All images by Bastien Santanoceto. Used with Permission.
Twenty-three year old French photographer Bastien Santanoceto’s Je Suis Photographe project is one that focuses on other photographers, with the fun twist of photographing them as if they are their usual subjects. A concert photographer on stage, a food photographer modeling a salad, a nightscape photographer watching the night sky.
Santanoceto’s interest in photography actually happened through his love of the cinema. “I shot my first short film, and I made my photographs when I was 17 years old. I think that photography is the sweet spot between art technology.” he says. In high school his cinema teacher taught some of the basics of photography, and since then, Santanoceto has been hooked.
Following his placing 81st in the Nikon Film Festival of 2015, Santanoceto was approached help participate in the upcoming Sténopé association photography festival. Part of that was to film and photograph some of the participating photographers, which is what formed the basis and gave Santanoceto the idea for Je Suis Photographe.
Before he knew it Santanoceto realized he had jumped into the pool without first checking its depth, but the challenge was one that he enjoyed. “The main purpose of this series is really to give a reverse shot to photographers, who are the people we never see in the pictures.” Santanoceto states about the project, “I was selected to exhibit my series, but I had to achieve 15 other portraits in less than 3 months.”
The images are a fantastic reversal, showing these photographers as their subjects. You can find a selection of the images below, and you can find more of Bastien Santanoceto’s work over on his website, here.
