Wild Forest – Spencer Byles
Multiplied colors added
La forêt de Colle-sur-Loup transformée en galerie d’art. Une trentaine de sculptures de Spencer Byles sont disséminées un peu partout. Les visiteurs les découvrent au hasard de leur balade. Des œuvres gigantesques conçues à partir de la matière première trouvée dans la forêt. Elles n’ont pas de noms, l’artiste préfère laisser libre cours à l’imagination des promeneurs.
This version of the photo published in Faerie Magazine comes from a project that required over twenty hours of work. It began with the identification of a spot in the forest of La Colle-sur-Loup, shown to us by our friend, the Land Art sculptor Spencer Byles. We returned to the location to soak in the atmosphere and imagine a staging that would take advantage of the place’s unique ambiance and convey what we wanted to share with you.
As with all our photography projects, we engaged in reflection and discussion and wrote a synopsis. This process allowed us to select the most suitable photo equipment, including cameras, lenses, lighting, and accessories. Once the climatic conditions were right (gray sky, wet and cloudy—relatively rare in our southern region of France), we went to the location at a specific time of day to capture the natural light at first, followed by the subtle darkness of twilight.
On site, we took over 300 photos using two cameras mounted on tripods simultaneously, each with different lenses. We combined two different approaches to the same scene, especially to capture the fleeting fog effects that we created ourselves. Our methodology is based on a systematic consideration of every detail of the scene we want to emphasize in the final shot. This involves, among other things, specific lighting (angles, intensities, warmth) on various aspects and details of the subject.
Although the script was written in advance, we had to constantly adapt to the situation and the atmosphere, which, by definition, is always changing. This allowed us to continuously experiment with new techniques. Practically speaking, in this usually rather dark spot, we had to deal with unexpected changes in light intensity. Throughout the session, we kept in mind the importance of never misrepresenting the atmosphere of this place but rather emphasizing and suggesting its subtleties.
In post-production, after reviewing the 300 photos, we selected twenty to combine and produce the final image you see below.
