Autumn is leaving us little by little but I don't want it. I still want to see its colours, feeling its atmosphere, eventhough it's known to be a melancholic season, I still love it as it reminds me of one of my favourite poem by Paul Verlaine : Chanson d'automne (Autumn song). The photographer Marie Air succeeded in making my autumn lasts for more thanks to her photo.
Photographer : Marie Air
Why Marie Air ? The first time I saw Marie Air pictures, I immediately knew she was french. I could tell it just by watching her images, there was something so very french about them but I couldn't explain myself how I came to this conclusion. Maybe it is because I am french or maybe because she has a very simple way to depict femininity, or maybe it is because I feel something very theatrical in the way she shoots etc... I don't know but the fact is that I was right ! Marie Air is indeed french just like me and while watching the picture I am introducing you to today I finally understood why I had this impression.
What I am seeing. As soon as I saw this picture, it immediately reminded me of the poètes maudits. I could feel this very melancholic feeling so well described by poets like Paul Verlaine and Charles Baudelaire and that us, French, call spleen. Eventhough melancholy and spleen describe a depressive state, these poets through their words succeeded in turning this feeling into something beautiful. And that is just how I feel about this picture.
I consider this photo like a poem by the poètes maudits. The model is watching towards the camera and is not smiling, she has no expression of happiness. The grey background is here to reinforce this impression of sadness, and it happens that the picture has been taken along the Seine, a detail I cannot ignore as Paris and the Seine are both the setting of our poets to express their feelings. But this picture would only express plain sadness if not for the coat of the model and the leaves in the background as their colour reminds autumn.
While watching this picture I couldn't help but make an other association with the singer Serge Gainsbourg (whom I introduce you to here ) as he was very inspired by the poètes maudits. One of his song called La chanson de Prévert has like main theme the autumn, the dear season of these poets. The model also seems to embody a certain period in France, the period when Serge Gainsbourg began to have some fame : the early 60's. Her coat and her hairstyle indeed reminds of these times.
I don't have the feeling that this picture has been taken with a digital camera because of the contrast and the colours but I can also make a mistake. To me, it seems like I could feel Marie Air was french because of all these elements. That is why I can say that our cultural background definitely influences us. I may say something very obvious, but this picture made it even more present to me.
Let me leave you with La chanson de Prévert by Serge Gainsbourg to bring you back to autumn :
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