In his work, the artist Nicolas Gouin is inspired by real situations, facts lived, and meetings he can do. In the creative studio he founded, he mainly works in documentaries. His Old Bones series was sighted the day after physiotherapy treatments followed following a car accident. “As a self-employed worker, it was easier for me to find availability of daily appointments, along with many seniors who were recovering from an operation or accident. That’s when I started to get interested in people who attended the same rehabilitation center as me, “he says. Then was born a kind of fascination towards his people, in good physical shape.
Nicolas wanted to give a grandiose look to people who were posing in front of his camera, “almost like superheroes,” he adds. To achieve such a result, the photographer took a picture per person, spending nearly an hour with each one of them. “The beauty of the thing is that their exercise is very repetitive and always in the same room”, an advantage to have the time to take the picture. Because if he started with a digital camera, he finally realized his series with film and an 8X10 chamber camera to slow down the process.
“What struck me when I took the photos was the relationship people had with the old camera I was using. There was clearly great respect for the approach and the time I put into the creation of images. In addition, I had the impression to amplify my purpose using an old camera that still works thanks to the fact that it was very well maintained … just like the bodies of people I photographed! ”
