Laurent-Paul Robert Photography

They are all shot with a Sony Cybershot DSC-N2. The initial idea was to try to use the camera in a similar way as the Leica I used to have ages ago, but trying to go digital. Well, the work is VERY different..., and it may have been frustrating not to have had an DSLR system, too much bad digital grain when trying to get a simulation of 400 ISO or higher, and having only jpgs format as an original.

But the manual settings are quite interesting, I get 10MP images and I enjoy very much doing all the adjustments and grading on the computer.

The principle is to get point and shot pictures where subject, light and composition have to be as good as possible because of the limitations, as well as trying to use the original in order to make a good image out of it.

I've just read the definition of "unmanipulated images" from Philip Greenspun : http://photo.net/photodb/manipulation From this definition, all my photos except a few selected portraits are to be considered as unmanipulated.

I will continue to use this camera for a while before going into some more complex cameras, because I enjoy this way of working and the challenge.

I also spend too much time already with this camera, and can only imagine what it will be when I'll get more complex lenses ...

Thank you for visiting

Laurent

I am honored to be the first commenting your portfolio wich is small but extremely interesting. You have a great taste for composition and you are truly able to speak through your photographs. Again, I particularly like the idea of shooting with a P&S camera (check this out http://photo.net/photodb/presentation?presentation_id=359779). Your portraits are almost alive and always very natural and never artificial. I look forward of seeing more of your work.

Antonio

Thank you very much for your comments and support. And for the inspiration your photos can give. I especially feel very close to your philosophy of approaching photography, and agree very much with the idea of an image needing to have a strong "essence" or "idea". I'm trying to have people telling their stories.

laurent

First, thanks for the nice comments you have left for me.
I read your bio and your intro. I am amazed that you are taking these shots with a point and shoot! I also really like it that you take that as a challenge to making better pictures.
I can tell you that there are many photographers on this site (including myself) who would love to be able to take such pictures, even though we may use more advanced cameras. I admire your style and post production talents. Your images are amazing. I'll be coming back often to see more!
Doug

thank you very much for the kind comment and the compliments ! I have to say that I have been using image processing softwares almost since they started to exist, and the fact that i feel pretty confident for the post-processing helps a lot. But then there isn't much we can do if the original image is not interesting. And with a P&S, I believe that it really helps beeing extremely focused on what we shoot. Also, having been always very curious, I've always spent my time watching what is going on around : curiosity and trying to undertand the world in a personal way is probably the first most important step in any kind of creative field. That said, there is only that much which can be done, and even if it forces to experimentations, is a very good exercice, and actually is very unobtrusive, there is nothing compared to the possibility of wider possibilities of angles, focals, and especially some SLR ...

laurent

P.S > (I just thought about that after posting, but I was at the time wandering around with the camera ) :

Actually I see that as two different mediums of photography, just like watercolors and oil painting are totaly different technics, but both are painting

You have that sort of classy photographs that i would like to learn take someday. Cities folder especially.

Best regards Tero

Hi Tero, thanks a lot for taking your time to have a look here. Actually the very good part of this website is the communication, and if you say you are learning from looking at some of the shots on this portfolio It make me very happy, but I can tell you also,that I'm learning a great deal from your photos, especially the abstract series, which I find fascinating.

EXCELLENT PORTFOLIO...NICE PHOTOS YOU HAVE ADDED IN UR PORTFOLIO...!

Thanks a lot for your critiques and your support.Your portofolio grow up very well with very nice, original and interesting shots!Congrats.Best regards, Kostas!

Laurent: An Excellent portfolio..very strong images with interesting angles, and which contain a lot of honesty. I like the point and shoot cameras as well, as you can get more impromptu shots, and people dont get intimidated...especially street shots.Very Good work. lauren

you have taken some really nice photographs, that speak very well for themselves

Some of your latest adds are stunning (melancholy, for example). The more I look at your images, the more I like them. I actually saw the caliber photographer you are since the very first few images you posted. What really amazes me is the timing you are able to do with a P&S camera. Being a fan of the P&S I know how hard it is to get moving subjects the right way. Always a great pleasure. I also wanted to say that I am very honored to get some feedback from you especially about style, personal imprint, inspiration and stuff like that. The DSLR are extraordinary cameras but they take away from motivation, focus in finding interesting and unique moments and they make it "easier", I'm sure you understand what I mean. That's why I'm thinking of getting a Nikon F2 that I found, to be able to really explore inside myself. Your images helped me a lot to see that something is changing in my photography and I feel a bit lost right now.

Thank you very much for the visit, for your time,your kindness and encouragements.

Thanks. I'm glad my personal opinion could be as much usefull and encouraging as yours is for me

all of your BW shots has something common, but i have not find it yet.....

