(PenF pirate photo courtesy and copyright of Dave Stott)
French born (but doesn’t care), currently living in Denmark (doesn’t care either), Arnaud De Grave aka mostly Hern42 came rather late to photography, like everything he does nowadays. Before that he was busy being good at school, or rather he was being good at not being a rebel… But the times, they are a-changing, as one says. He became interested in photography because he was not talented enough at skateboarding, starting both around 2000 at the age of 25, which is, he knows, rather very late. So that kills the usual stereotype of having been given an ancient camera by one’s father at age five and never looking back. Anyway, he was indeed offered a “real” camera by his father, albeit at a later date. He then started a long stretch of travelling and shooting and collecting older and weirder cameras, buying more and more film and exposing it, getting more and more addicted to producing images which would fit with whatever fancy he got inside his ever oh-so fastly (ghastly?) changing mood. He created opportunities in order to have more occasions to do photography: the French association B.O.P., co-founded with a fellow French photographer, the Copenhagen-based group C.C.C.P. (Color Climax Copenhagen Photographers), etc.
Mission statement (whatever that might mean…): (“When you have to shoot, shoot, don’t talk.” – Tuco.) He is a photographer, a somehow gonzo journalist (in English and in French). He prefers rather long projects based on travelling and social behaviour.
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On The Web
Email: arnaud@magnesiumphotos.com
Phone: (+45) 40 36 59 42
Exhibitions: Has exhibited in France, Denmark and Japan.
Published work: In various magazines, covering skateboarding, travelling, interviews (skateboarders, photographers, artists…), in various magazines from the USA, France, Denmark & Japan.
Other work: Covers of the Danish translations of crime novels by Labyrint Publishing in Copenhagen, Denmark ( « Total Khéops » by Jean Claude Izzo, published in August 2009, « Zulu » by Caryl Férey, published in May 2010, more to come …)