He is 27 years old and uses photographic techniques from the 19th century. Biarritz, Bordeaux, Paris, Limoges, Lille… Enzo Lucia wanders from town to town with his traveling studio. He made a jump to Montpellier from August 12 to 14, at the Bivouak Café restaurant, near the Lez market.
His specialty is wet collodion. A photographic process dating from 1850. It consists of pouring salt collodion, a chemical solution, onto a glass or aluminum plate, which is then immersed in a bath of silver salts, then transferred to a waterproof frame. light. It is on this plate that the photo will subsequently appear. “The plate must remain moist between the time it is prepared, photographed, and developed. If it dries, there’s no picture“, specifies Enzo Lucia.
The small studio is set up in a corner of the restaurant. Old-fashioned accordion camera, mini lab, spotlights, old sheets… everything is there to take Marie-Devine in the picture. The exposure time lasts about 5 seconds.
Once the photo is taken, the young woman observes her image appear. “It’s weird! It’s really very very cool as a process. I like.” This professional photographer has been following Enzo for some time on Instagram. She took advantage of her stay in Montpellier to meet him and have his portrait taken. “Since I’m always behind the camera, being a little in front, that changes“, she adds.
A self-taught photographer
The photo is monochrome, it draws on sepia tones (depending on the chemical mixture made by the photographer). Enzo Lucia realizes its chemical solutions alone. He learned everything by himself. “I’ve been doing photography for fifteen years now, always using film or Polaroid. I’ve never been drawn to digital. The idea was to go back more and more to the origins, to understand how an image is made.“
The photo, on the other hand, can be kept for more than 170 years. “You were creating a unique work. There I find that there is real value and it becomes an object of transmission”
You were creating a unique work. There I find that there is a real value, and it becomes an object of transmission
The young man has already been traveling across France for 4 years with his traveling studio. “You would have asked me if it was possible to live from photography, I would have told you that it was not possible. I would not have imagined that there would be such a craze.“Enzo Lucia shares a lot of his experiences, and his portraits on social networks, especially on Instagram.
He started a first date in an apartment in Lyon. The photographer does not see the point of taking photographs in a professional studio. “At the time, the photographer was traveling with the fair, he was there for a weekend. People came and had their portrait taken. I really wanted to base myself on this concept“, he specifies.
At the time, the photographer was traveling with the fair, he was there for a weekend. People came and had their portrait taken. I really wanted to base myself on this concept
So from the first shoots, many curious people started to contact Enzo Lucia. “I had a lot of requests, from people who said to me “it’s crazy, how is it possible, I want to come and see”. Everything was linked, after I was asked to go to Rennes, Le Havre, Paris… In fact, the studio on the road was almost created naturally“, rejoices the photographer, who already has more than 23,000 subscribers on his Instagram account.
Enzo Lucia is currently returning to Chalon-sur-Saône, his hometown. He will hit the road again in the fall, and will communicate on the next city he will join on social networks. If you want to have a photo from 1850, count 150 euros for the A4 format.