Morphostone

These pictures come from the forest of Fontainebleau, near Paris, where lie thousands boulders of sandstone. Like Marc and Sybille, I first practiced those boulders as a climber but I noticed very early how figurative the shapes of some of them could be.

It is a somewhat famous feature of Fontainebleau’s boulders, but only for three of them: two elephants (in Larchant and Barbizon) and one cartoon head called "The Bilboquet" near Milly la Forêt. I decided to try to find more of these: a good opportunity to combine my interest for the forest and for photography.

Finally this work led me through very deep and powerful emotions. Each meeting with a new figure was an extraordinary moment. Maybe because after hours of hiking I had too much oxygen in my brain but also because each time I was wondering how it was possible to find so realistic shapes just with the hazard of erosion.

Sometimes they are so obvious, they look like sculptures! Often, children around me watching my pictures ask me: "who made the shape?" That is my question too! In any case, to find something, you have to be at the right place with the right angle at the right moment. With changes of light, something obvious becomes almost invisible in a second.

That’s the big issue : the way we look at our environment.

There is another thing I have discovered with these pictures : each person will have his or her own view. Something very obvious for one is nothing for another. And most of all, if one person sees something, she will be very motivated and excited to share her vision.

It is probably why it so important to find the right way to look at things : to make people concerned so they can see.