Eric Marrian(France)
In the early 2000s, Eric Marrian returned to his first love, photography – he was wondering whether he would make a profession out of it when he was still studying architecture.
In 2003, he started shooting a series of pictures on Saint Malo (rewarded soon after with Leica Procirep Dotation), then switched to studio photography with medium and large format cameras...That is when things really started to happen quickly – he won the BIEVRES competition, was published in the photographic press on numerous occasions, and held a one-person exhibition at the Salon des Artistes Français where he was invited by the organisers. In late 2005, he started working on the CARRE BLANC series (exhibited in France and abroad on a regular basis). With the first images of this series, he won the 2006 prize of the European Festival of Nude Photography in Arles…
During 2011, he started working on a new series in colour, which was quickly "spotted" by the press and the galleries that represented him. A first presentation was shown at the Young Gallery in Knokke le Zoute; this exhibition was advertised widely by the national and international press.
His work is often exhibited in contemporary art galleries (gallery Verdeau, gallery 2.36) and is advertised by many magazines: Réponses Photo (France), Photo + (Korea), Photographer’s Companion (China), etc.
I have been using medium and large format film cameras, together with alternative processes for many of my projects, ever since I started working as a photographer. Nevertheless, I use digital photo equipment on a regular basis for shots that I will use as "notes" later for when I work on my own series (ideas, set designs, characters…) and on my commissions.
I have mostly used the X-Pro1 for the first approach, but realised that the actual quality of the images captured with this camera was broadly equivalent to that of the images processed with the usual equipment and normally more suitable. When the new XF56mm F1.2 was introduced, I could achieve a true quality leap in portraits. Switching to the X-T1 made it possible to significantly fine tune composition and focusing, with a unique advantage – managing the level balance. In fact, I’m now more and more frequently using this equipment directly for projects.
Ultimately, with the knowledge that only the result matters and that the most expensive and ostentatious tool will not necessarily deliver what you have been looking for, I can now demonstrate my ability to deal with a subject without having to exhibit a profusion of products.
