Michel Bertholet
BIOGRAPHY
I’m a self-taught photographer from the Lausanne area. As a humanist photographer, it is my pleasure to transcribe into my pictures the passions and emotions of the men and women I meet. I also deeply enjoy my own particular vision of certain landscapes and find them to be a source of replenishment. I’m passionate about materials and so playing with different types of paper and material used for frames when I prepare pictures for an exhibition is for me an opportunity to find the joy of the actual photographic object that is often lost in our digital world.
My interests have led me in particular to cover many music festivals in French-speaking Switzerland, everything from jazz to rock music, including classical music. I work as well on various stage performances and local events in our canton, among which was the Fête des Vignerons (winegrowers’ festival) in 2019 in Vevey. I regularly do work for towns and villages, winegrowers, and others in the beautiful vineyard region of Lavaux.
Artistic approach
I haven’t forgotten the magic of silver and film, and I include these in the techniques I use today. I enjoy framing daylight, night light, and light effects found under studio umbrellas. I meander about between portraits, music, news reports, and landscapes. I pay special attention to the end result of pictures developed for publications where the techniques and type of paper used are particularly important. I regularly explore old printing techniques in order to add an extra dimension to my pictures.
I like making my viewers wonder about my pictures. I enjoy offering them something special, beautiful, and – I hope – surprising. A picture that takes time to be seen and that brings up questions.
Yes, taking time is an important aspect of my visual approach for, after all, what is photography but an attempt to hold time still?!
Exhibitions and
publications
2012-2023 Cully Bazar, early December of each year, an overall view of my work
2023 Exhibition in Puidoux, in conjunction with the Festival Lavaux Classic
2022 Aigle, Harmo’Vie, an exhibition of landscapes in French-speaking Switzerland
2020 Book and portfolios about the Fête des Vignerons in Vevey, backstage and preparation scenes entitled “N’attendez pas 20 ans pour danser encore! “ (Don’t wait 20 years before dancing again!)
2020 Collaboration on the book called “Une fête d’avance”, (a celebration ahead of time), a book about the rehearsals for the Fête des Vignerons
2020 Exhibition at the Levant, Lausanne
2019 Vevey, Musée de la photographie, exhibition about the Fête des Vignerons
2018 A book entitled “Thbbc sessions” recalling four years of activity in one of the wine cellars at the Cully Jazz Festival
2017 Exhibition in conjunction with the Festival Jazz Onze Plus, in Lausanne
2016 Exhibition in conjunction with the Cully Jazz Festival, in Cully
2016 Exhibition in Puidoux
2015 Exhibition and projection of pictures at Strates Photographes in Lausanne
2015 Exhibition at La Balance, Daillens
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
Re-Visionary symbol: I leave my work free of copyright so that it can be shared among people who wish to reproduce it in the spirit of the Collective, as long as they indicate me as author.
Copyright symbol: I am the copyright holder of my own works: my work cannot be reproduced, except by the Re-Visionary Art Collective, under the conditions as indicated above in point 1. Unless I give my written consent.