I live in Belgium. I trained in Art History at the Namur Academy, and in photography with Professor Georges Vercheval at the Charleroi Academy. I am self-taught in the restoration and colouring of old photographs. I have always admired the work of famous photographers such as Dorothea Lange, William Gedney, Jack Delano and many others. As a teenager, I wondered what colours they saw through their objectives. One day, I discovered an American archive website (the fsa Library of Congress), whose particularity is to allow visitors to download high-resolution B&W photos, most of them with no known restrictions (copyright-free). Out of play and curiosity, I started to colorize one and then two photographs of Dorother Lange. The result was a shock, a revelation. What I had imagined as a teenager was there, in front of me, on my screen. Of course, it wasn’t perfect but it already gave me an idea of what these famous photographers had actually seen. I enjoyed this technique so much that I decided to learn it by specializing in restoration and colorization. My objective is to find colours that are close to reality without distorting the essence of the original photo. The choice of colours, as well as the adjustments, must be meticulous and harmonious. This requirement requires the search for in-depth historical information prior to working on the photo. I am not trying to reduce the strength or value of B&W: my approach is to offer spectators the opportunity to see these moments of history from a different angle, which opens up new perspectives. I have been practicing this technique for almost ten years. It is my work, but also a passion that has enriched my life, my historical knowledge and my practice of photographic art. I end this biography with a quote from Fernando Pessoa, whom I like very much: "The value of things is not in the duration, but in the intensity with which they happen. That’s why there are unforgettable moments, unexplainable things and incomparable people."
