Patrice Terraz
For the past four years, “Behind the Lens” has provided the public with a more personal and diverse view of the event, as captured through the eyes and signature styles of the photographers in attendance at Cannes. A daily rendez-vous in 2016.
I've been going to the Festival de Cannes each year for the past ten years, without being commissioned. I make the most of chance encounters, to ask celebrities to take a minute to pose for me. I always ask for their permission. I don't like stolen photos, or the official shootings in front of hundreds of photographers. I seek an encounter, even if it's furtive, and this requires a lot of hard work. I'm sometimes helped by friends who guide me through the whirlwind created by the festival.
I always use the same equipment: an envelope in which I keep the prints of the portrait photos I shot the years before, and my film camera of course. The fact that I still work with films makes people smile. Whenever I come across someone whose portrait photo I've already shot, I offer him or her a print of it. This little game has often opened doors for me. Whilst waiting for this year's prints, here's a short selection of photos of the ambience.
Patrice Terraz is a self-employed photographer, living and working in Marseilles. His personal work has been exhibited several times in Paris, Marseilles, Cannes, Palermo, Zurich, London, Beirut, Barcelona, Montreal, and New York. He is a member of Signatures, an association of photographers.
