WHO IS KARBON ?

My love affair with photography began in the late 1970s, in the dim red glow of my college photo lab. There, with my father’s FOCA Sport camera in hand, a treasure he’d passed down to me through which I first witnessed the alchemy of light, and the mysteries of chemical processing.

Photography wasn’t my only muse ! As a restless teenager, I was pulled in a hundred directions: music, books, and a dozen other fleeting passions. Photography remained a whimsical, opportunistic hobby, a spark that flickered but never quite caught fire.

Yet, through the years, my love for cameras never wavered. I experimented with them all: the precision of manual models, the convenience of point-and-shoots, the reliability of SLRs, and even the ill-fated formats like 110, 126, APS, and the not-so-lamented Disc.

The development in digital photography in the ’90s had a serious impact on my approach to photography. I must admit that I was somehow unimpressed by the quality of early digital cameras.  I often fell into the trap of mindless shooting, instantly clicking the shutter without intention. Apart from sharing my images with family and friends, I rarely printed my images, and most of the time they ended up lost on hard drives. At this point, photography, which was once a passion for me, now became a distant memory.

In 2021, while hunting for vintage cameras, I stumbled upon a Minolta 7xi, complete with a handful of lenses. I felt such a deep feeling of nostalgia and  curiosity: Could this old machine still deliver magic? I loaded a roll of black-and-white film and this immediately reignited my passion for photography.

The first developed roll was a revelation! The timeless allure of black and white reawakened something in me. But it wasn’t just the aesthetic — it was the intentionality. Every frame mattered. Every shot was a deliberate choice. Photography wasn’t just a hobby anymore; it was a calling.

But more than anything, I think it was the desire to rediscover photography from a fresh perspective that took hold of me.

KArbon was born.

AND WHO IS BLUE ?

Another facet of my personality, with a different creative approach, more uncertain, more hesitant, less strict too, in a universe where my favorite color will set the tone.

Another open door for exploration. To be continued …