‘France By The Sea ‘Photography Exhibition – Petr Krejci, winner of the awards

The photography exhibition ‘France By The Sea‘ held at the National Geographic Store from the 1st to 7th March is now over and has been a great success.

Petr Krejci, one of the photographers, won two awards which have been voted by a panel of 17 travel editors, writers and photographers: one in the category of ‘The most original photo’ for St Tropez and one for ‘The photo the most representative of France’ for Cavalaire.

Born in Prague in 1984, Petr Krejci studied in 2008 at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie d’Arles – ENSP – where he participated to the “France by the Sea” project organised by ATOUT FRANCE. He photographed Riviera and Corsica. Petr Krejci is now living and working in London.

How Petr Krejci worked on “France by the Sea”:
“I have concentrated particularly on the most obvious features of certain areas, taking photos of objects, landscapes, portraits and movement. For the portraits, I first of all engaged my subjects before placing them in the frame of the image, in which I combined daylight and artificial lighting.
I took my photos with the intention of capturing the typical phenomena of the south, such as the dazzling aesthetics of an extrovert and sensual lifestyle (fashion, decoration, the beach etc) and the conflict between authenticity and tourism.
The French Mediterranean provides an environment which is both attractive and inspiring. As tourism has developed, so new clichés and stereotypes have sprung up, illustrating new aesthetics which are almost kitsch in style. Adverts, souvenirs and various consumer items are all evidence of this transformation. Keeping a close eye on this development, I have sometimes used the aesthetics of advertising to stylise my images.
My intention was not to parody, but rather to celebrate the exoticism, bizarre nature and beauty of the French Mediterranean region.”

For more information on Petr Krejci, please visit www.petrkrejci.com