#07 Locals Only
A government mandated re-upload, and the France you rarely see
Issue 07 finds me on the South Atlantic coast of France. In Biarritz, precisely, a city I dearly love because it’s on the ocean, but the Pyrenees are a stone's throw away. It’s sort of the perfect playground for someone who enjoys both worlds. I’ve been spending time here trying to relax after a busy beginning of summer, but I’m kept restless by the amount of things to do: family time, gravel biking, running, surfing, catching up with old friends… Sometimes I catch myself longing for the calm of winter, some drip coffee, slippers on, editing old photos for no reason at all.
But getting back to the matter at hand, I’m here because I want to tell you about why you shouldn’t watch our latest YouTube video from No One Sees Season 1.
We just (re)uploaded The Hawaii No One Sees to YouTube after receiving a nice-but-firm call from the federal government asking us to remove a section of the video where Isaac and I were deemed to be swimming too close to dolphins. It turns out that on YouTube, unlike Vimeo, you can’t swap a video while keeping the same link to it. So we’re starting from scratch, which is nice actually, because Isaac changed the edit in very satisfying ways. But don’t take my word for it, scroll to see what we got up to during that month of filming in Hawai’i.
If after this you’re itching to watch the film, go ahead and indulge in 37 minutes of raw YouTube goodness.
La France by Raymond Depardon
Having spent a big chunk of my teenage years in France, it is hard for me to look at this country from an outsider’s perspective and feel that sense of wonder you get when you go somewhere new for the first time. Buildings that might seem “new and interesting” to a foreigner just seem old to me. Ordinary life here just looks like… ordinary life, not “exotic,” and I honestly miss most of those moments because I’m not even looking for them. I’m just walking around as if you were walking around the block where you grew up. So whenever someone’s work transports me and lays a fresh eye on something I’m familiar with, I can’t get enough of it. That is the case with legendary French documentary photographer Raymond Depardon.
He has created a large body of work titled “La France,” in which he just drove around the entire country, from city centers to forgotten villages deep in the countryside. Here are some of my favorites, with special mention of the first one, which I find is a masterclass in composition in itself.
Watching
If you’re not already being entertained by the Hawaii No One Sees re-edit and fancy a bit of cooking, how could I not share this video of celebrity chef Marco Pierre White making his Pomodoro sauce. It’s a recipe I’ve been following since watching this video.
Watch Pomodoro sauce - Marco Pierre White's secret recipe on YouTube
Danny Smith edits this newsletter
Love hearing about your time in Hawaii. I totally get you, I miss winter time too. It’s a slower time that I solemnly miss. Thanks again for all your hard work! Keep it up!
La France is such a great and intriguing body of work. The perfect example of how many images put together makes for a beautiful experience vs just each image on its own 🤌🏽