Ouessant

An avid photographer for more than 55 years, Jérôme Billard began his photographic career by taking pictures of his favorite subjects: the sea and ships. Later, he photographed cities and made portraits. During all these years, he works only in black and white, manages the development of his negatives and the printing of his photos. His images illustrate several books devoted to the world of the sea, liners, cargo ships and oil tankers.

The arrival of electronic photography fascinates him and his experience of the darkroom pushes him to use simple software, acting only on the light, the contrast and the texture. From his silver experience, he still has the framing, which he takes care of; from his experience as a painter, a colorist's eye, which leads him to work on a new concept: ARELEC. Transforming the photographs by means of materials that he adds and that he lights himself, the photographer elaborates forms and colors mastered at best. From this mixture of genres, between silver and electronic, is born the ARELEC concept. Jérôme Billard's photographs thus become ARELEC photographs. Final osmosis. Like an invented world that suits him, he creates his own universe and offers his vision of the world at large.