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This will take a little organising, but I’m fairly clear on the format now, and so I think it’s time to prepare for the launch of a new page dedicated to the spectacles that I cover as a photographer.

I’ m still not sure whether this will be a part of the existing iangrandjean.com website, or a whole new site – but there are already more than  270 individual ‘concert’ and ‘spectacle’  albums on the main site, and that’s not counting all the other rubbish out there! I can’t help feeling they’d be better off somewhere less confusing for the eventual visitor.

Too much information kills the information, or the informative value of the site, so I think it will be better to seperate this work from the rest of the visual content.

As to what to call it/where it should appear, and as sadly the pestacle.fr domain name has already been taken, I’m not too sure yet – possibly as a mini-site referenced from the main site home page. We’ll see… (Just checked and it seems pestacle.eu is still available…)

For the English reader (as there’s only one) ‘pestacle’ is a childish (French) deformation of the word ‘spectacle’ – which suits me down to the ground!

Why oh why is it so difficult to get rid of this ape?

In a recent report, Mr Sensitive (Trump) is reported to have commiserated with a grieving widow who had just lost her husband in an ambush in the Niger, saying « Well I guess he knew what he signed up for, but I guess it still hurt »

Fuckwit or what?

This man is not fit to hold the job he was « elected » to do…

Busy day yesterday – while waiting for the artist, Manu Galore, to walk to Auch from Jegun (4 hours) the guys in the Cri’Art ‘dressed’ the stage to make the whole thing a little more welcoming than just black everywhere.

Manu is doing a tour of France – on foot! So he walks, rides, sails everywhere. The previous evening he had been near Jegun, about 20 kilometers from Auch, and early Friday morning he set off to arrive with us at Lunchtime.

After a soundcheck etc. he went off to have a rest before the evening concert.

I meanwhile visited the Library Petits Papiers where the book celebrating the 30 years of the Circus Festival was being launched.

I’m obviously invested as I have a few images in the book – but it will also be quite interesting to learn how the whole ‘system’ has developed over the years. I’ve been covering the festival for only 5 years so I’m a relative newcomer…

Back to the Cri’Art – we all went to dinner at 7pm – and managed to stagger back to the venue before the door opening at 20h45 – Manus parents had come from Toulouse to see the concert (but also to bring a bike for Manu to use to ride to Marciac where his next concert will be on Saturday evening. Marciac is nearly 40kl away from Auch so he decided it might just be a bit too much…

The concert went very well – he’s a talented pianist/singer/songwriter, and last year won a TV talent show, although he’s « been around a bit » already – this tour of France is due to last two years – and this is only just the beginning. For the last three songs he was joined o stage by a friend of his Patrice – sadly the dreadful lighting has prevented me from getting any decent shots of the two together.

Seems like it was only yesterday we were finishing up the 29th edition – and the 30th is now only a week away…

I will normally be seeing around 15 spectacles – some companies I know, some new – so it’ll be an interesting 10 days for me.

The festival is also the opportunity to meet up with people who are not necessarily there to perform, but who come to see the others, so I’m able to keep in touch with the companies I have photographed in the past. This  sometimes pays off as there have been occasions where I’ve had commissions due to fortuitous meetings!

To celebrate the 30th year of the Festival, CiRCa have produced a book which will be unveiled this coming Friday – great anticipation as there are a number of my images inside…

Diament the caricature artist, will no doubt be there, as he is most years, and it’s a real pleasure to see him at work – he works with astonishing speed, sometimes barely looking at the paper on which he’s working.

A company I am really keen to see again is Circa Tsuica/ Cheptel Aleïkoum – I know nearly all of them and they will be performing this year. I haven’t yet seen their latest offering « Les Princesses » – can’t wait for that!

Last but by no means least, in addition to my Festival 2016 expo on the patio at CiRCa, I have a retrospective of the residences I’ve covered during 2016/17, at the Cant’Auch during the festival – I’m everywhere at the moment (he said modestly…)

 

 

Yes, I’m back in the Gers – the trip to Haute Savoie turned into a marathon of two weeks work (Wossat??) but at least I as able to spend some time with my youngest daughter and, with her help, completely remodel her new flat.

This all started with an ‘innocent’ question… »Daddy, what do you know about laying floating floors? » As it happens, I have done a couple before, so I do know something about it…but of course, this then developed into, floors, kitchen AND bathroom (but she kept that surprise for the day I arrived!)

This is a small array of tools that I had been using to organise the plumbing. The photograph shows the kitchen part of the floating floor (70m² finally…) This is obviously BEFORE the kitchen.

This is the room now !

Here’s the bathroom…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before….                                                                                                       …and after!

There are obviously a few ‘finishing touches’ to be made, but I was running out of holiday days and had to get home.

