Four decades behind the lens. Six years of sharing the journey.
Welcome. I’m Ian — photographer, horn player, and writer living in the Vendée, near the Loire-Atlantique border. This blog has been running since 2019 and shows no sign of stopping.
You’ll find black and white film work, travel essays, orchestra photography, philosophical digressions about why any of us bother pressing the shutter, and the occasional camera review written by someone with strong opinions and a perhaps unreasonable attachment to grain. No algorithms chose what appears here. No agency wrote it. Just forty years of looking, and six of writing it down.
Start anywhere. Stay as long as you like.
Latest from the Field
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Olympus Trip 35 Review: Still Worth Shooting in 2026?
The Olympus Trip 35 is one of the most iconic film cameras ever made — compact, battery-free, and surprisingly capable. A hands-on review with sample shots from my local countryside. Read more
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Half Deaf in the Forêt de Grasla
A roll of 100 ASA in the Pentax ME Super, finished in the Forêt de Grasla. Frogs, toads, a wolf spider, and a stopped-down lens. Film photography in the Vendée, April 2026. Read more
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On Est Bien Là: Back at the Jardin Extraordinaire
A warm Sunday in April, a Canon EOS 500, and a roll of AGFA APX 100 at Nantes’ Jardin Extraordinaire. Film photography, slow days, and why it’s nice to be out in it. Read more
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Messing about along the river in Clisson
A 45-minute walk along the river in Clisson with a Canon EOS 500 and a roll of Agfaphoto APX 400. Castles, viaducts, calla lilies, and laundry — what film photography finds when you stop looking too hard and start looking behind you. Read more
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For the people who were already here
A few months ago I finished a book. It didn’t start as a book — it started as a series of posts on this blog, one question at a time, and then became something I realised was a single argument rather than a collection of pieces. The argument is this: photography is not complicated, but… Read more
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The Parc D’Asson
A quiet morning in Montaigu, HP5+ pulled to 200 ISO, and the Sunny 16 rule. Sometimes the best places to photograph are the ones you’ve been ignoring. Read more
Featured Projects
- The UK Chronicles
Light, minimalism, and preparation.
Shot entirely on the Fujifilm X100F during a recent solo journey through Britain — a deliberate exercise in traveling light, seeing deeply, and preparing for the sensory overload of China. - The Film Archives
Memory in monochrome.
A vault unlocked: black and white film photographs from Nantes, Clisson, and beyond — captured long before this blog existed. Grain, patience, and timeless moments. - Photography Philosophy
Why do we do this?
Not a tutorial. Not a gear guide. A quiet exploration of purpose — the “why” behind the viewfinder. For those who photograph not to post, but to feel. - The Orchestra Visit to China
Culture, chaos, and concert halls.
A visual symphony from the road with the orchestra — temples, trains, backstage glances, and the electric silence before the first note.
About the Photographer
I am not an influencer. I am not a brand.
I am a photographer, ever so slightly stubborn, analogue at heart, digital when needed, and fiercely independent. I’ve been developing my own film since the 1980s. I built this blog in 2019, not for followers, but for focus.
I do not outsource my editing. I do not chase trends. I shoot what moves me, and I hope, sometimes, it moves you too.
“Commercial editing offers and unsolicited partnerships will not be published or replied to. This space is sacred; for art, not advertising.”
A Note from a Reader
“j’adore… il y a des jours avec, et les jours sans….”
— A kind visitor, September 2025
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New work drops weekly — never spammy, always sincere.
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j’adore
il y a des jours avec, et les jours sans….