Gianlucca Cosci and Mona Kuhn both used shallow depth of field to focus the attention of the viewer on what they think is the main part of the subject. Looking back at my old catalogue of images I found one in particular that I feel can be used with the same effect.
This picture was taken in mid-2011, shortly after the beginning of NATO’s intervention in Libya against Gaddafi’s regime, in which France, then presided by Nicolas Sarkozy, played an important role. It is in this context that I remember taking this picture, focusing on the headshot of the French president, as he was the man of the moment. A long time had passed since that picture and for a long I though that Sarkozy was going to be out of politics forever, particularly given the way he lost his presidential election and the corruption scandals he was involved shortly after leaving the presidency. But these are strange times, and it does seem that Sarkozy has again a good chance of returning to the fore and become the French president once again. I would like to re-imagine my picture in the context of this process of political death and redemption, like a project covering personalities that fell out of grace and managed to return to the limelight. The picture I took shows a man in the news, but the context is not clear (you cannot read any text in a normal print of the image) and the setting, on the handle of a slightly run down door for a non-specific establishment, could be interpreted as either the news being delivered to your door, or somebody discarding an old newspaper because he or she could not find a bin nearby. In that respect, this could either be used to illustrate Sarkozy’s old political demise or his return to power, if that ever materializes.
The long way 