(...sorry for my english!!!)

nice portfolio.. i like the B&W photos very much, thanx for sharing and keep on

I discover you thanks to your comment in the portfolio from Amani Al_Sammani . I like very much your concepts! After seeing your comment I visited your portfolio and I really like it very much .As always said a camera don't make a photograph and this is your case. I like very much the way how you see through your camera and how you express it, this is creatitiviy.

Congratulations

Ricardo

You have an amazing portfolio and considering that this is all from a pocket point and shoot ! You have a wonderful eye. I recently got a small point and shoot for candid street photography with similar reasons as yours. Actually the one I got is a mini Leica replica (Minox Leica M3) :-). Your photos inspire me to use it more. thanks for your comments on my portfolio and sharing your photos.

Laurent, it's been great pleasure for me browsing your beautiful portfolio. I'll be back here for sure. A tres bientot. Cheers, Laurent N2 Lacoste.

Your work? Well let's just say it confuses me. Once I get inline to where you are at I will be better qualified to comment. For now I just say hello to you, thank you and I will be back ;-) Shay-

Dear Friend, i always follow your work, a great work, so i decided to ask you an opinion: you consider a shot as beautiful independently by photoshop?s operations? There is a limit to define a shot as a photograph? Many of us look for the best moment, the best light, the best composition to take a real photo; we are wasting our time? Please let me know. I have added an example of retouching operated by an expert, Pam.R, in a perfect Rarindra Prakarsa style. The magic light of Rarindra (Rarindra is only an example of photoshophotographers; one of many..)! Thank you!

Konstantinos,

The common things are the camera and the photographer to start with :-) More seriously, I am using some very personal technics during shooting as well as for the B&W conversions ( Very simple "tricks", which can be done in a traditional darkroom, but still, a bit unconventionnal ). Also the choice of the photos, is done in a way which will make the whole B&W folders have some unity.

Amani,

Thank you for your support. I'll keep on as much as my work will allow it.

Ricardo,

Thank you very much for your comment. Creativity beeing one of my main motivation, I'm glad you feel this part these photos.

Budhaditya Deb,

Thank you. Yes, Point and shoot can become really adictive. And the good thing is that even when you go shooting with a more complexe camera, you can always have the "small" one in the pocket .. just for fun.

Laurent N3,

Merci ! The pleasure is mine when I browse your own portfolio. A bientot.

Shay

I like to confuse people usually ! But with my photos, I don;t really understan what could really confuse you so much.

And ... what did you do with all your photos ???

Dear Alberto,

I'll try to answer you quickly.

For me I look at images. Images will tell me something or not, and this never has anything to do with the technic.

I always look at the critic page here, because looking at images in small thumbs, composition, colors etc. are just very obvious. Them if this small size image makes me curious, I'll click and look properly at the photo.

Photoshop is only a part of the process, and photos have always been manipulated either by some specific work on lenses, work in the darkroom, or painted after process.

And there isn'[t one professional photographer today who is not using photoshop. The trick is : How do we use the digital technology.

I don't think there is a limit to define a shot as photograph as long as a camera has been used in the process of creating the image.

It all ends up with a final result. This result will speak or not. Sometimes, it will speak through a narrative, or just a visual composition, or through a great idea etc.

But the one thing for sure is this : If you don't have a good photo to begin with, you will never be able to make it good just by using photoshop just as you can't make it a good photo in the dark room.

So, no we are never wasting our time trying to get the best shot ! and the more we shoot, the more we understand what the best moment, the best light, the best composition are ...

The post production has to be either part of the "style" of the artist, and the tools perfectly mastered ( I'm thinking here about PN member Jacqueline Roberts: She is obviously working a lot after the photos were taken, but in such an incredible way, that not only her style is instantly recognisable, which makes her an artist by definition, but you see that the original photo always is absolutely perfect to begin with : composition and light especially are always a lesson for any painter or photographer )

But mostly post production has to be absolutely "invisible". If you can say : ho there is a lot of photoshop on this photo, this means the post-production is not good enough actually. But if you only wonder : "Did she/he used photoshop ? ", then the photo start to be good : because you are focusing on the image, more than on the way it was made. If I look at a photo, I will always try to understand how it was made, but this intellectual process has to come after all the emotionnal process.

Unfortunately, most photographer don't know how to use photoshop properly, and of course it takes as much time to master photoshop than it does to master shooting : There is a constant progress to be made day after day.

But digital technology beeing still a bit new, actually, a lot of photographers will just play with some basic features, and then always with the same effects and filters, without understanding the are in fact destroying their original photos, and shooting with the wrong impression that they don;t need a good shot because they can fix it in post.

