Jacques Henri Lartigue: Why I'm getting a camera

French photographer Jacques Henri Lartigue

I befriended a cool chica in a museum in Madrid. She showed me around, pointed out a few things and said something memorable - "I like seeing happy people doing happy things".

The next day I visited the 'CaixaForum', a place I wouldn't have known existed if not for the chance encounter. It had an inspiring Exposición on French artist Jacque Lartigue's photographs. Whilst the photos were compelling, I was more enamoured by the blurbs that went with them. I wish I'd written them down so I could share them with you, I had hoped the interwebs would suffice.

This is the best I could find:

A Floating World - Photographs by Jacques Henri Lartigue at CaixaForum Madrid
The Passing of Time
Even from childhood, Jacques Henri Lartigue was obsessed with remembering all his experiences, and it was this obsession that led him to make photography an instrument of memory. This need to remember, so deeply rooted in the young Lartigue, was closely related to his desire to “trap” happiness. He saw memory and happiness as two realities that are exposed to the same threat of disappearing, and his genius was in photographing neither memory nor happiness, but what constitutes their essence: fragility.

I was steadfast (stubborn) in not getting a camera as I had enjoyed the manufactured dynamic when I told people I was without one. I was happy with other people's photos, it became an experiment. It allowed me to live in the moment, any photos of me were candids or documented outside myself. A few things have happened the last few days and now I believe the time is right.

Joie de Vivre! What better reason to get a camera.

Find my first batch of photos here
- Spotted: Photos from Sevilla and Córdoba - The first 48