that they were real, that i could touch them, hear them if i chose to.
Now that i'm back home and that they're all just dots on my computer screen, the whole thing seems unreal again.
Only the pictures remain to convince me that it was all for real.
"You will not be left alone" the pictures say, and i believe them.

You will not be left alone.

2010-03-13T12:17:00.000-08:00

My newest work, in New York City.

More to come later.