The three winners of the “My DIY Sports Venue” photo competition tell us more about their images and demonstrate that there’s more to taking a photo than you think.
📷 “Icarus’s daughter”, Julien Thore – First place, competition jury prize
An enthusiast who saw photography as a means to express the creativity lying dormant within me.
Through my explorations of digital and analogue photography, I try to provide the inquisitive viewer with the vision of a poetic world, one that can be caricatural or absurd, and one that is rooted in the far reaches of my dreams as a “grown-up child”, where the imaginary disrupts the sense or the irony of life.
For me, nature is a source of inspiration and energy, where I like to practise sports activities that allow me to unwind, recharge my batteries and let go of things.
What inspired me to take this photo
When I was a young child, I often dreamt that I was flying over the world just by swimming breaststroke… When I got a bit older, I sort of wanted to freeze this dream in time… and that was how the photo came into being.
How I took the photo
This image was staged in a natural setting with a model and balloons. Like all magicians, I used a trick to take this photo (which I won’t reveal so as not to spoil the magic)
A word on the shoot
Along with my assistant and friend, I helped the model get into the right position in the natural setting.
What I particularly like in this photo
I really like the poetry that emanates from this scene, which shows a woman alone, in the air, in the midst of an omnipresent natural environment, and realising her dreams to the fullest and richest extent; strong, free, radiant and powerful.
The message I want to send with this photo
The countryside as a whole and natural areas are opportune places for physical expression and excelling oneself.
Julien Thore – The photographer