“Blackand White”

Gallery of Studio Images -House of Photography

22^nd Nov – 10^th Dec 2024‍

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In Cambodia, few photographers work or have worked in black and white, first of all because, when there was only film image, amateurs as well as professionals moved on to color and that, little by little, there were no more technical possibilities to develop and print black and white. Then digital became established with-it specific color, which is not always the same as that of color film, among others in green.

But for Soun Sayon, who is above all a passionate amateur of photography, it is and must be in black and white. He studied architecture and it is now his profession, the image being a pleasure that he practices (like fishing) in his rare moments of leisure.

We find the architect in his exploration of the city at night, documentary but not descriptive, quite mysterious, very contrasted, playing with shadows and lights framing the structures and showing some people appearing silhouette.

The one who was introduced to photography in 2008 in Battambang with the Phare Ponleu Selpak association, then by following the courses organized by the Photo Phnom Penh festival and the French Institute of Cambodia, has developed a series of portraits linked to his activity. As he frequently goes to the construction sites he is in charge of, he asked workers to pose for him. His series of portraits taken with a view camera was exhibited at Photo Phnom Penh in 2017 but he is showing for the first time other of his portraits, in square format or taken with the fragile and delicate Polaroid film with negative.