Slightly Nutty Street Photography

     My first trip to Ostende was in winter and I loved its melancholic atmosphere. Coming back a few years later, I realized that it kept this magic even in the middle of summer. Turning his back to the beach and the casino, an old man was taking a digestive nap. He was in such a deep sleep that he made the scene look like a dream.

     Sometimes supermarkets are not as boring as they seem and can even surprise you. Not because they are interesting per se, but thanks to the people passing through. I liked the way this girl was thoroughly looking at the posters, her little brother commenting each of them. Then the leopard appeared suddenly out of nowhere, making the little boy jump and me take this picture.

     Is it safe? Is it really safe to wait for a whopper at Burger King? After some shopping at Carrefour? And without any smartphone to enjoy free Wi-Fi? All these questions came to my mind as I framed this bored couple. Slightly out of focus, the picture looks like an Edward Hopper's painting that would have been parasitized by our consumer society's imagery. And the man definitely looks like the nazi villain in Marathon Man, hence the question.

   It's funny how often you come across the same people when you wander in a city neither too big nor too small. I had often met this lady before, staring through  her glasses at something she did not seem to find. Struck by her resemblance to the younger self on the wall, I eventually took her picture at the market on a cold sunday morning.

     The Beaucroissant agricultural fair is eight centuries old. For the kids, there are a few merry-go-rounds and the beautiful shooting gallery of this picture. I like the way the young boy is literally flanked by the three old men. This is kind of an initiation.

     As I passed her, the little girl was already leaning against the glass wall,  staring into space. She was in my back when I heard a tram's bell and turned around. The scene of her crossing this magic mirror made me shot it immediately. And since then for me her name's Alice.

     I love flea markets. There are so many different objects, with so many potential serendipitous matches floating in ever changing decors. In Grenoble's quartier Saint-Laurent towards the end of a sunday afternoon, I noticed the lady at the center aiming at taking down a deer head and rushed to catch the scene. A few weeks later, I was pleasantly surprised by its dreamlike negative and printed this picture which always makes me think of a Fellini film set I would have been allowed in.

    At the laundry which was close to Grenoble's maison du tourisme, a dad was using a washcloth as a puppet to entertain his kid. Waiting for my clothes to dry, I was reading a book before going for a walk with my camera. Although I lost the film since then, I remember that I took only one shot and that I liked it very much once developed.