Photography Award 2019

Hubert Crabières wins the American Vintage Photography Award in Hyères

For the third consecutive year, American Vintage honors the work of a photographer with the American Vintage Photography Award in Hyères. This year, the prize went to Hubert Crabières with his vivid colors and staging in celebration of Paris.

A partner of the International Festival of Fashion, Photography and Fashion Accessories in Hyères since 2017, American Vintage continues its photographic adventure with its American Vintage Photography Award in 2019. After Luis Alberto Rodriguez (2017) and Sarah Mei Herman (2018), it was Frenchman Hubert Crabières’s turn to impress the jury, presided over by New York photographer Craig McDean. Crabières won a cash prize of 15,000 euros and will have the opportunity to display a series of exclusive photographs in a brand store.

Unique series

Originally from Argenteuil, in the outskirts of Paris, Hubert Crabières turned his city into his favorite playground. Since 2014, he has immortalized his models there in a unique series in permanent evolution. Entitled “La pesanteur et la grâce” (“Gravity and grace”), it unites both personal projects and commissions, faces and objects.

 

By shooting the people close to me or the objects around me, I attempt to accentuate the potential limits that exist between my idea, which justifies the image, and the conveyed intimacy of relationships. The repetition of the same space, faces or objects is a dimension that I continuously explore.”

As the only constant in his photos, this Parisian suburb allows him to dabble in various staging approaches, enhanced by the repetition of the landscapes. “By removing the surprise of the location or subject from the photo and by using staging that is often a little inexact, I emphasize the structures of the image, their visual effectiveness, their appeal and the elements that add to this or not.

In non-stop opposition, the domestic space collides with that of the staging, all focused on colors, the central element of Hubert Crabières’s work. Driven by his passion for images, Crabières loves when they are vibrant and lively, almost surrealistic, and structures his work with depth and volume. An aesthetic approach dear to American Vintage, whose creation studio has been developing exclusive colors since the foundation of the brand in 2005.

“A flight of doppelgängers”

Photo presented by Hubert Crabières at Villa Noailles for the 2019 American Vintage Photography Award.

Fascinating and almost hypnotic, the American Vintage photograph presented by Hubert Crabières at the 34th International Festival of Fashion, Photography and Fashion Accessories in Hyères is the result of a long process. Initially photographed in a studio with the brand clothing, these shots of the photographer’s friends and loved ones were printed on satin in life-size scale. The models then brandished these luminous doppelgängers like banners of their own identity, carrying them high in the blue sky overlooking the Butte des Châtaigners in Argenteuil. “The light breeze and the sun setting on the city gave an almost magical feel to the evening. When I look at the photo, I remember walking from the studio to the Butte, with these characters flying through the city in a strange procession.”