Brice Portolano is a young French photographer who works on the relationship between Man and nature. After studying at the Gobelins school, he joined Studio Hans Lucas in 2015 and saw his work published in the French and international press, notably in Geo Magazine, National Geographic Travelr, Le Monde, Les Échos, L'Obs, VSD, Phosphore, Stern, The Daily Mail UK, Business Insider et The Independent.

Interview

Can you summarize your professional career in a few steps?

When I was younger I wanted to be a journalist, sociologist and then helicopter pilot (but not in that order). Then I discovered the photo and quickly devoted myself to it daily before considering it as a career. I was quite young, I must have been 15/16 years old.

After studying at the Gobelins school, I produced documentary work for 3 years on the return of man to nature. This project called “No Signal” took me to Alaska, the American West, Lapland, the French Alps and Iran, as many places that I dreamed of discovering when I was a kid, and allowed to obtain first press releases with Fisheye Magazine then Obs, VSD, Le Monde, GEO, and first orders, notably for the National Geographic Traveler.

In parallel I realized several solo and collective exhibitions in Paris and regularly works on order for advertising clients.

Did you know the Salon de la Photo before being exhibited as part of the 2016 exhibition “Six Regards en Quête de Paysage”? What did you think of the 2016 edition?

Yes ! I have been going there every year since 2013, it is an opportunity to meet fellow photographers and attend conferences. Wink passing to Théo Gosselin who designed the poster for the 2015 edition 😉

Where did you get the inspiration for this photo? What message should we see behind it?

The poster is inspired by a photo taken in Romania in 2014 during a train trip to the Danube Delta. The photo has long been a passport for me, a great excuse to go on a trip and discover improbable places and that is precisely the objective of this poster: to invite the public to travel.

Can you tell us about the shots, reveal to us "the underside" of this photo?

When the Salon team asked me to make the poster, I presented them with the idea of ​​going back to Romania to travel in the same train as the one in the reference photo. Small problem: it is early February and the original photo was taken in August. Unsurprisingly, the weather conditions there will be quite wintery and it is -10 ° C when I arrive in Bucharest. Fortunately I have planned 3 days there and the conditions are improving slowly.

I left with Fanny Latour-Lambert, a photographer friend whose work I greatly admire. Only tourists aboard the one and only wagon on the train, we find ourselves immersed in a timeless atmosphere. The two drunks who attend our photo session follow the gestures of the cross on their chest when Fanny leans outside. The cold will be a real challenge for us: the wagon is barely heated, it is -5 ° C outside and Fanny can not hang on the metal bar for very long. For several days we will chain the shots before returning to Paris with the poster in my pocket.

Can you tell us about your projects?

The adaptation of the project “No Signal” into a documentary series for television is under development and I am working on the publication of a book on this same project.
In parallel, I am starting a new long-term project still on the theme of the relationship between Man and nature and for which I have just returned from a trip to the East of Siba © rie. To be continued!

Exhibitions

- “On The Road” / Fisheye Gallery, Paris / November 2016
- "Six Regards in Quest of Landscape" / Salon de la Photo, Paris / November 2016
- “No Signal” / Art en Transe Gallery, Paris / September 2016
- Screening during The Night of the Year / Les Rencontres d'Arles, Arles / July 2016
- "On The Road" / Galerie Le Magasin de Jouet, Arles / July-August 2016
- Photo Doc / La Bellevilloise, Paris / November 2015
- “Across the Mountains” / Splendens Gallery, Paris / June-July 2015

Publications

- Interview in The world of photography
- "Arctic Love" published in Les Others, Phosphore Magazine, GEO Magazine
- "Back to The Land" published in 6 months
- "Persian Rush" published in Raymond Magazine
- Order for National Geographic Traveler / France (8 pages)
- "Arctic Love" published in The Independent
- Order for National Geographic Traveler / France (9 pages)
- "The Cliff Diver" published in VOD (4 pages)
- "Back to the Land" in Maptia
- "Last Frontier" published in Skylife Magazine (12 pages)
- "Last Frontier" published in Magazine Contact Boards (12 pages)
- "Arctic Love" in The Daily Mail UK
- "Arctic Love" in My Modern Met
- "The Cliff Diver" in Maptia, Konbini & Fubiz, Outside Magazine
- "Keep Exploring", portfolio in The Obs (6 pages)
- "Last Frontier" shortlisted for the Mentor Award, Perpignan
- "Last Frontier" on IGNANT, Esquire Russia et Last Frontier Magazine (8 pages)
- "Last Frontier" published in Last Frontier Magazine (8 pages)
- Catalog of the exhibition published by Editions Lemaître (40 pages, ISBN 978-2-9553049-0-7)

Orders

- Order in Iran for Raymond Magazine // Finland
- Order for The Loire (France) for National Geographic Traveler // France
- Order on the French Riviera for National Geographic Traveler // France

Contest / prize

2016: Jury's favorite at the International Prize for New Scriptures 2016
2015: ANI's favorite at the Festival de Visa pour lâ € ™ Image
2015: Shortlisted at the Prix Mentor Session 5 at Perpignan / Visa pour lâ € ™ Image

To know more : www.lesalondelaphoto.com