Christian Bouhon, retired and passionate about photography from an early age.

Apart from my hobby of photography, I’ve been sharing my life with my wife Carine since 1988, so it’s up to you to count.
Carine is also passionate about the graphic arts, but it’s with her brushes that she expresses herself. She often interprets one of my photos into a magnificent watercolour.

Trained as a pastry baker, I started out as an apprentice in my grandparents’ bakery. Thanks to the support of my wife, I was able to progress to positions of responsibility. During my professional career, I’ve had the opportunity to combine business with pleasure. You’ll also find a few series of photos taken in my studio.

When I was twelve, my parents gave me my first camera, a Kodak Instamatic 255x, but given the price of film and prints, its use was limited. Then came a Fuji STX-2 SLR, an excellent fully manual camera except that the lenses were relatively expensive and impossible to find on the second-hand market. So I bought a second camera, a Chinon with the famous ‘Pentax K’ ring, which naturally led me to the world of Pentax.

I’ve often wondered how I could define a shot in one sentence, and without any pretence, this exercise has enabled me to formulate my vision as follows:

“A photograph is a reflection of the emotion conveyed by the subject, inviting you to interpret it freely according to your own perspective.”

Although I have a strong preference for macro photography, I don’t have a particular style of photography. I let myself be guided by the people I meet and the opportunities that present themselves. My aim is to bring out the best in the subject I photograph, while capturing the details that are specific to it. Each image becomes an opportunity to express an emotion or a feeling.

This vision allows me to discover not only the subjects I photograph, but also myself as photographer and viewer. I try to capture these moments as accurately as possible and work on my photos to emphasise the emotion and aesthetic appeal of the subject.

Photo processing is a crucial aspect of my creative process. I use Darktable, an open source software, to develop my raw files. This software allows me to work with finesse and to respect the originality of the images while creating an overall harmony. I also pay a great deal of attention to the development of style, so that each photo reflects not only the light and colours of the moment captured, but also my own point of view and personal emotion.