JEANLOUP SIEFF 1933-2000 - Lot 83

JEANLOUP SIEFF 1933-2000 Japanese landscape at Versailles, 1974. Photograph. Posterior silver print, stamped by the author and titled and dated in pencil on the back. Image: 29.7 x 19.7 cm; sheet: 39.6 x 29.6 cm "The print is the final stage, as it is the final representation of what has been photographed, the form in which the image is shown. A large number of different photographs can be obtained from the same negative (I'm not talking about cropping: you can't crop a photograph! ), which can have any value, from white to black. So it's vital that the photographer makes his own prints, or collaborates in their production, because only he knows how his photographs should be rendered. In the history of photography, there are examples of photographers who shot their images very well (Weston, Smith, Strand,...) others shoot correctly, but most don't shoot because they do it badly or don't have the time. Those who do, call in a shooter, because shooting is a profession in itself. But in any case, I think that those who don't shoot should know how it's done, because it's very important to know the possibilities and limits of what they can ask the shooter to do. In my particular case, I know how to shoot. I taught myself at the age of fourteen and am capable, in absolute terms, of making good shots. But it takes me a lot of time, and what I could do in a day is done in an hour by Jean-Yves Brégand, and often much better than me! I used to do all my own printing, because I couldn't afford an outside printer. Later, when I was able to do so, I always collaborated with the printer of my images (at Pictorial Service, then with Claudine Sudre, Guy Cevaer and finally Jean-Yves Brégand, who has been printing my photos for the last ten years). I have my laboratory in my studio, and we work at home. In fact, I continue to dry and retake my photos myself, because that's the only time I can listen to music and come up with ideas! Jean-Yves Brégand knows my "color" very well and could very well shoot my images on his own." Jeanloup Sieff