Valérian Nicolas and Océane Feld, our readers picks #313, both work with analog photography. One captures the magic of the urban world, while the other focuses on representing gender minorities.
Valérian Nicolas
Valérian Nicolas, 29 years old, started analog photography in 2015, capturing his friends’ skateboarding sessions. One thing leading to another, he extended his playground to Paris and its suburbs. “Then in 2018, I decided to leave everything behind for a crazy dream. I went to live in Tokyo for a year. There, I used to get on my bike and get lost in neighbourhoods I had never explored before. I could travel up to 30 kilometres to capture those little details that nobody notices: people in the street, a cat behind a window, a light, a particular shadow… There are so many things happening in front of our eyes that every day is different!” says the author. In a spontaneous way, Valérian Nicolas strives to capture the ordinary, the real, and their magical charm. Anchored in urban life, his images give us a glimpse of his vision of the cities in which he likes to immerse himself so much.
© Valérian Nicolas
Océane Feld
The queer feminist artist Océane Feld, 21, discovered photography when she was looking for “an outlet, a reason to get out and isolate herself”. “At the age of fifteen, I started using film, and everything changed. It was something that animated me. Then I made portraits and tried my hand at nude photography. As I grew up, I wanted to talk about my relation to gender, and then about my own sexuality. That’s how I started Life on Mars“, says the author. A real visual diary, the project illustrates the questions of a young person trying to find her place, a meaning to her life. “Hence the reference to David Bowie, continues Océane Feld. In the end, when you don’t fit into the codes of society, when you don’t want to integrate diktats and injunctions, you feel like an outsider. In Life on Mars I try my best to represent gender minorities, and I make sure that everyone can identify with my photos. I think these are representations that I would have liked to have seen when I was younger. ” A collection of sensitive pictures, inspired by human connections.
© Océane Feld
Cover Picture : © Océane Feld
