3 months ago
Having moved from Paris to Singapore 2 years agone to further his ocular creation career, Nicolas Damiens has kept his imaginative juices flowing successful his spare clip by snapping nan summery sights of nan country. For conscionable complete a twelvemonth now, this individual project, titled City Pop, has documented Singapore's buildings, thenar trees, and oceans successful a striking, pastel-hued manner that blends nostalgic entreaty pinch a retro atmosphere.
City Pop is well-named, too. Every image bursts pinch smooth, hazy colours that look to leap disconnected nan surface aliases from nan aboveground of a print. Surprisingly, seeing arsenic they are truthful good composed, each photograph results from a spontaneous shoot, arsenic Nicolas has recovered that Singapore perpetually offers surprises astir each corner.
Of course, though, these colourful photos are not without immoderate intervention. "The superior facet of my activity involves photograph editing and retouching: creating a well-balanced creation to emphasise nan main subject, meticulously removing unnecessary details, and yet adjusting nan colours to execute nan desired retro ambience," Nicolas tells Creative Boom.
When it comes to seeing his surroundings successful specified an eye-catching light, Nicolas admits that recreation broadens some your mind and your imaginative outlook. "Upon relocating to a caller country, everything appears exotic, providing you pinch nan opportunity to position everything from a caller perspective," he explains.
"Before this, I resided successful Paris and New York, and I've ever instinctively linked each metropolis to a chopped colour strategy and music, apt owed to my master background."
As for really he settles connected his subjects, Nicolas reveals that his attack combines 3 cardinal ingredients: geometry, minimalism and colour. "While it whitethorn often impact buildings, it tin besides see flowers, objects, aliases thing other that tin beryllium transformed into a visually captivating image," he adds.
Out of each nan images successful nan series, though, Nicolas' favourite is 1 that further breaks nan rules and highlights patterns successful nan world astir him. "A friend requested that I harvester 2 photos for a print, and while moving connected it, I observed a clear relationship betwixt nan chopsticks and nan architecture of a well-known building successful Chinatown.
"The images appeared to bespeak each other, which wasn't nan original intention, but it turned retired to beryllium rather fascinating."
As pinch immoderate broadside project, 1 of nan biggest hurdles Nicolas has to clear erstwhile making City Pop is his master schedule. By day, he useful arsenic an creation head for nan French advertizing agencies Publicis Conseil and Marcel, but extracurricular of that, he is free to indulge successful his domiciled arsenic an "image maker" successful immoderate measurement he sees fit.
"City Pop is simply a broadside task that runs parallel to my main job, providing maine pinch nan liberty to definitive myself without nan restrictions associated pinch customer feedback successful nan advertizing field," he says. "It serves arsenic an unfastened playground, allowing maine to bask nan imaginative process wholeheartedly."
And having tally for complete a twelvemonth already, it sounds for illustration City Pop is only getting started. "I scheme to proceed posting play connected my Instagram account, and I americium aiming for an accumulation successful 2024," he concludes.
"While integer platforms are awesome for sharing my art, I profoundly admit printed materials and can't hold to spot my City Pop creations travel to life successful a beingness format."
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