FLYING FLOWERS
The genesis of the project
All started during Autumn 2017.
First, Ghislain Simard met his mentor and friend Stephen Dalton in England at the opening of the last book of the English photographer "My Wood". Stephen tells how he managed to bring back biodiversity in a Sussex wood. The book shows some beautiful specimens of butterflies photographed in full flight.
A few weeks later, Ghislain was the guest of the show "Cause to Effects" on France Culture radio with the famous photographer and filmmaker Claude Nuridsany (Microcosmos). Both photographers talked a lot about butterflies and how they are mini barometers of biodiversity.
Thanks to these two events, Ghislain decided to work again on insects that made him discover the world of insects with his father, butterflies collector. Since late 2017, new pictures of butterflies on the wing are being made. In 2018 and 2019, the project "Flying Flowers" becomes a reality as the photo library fills. Then comes the idea of making a documentary on the flight of butterflies. Filming continues in 2019.
THE EXHIBITION
During the spring of 2017, Ghislain collaborated again with the design department of the Swedish manufacturer Hasselblad, which builds medium format digital cameras. The goal of the work was to adapt high-speed shooting techniques to the new 100-megapixel CMOS sensor of the high-end camera H6D-100c.
This new camera is now used to magnify the rendering of butterflies wings. Thus, it is possible to exhibit very large prints with a high level of quality that allows viewers to literally enter the world of insects.
The exhibition "Flying Flowers" hangs in the Vosges forest, in the village called Haut du Tôt, as part of the 2019 edition of the "Sentiers de la Photo" festival until Octover 30, 2019. More information here : http://www.sentiersdelaphoto.fr
In the city
In January and February 2020, the Flying Flowers exhibition left the Vosges mountains to enter the city of Remiremont. Large prints were exhibited for two months in the main street Charles De Gaulle. During Photography Week in early February, Ghislain Simard had the opportunity to show his film "Flying Flowers" at the Gilbert Zaug cultural center.