My daughter is very happy with our work – and so she should be – with the help of a couple of her friends she has removed all the wallpaper and painted virtually every surface white (even some of the carpet…) Now I’m waiting for the photo that shows she has been able to mount all the remaining door handles…

For obvious reasons I had very little time to see any sights (despite an afternoon in Geneva) but at least now we know we have a comfortable flat to ‘squat’ whenever we have the time to visit again!!

Right, I’m off to visit the North-East for a few days – more of a working holiday really, and a short bike ride from here…

Hope the weather isn’t too cold – there’s no heating where I’ll be ‘working’ !!

Speak soon xxx

Had great fun with the Cie Poivre Rose at CiRCa this week. They have been here in Auch in the final stages of preparation for their new spectacle « Memoire(s) » which will premier in a weeks time near Pau.

The album of my images can be found here – and here a few silly shots I took while they were doing their dress rehersal.

Many thanks to Toinette, Marine, Christian, Thomas, Marvel and Amoury!!

When we were returning from our week away, we passed by Montpelier (deliberately!) to see the William GEDNEY exhibition at the Pavillion Populaire.

The expo was ‘OK’ – some of the images provided an insight into life in America in the early 70’s, but overall I think the general quality was pretty awful. Shame, but I can’t help thinking that just because the author was a homosexuel doesn’t really make an exhibition of his ‘work’ a masterpeice.

Georges SOUCHE – « Terrasses du Larzac »

We rang Georges SOUCHE our photographer friend who lives in these parts. We had already decided to visit his expo at the Méridienne des Sens in Clermont Hérault, and when he discovered that we were passing by Montpelier,  suggested a visit to the Gazette Café where a friend of his, Dominique QUET was having a small exhibition of images taken when he was working as a photo-journalist.

Can’t understand the title as there were only about 30 images…

The images were generally very good, his books more photo albums, but at least he uses Nikon * !!

We managed a brief chat with Dominique, but despite messages and telephone calls, Georges managed to miss every rendezvous! Next year perhaps…

The café is a nice concept – it’s linked to the Montpelier Gazette and is basically open house for anyone who want’s to have a drink, read a book, have free WiFi… and of course it also provides a ‘wall’ for the occasional exhibition.

* We met a very nice German couple during our week away from home, and one of the first questions Bert, the husband, asked was « So, Nikon or Canon? » – this when he found out that I took photographs.

Well yes, in fact I am – I mean, it’s not everyday one of your images is used for an entire years programming (CiRCa) and in addition, is posted on 4m x 3m advertising hoardings all over your town!

So, big head guaranteed !

This is the original image.

 

And this is the programme cover

We’re back – not sadly, for we certainly enjoyed a real break and it’s hard to come back to the routine.

This morning was particularly interesting as the farmer opposite our chambre d’hôte was picking the grapes for his white wine – this is done mechanically and it was a first for me to be able to actually get close to the machine and see how it’s done – in fact I was able to spend some time on the top of the beast as it shook the grapes off the vines!

The visit to Perpignan and Visa was as good as it gets – stacks of images, with some excellent some less so – but still well worth the visit. A name to remember is Ferhat BOUDA / Agency Vu with a memorable exhibition based on the Berbers in Morocco. The Stanley Greene retrospective was, for me, disappointing – I somehow felt the images didn’t show his talent to the full…

Visa pour l’Image – Eglise des Dominicains

We didn’t reach Arles although we had planed a visit – somehow the call of the swimming pool etc. etc. overcame our cultural needs…

This year, upon arriving at Causse de la Selle, we even managed to walk the hour and a half up to the top of the Pic St Loup – a relatively easy climb, to be rewarded by breathtaking views.

We were even ‘dive bombed’ by a local glider pilot (there’s a landing strip on the plain below) !!

The Pic St Loup (left) almost dwarfed by the ‘falaise’ rising from La Plaine.

Sadly, the famous ‘Cube’ turned out to be entirely virtual – the architect is real, but the cube is a ‘project’ he invented for a friends birthday – the photo-montage had a number of us wondering, but after more research (and having driven past the Pic!) we discovered the truth – sad really.

These are the gardens at our favorite eating place The Auberge du Cèdre at Lauret. We go every year, and it is always a real pleasure – the atmosphere, and the food of course – and they have rooms….so perhaps one day!

We also managed a short visit to Clermont l’Hérault to see an expo from a friend of ours, Georges Souche – sadly he wasn’t there, but the pictures were well worth the effort – he rang us the next day and when we said we were returning via Montpelier, he suggested a short halt at a photographer friend of his who was also having an expo – naturally Georges didn’t turn up as planed…I think he’s avoiding me!

Planning underway for the 5th visit to l’Hérault and all it’s wonders in 2018…