I began my photographic adventure at the age of 20, in 1976, in France. At this time I was a street photographer during the day, an assistant to a publicity photographer during the week-ends... and a taxi driver in Paris during the night, in order to make a living. I lived in a little room in Paris, where the bed was fighting over the room with a little black and white photographic lab.....

Four years later, I had to make a choice between Photography and Philosophy... and I decided to change my priorities. I never stopped "shooting" with a camera, but during the next 29 years I did it more like a "serious amateur" than like a professional..... In 1986 I moved myself to Tel-Aviv, Israel, where I founded the local branch of the New Acropolis school of Philosophy. Today this school is active in the 10 central cities of the country, and in recent years I have decided to try combining those two major aspects of my life: Photography and Philosophy.

The technical aspect of photography having changed during the last 20 years - mainly from an "argentic" to a "digital" technology - (a change which has dramatically influenced the way pictures are taken) - I decided to return to the classroom, and I graduated from the "Studio Gavra School of Photography", the first school of photography in Israel.

There are many different aspects in photography, many different ways to relate to photography, and even the technical and material aspect is different depending wether you are making commercial, fashion, documentary, artistic or street photography.

My way is to use the technical aspect as a tool to express my philosophical vision and way of life, and thus I choose to use a relatively simple material - no heavy studio equipment, no additional light sources than natural (just a flash or tripod in some specific situations), and no artificial effects .... just a transparent UV filter to protect the lenses.

This doesn't mean that the technical aspect is negligible.... It is just the opposite. In my opinion the technical aspect must be as "transparent" as possible, as to not hide the essence of the picture. This means that mastering the technical aspect is essential, because only then the technical aspect can be forgotten. It is the only way to allow the photographer to concentrate his feelings and intuitions on his art.

A picture is much more than what one can describe of the picture.... the most important in a picture is what is not visible... an emotion, a sentiment, a nostalgia, a harmony. For me a good picture does not reflect the subjectivity of the photographer but the reality of a particular moment - the moment chosen to close the shutter - , and this moment is chosen because the photographer recognizes it - consciously or not - as a "qualified" moment. Meaning, a moment and a place when and where the most significant is not that the picture was taken at this moment and at this place, but that this picture is able to transmit a specific quality of life, either though harmony, beauty, or any high and deep sentiment.

This is why I have named my last exhibition in Tel-Aviv "Moments of Truth".

Thus, being a photographer is for me a philosophical way of life, and each picture taken is a spiritual experience - not in a religious aspect, but in the way it allows me to approach beauty, which I consider, after Plato, as being an aspect of the Truth.

And one last thing... My first reflex camera, in 1976, was a Pentax MX. Today I am still using a Pentax.... Of course there are a lot of other good brands on the market, but Pentax was always "special".... a little company with a high sense of quality. Some loves are forever.

Pierre Poulain