As for your example : personaly I wouldn't have cliked on the thumbnail of the "after" picture, because the sun rays look fake : the direction is wrong and there is no real interaction with the trees behind, neither with the ground ( The shadows on the ground are "wrong" when considering the rays.

But I would have click on the original, suggesting the push up the contrast a little bit. For me the original is speakmuch more to me than the final image.

Cheers to you all

laurent

Dear Laurent, Thank you so much for your comment. Sometime it's important stopping for one moment to think about how and why we do that we do; why not about imaging? As you have seen on my portfolio?s page there are many different ideas about this theme and it is very interesting knowing the several points of view. I?m glad to have also your opinion: i always follow your work trying to learn always more about your trenchant street style! My best regards.

Alberto

being in love with b&w's i find myself browsing through your portfolio quite often. your collection of pictures are fantastic and i wanted to thank you for sharing so that students like myself may learn from your work.

alors.... cette soire j'ais pass蠵ne heure et demi a regarder tes photos. de minuit a une heure trente.... je pouvais dir des choses. Qui mon folder prefere est shooting the shooter, par example. Ou qui tres souvent je ent un cot蠨umoristic, mais douce, jamais sarcastique, dans citYs, ou scoop. Or qui autres fois je observe un grand rigouer formal, comme dans "building up". Et qui je pas ancora compris si je prefer le nb ou le coulours. a suivre.....

("all of your BW shots has something common, but i have not find it yet..... " It's not a negative comment!)

After a lot of day, i'm back again. And i saw nice shot as usual!Congrats.Best regards from greece!

Alberto,

Yes, time is important. And it is more important for us to know we can take it :-) I'll continue to follow your work too, eventhough it may be days or weeks before i leave a comment.

Sangre, Thanks a lot. And I'am as much a student as youa re, leraning fomr you like from all the other memebers here.

Andrea, I discover your post now ! Merci beaucoup pour le temps que tu as passe a regarder mon travail. J'ai aussi toujours beaucoup de plaisir a prendre le temps de regarder ton travail tres regulierement, et suis toujours tres heureux lorsque je passe quelques instants sur une de tes puissantes photos.

Konstantinos, ("all of your BW shots has something common, but i have not find it yet..... " It's not a negative comment!)

Not only did I see it as a very positive comment, but as a very nice compliment ! : It menas that you tink I have some kind of artistical style with my work, and that is always the most difficult thing to achieve in art !

Thank you very much, and I also continue to visit your porfolio regularly.

Laurent I'd like to tell you that your portfolio is fantastic I like your "way of shoting" Street photography is my favourite kind of Photo. Nice to meet you. Bye Paolo

great approach to photography and a very good portfolio. i really like your B&W photography. i feel the same about PS i try to use it as little as possible but i do need it. i learned traditional photo but now i am happy to shoot digital and i did start with a point and shoot and got better cameras (not pictures) as the years went by.As of now the digital camera (especially for street shots) that i really liked is the epson rd-1 it's a digital rangefinder i learned a lot while using it.If you have a chance to visit my humble web site i would not mind to get feedback from a photographer like you. good luck and take your time life is short.

ben

...i feel in home...regards rycho.

I thought I'm going to have another look at your portfolio and I did. Imagine my surprise that after all that discussions we regularly have I didn't even left a message here before. We know eachothers work too well by now for me to leave a lot of platitudes. Let's just say that you're a very good photographer, which you are. And oh yes. You should do more b&w

Stunning and impressive portfolio! J'aime ton portfolio avec des photos pleines de force et d'inspiration.

Hello Laurent,

Reading you comments on your portfolio, was an important addition to the images. An original and couragious approach you have, using a P&S camera and taking absolutely great images that many of us, with expensive equipment, can only dream of.

Like you style, you are in my mind a true street photographer. With lots of expressive and telling images. Not the least "counterpoint", that I recently commented.

I am trying in a similair vein, but my images are more focusing on the people on the streets and everyday life. And although I am minimalistic - I am still more traditional, using an SLR.

Loved the images - and your portfolio.

All the best

Peter

You have a SUPERB portfolio !

Long time no see... I saw some small changes in your photography, I wonder what it's all about... I am very curious to monitor your future work. Take care

Antonio

hi, i loved your profile. best regards.

Laurent-Paul

Thank you for taking time to comment my photograph. Well, you can say that I had "some connections" that allowed me to document these rituals. It was a whole Holy Week in Venezuela.

I visited your photo.net portfolio. I liked your documentary like stile. I am not journalist or documentarist as profession, but is the approach I follow every time I visit any new place.

If you may, please visit my witchcraft portfolio in photo.net or you can also visit a mini documental in my main portfolio www.lopezjohnston.com . There, enter to the page and look for the Foto-Documental link at the extreme right of the menu bar. Then, click on it and select Venezuela / Santuario María Lionza.

Please accept my apologies because texts are in spanish. I just finished the translation but need to be revised before posting. English is not my first language...

Best and thank you again

JC

First and for all, thank you for visiting and commenting on one of my recent B/W critique forum submission - which in fact- gave me the opportunity to discover your works.I just took a good look at your exhibition and want to summarize in one sentence: I found a variety of scenes, moods and color combinations - presented in a highly professional and narrative way. Every picture tells a story.. Your b/w's are absolutely extraordinary and a true representative for the variety in your works. Remains, that I can only congratulate you for your excellent works. Best regards, El

I saw your portfolio a few days ago but I would want to see it calmly. All your photos speaks about something and that´s not easy. I can see intelligent shots and a fine edition. Sincerely congrats.

Pedro

Excellent portfolio.

Nice work... you have a keen eye for comp....I like the crying city work very much.... Ken

Your portfolio is awesome! You have great perspectives in every category! Thanks for sharing! -Maija

wishing you and all your loved ones a very merry Christmas and the best new year ever. Best regards, El

You have a diversified portfolio with nice shots, nice colors and great B&W photos, congratulations ! Alex.

meilleurs voeux et bonne année 2009!!!! all the best for your familly and friends and have a great fest !!!

Great portfolio, you have a very good eye at composing your pictures no matter what subjects you choose and that makes you an excelent photographer. Keep up the good work.

I'm back again, and i see a great street photographer!! Really i love the BW folder Laurent!

Congratsulations

Best Regards, Kostas

And you created these photographs by using a "little pocket camera"??!!?? WOW!

michael

PS Many thanks for viewing my B&W and for your feedback.

i found your portfolio after you had written under one of my photos. thanks for your comment! in your biography and your first explaining comment i read very interesting and unusual things. many people take photos with the pocket camera and few of them understand photo art, or even try to take some serious photo. on the other hand many dslr owners dont have intention or talent to take great photos. in this conditions your situation is very unique, because you understand what a great photo is, and even have ideas and creativity to take your own photos, and realize all this with a pocket camera. i as an owner of a great dslr system, feel something exciting and even envy about your attitude to photography. as about your pictures, it is really hard for me to say something useful to you, because your style and conceptions are very differing from mine. many of your photos are about catching a moment, some of them very interesting, but there are also a few which "just" catch a moment. but i found lots of good ideas, many original ideas too. all the best.

You have a monumental portfolio with excellent shots and great colors, congratulations ! Roxana.

Thank you very much for all your messages and comments about my work. I really appreciate hearing from you. Its quite difficult for me to write / type a response.

You are a great portofolio.and you are right. I am a Leica and Rolleiflex fan, now I working with a digital , but i use alrtnatively all three of them.What you do in fact is to maximase the potential of your camera , and what you obtain is great.!Beacause after all yes, the tehnique is important , the material is important ,but the spirit of a real photograph is crucial! best regards and thank you, Monica

Very beautiful and interesting portfolio. I will be back again and again to have another look! Thank you for sharing! :)

You are creative person on high level! The way you made your Anarchy in UK folder appear as thumbnail mosaic - the way it appears while writing this - is truly novel. If only all those remaining photos had been in square 1:1 format, but anyway worth applaud!

"If only all those remaining photos had been in square 1:1 format"

That wouldn't be anarchy anymore ;-)

Damn fine portfolio ( should have commented much earlier ), " eclectic" at first sight, but there's obviously a strong visual and conceptual thread unfolding here...I wonder about your decision to present most compositions in a square format though, as I see a " dynamic of rawness " unfolding in many of the pictures, but that I don't naturally and visually sense to be the strongest within the square format. I'm curious what you have to say yourself about this, about the visual dynamic, in square cropping versus horizontal cropping.

Thank you very much for your comment. Basically , the square format beeing so much more difficult to compose than any other format, and especially as the viewport on my camera isn't square, meaning that I have to foresee what could be the final photo, the difficulty and challenge are the main motivations.

For information : I had to take some time off PN for a little while, and will need a few more weeks before coming back regularly.

Welcome back! ? good stuff as usual LPJ.

Not quite yet ... But I had to get a few more photos out of my hard drive. I'll be back soon. Thanks for your visit

Thank you very much for your fruitful comments and your help over the year. Compliments for your impressive works! Seasons Greetings and a Creative New Year! BR Dr. Joerg Vetter

Hi Laurent,

thanks for rating my image "Zen". I have just noticed it today. Anyway, you have an interesting concept of your images. I read "solitude" out of it.

Kind regards, Kristina

Excellent portfolio! Take care, Mário

I like your work very much! Regards!