STAGES PRINTEMPS 2026
Jean-Michel ANDRÉ
Territories: inner resonances
From Mon 27 April to Fri 01 May 2026
35 hours on 5 day(s)
820,00€ - 5 jours - Tarif en autofinancement 2026
First payment of 30%: 14 days after registration (withdrawal period expires)
Second payment of 70%: After starting the course
Fabrice Courthial & Marie Couteux
stage@rencontres-arles.com
+33(0) 490 967 606
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Pleasure, kindness, but also rigor will be at the heart of this workshop, open to multiple photographic approaches, all centered on the real and the imaginary.
Over the days, the challenge will be to create a personal photographic narrative, working daily with Jean-Michel André to assemble photographs and words, to create meaning and seek to represent in images a thought specific to each individual.
In this process, the Arles region will prove to be a diverse and rich field of exploration. The city, its surroundings, urban and wild spaces, will be ideal for developing a perspective, clarifying intentions, and establishing a framework. It will be a matter of drawing on inner resonances with places, people, nature, and the city to find one's own path and bring uniqueness to the process.
It will be a question of feelings, emotion, poetry, but also experimentation and research, on the edge of reality. The range of possibilities will be broad, and approaches may focus on landscapes, atmospheres, and the human element—omit or reveal—or on an intimate, universal, or exceptional story. Those who wish may also draw on photographs taken in advance, as well as archival documents and photographs.
Editing and discussions around the engaged approach will play a central role. These daily sessions, adapted to each individual's sensibility, will be essential for comparing perspectives, analyzing, and selecting the photographs produced in order to create a coherent body of work that will be exhibited on the final day.
Workshop is held in French (with English translation if necessary).
Registration Procedures and Methods
©Jean-Michel André
Born in 1976, Jean-Michel André graduated in photography from the Gobelins school. His work is represented by the Sit Down gallery (Paris).
For the past ten years, he has been pursuing a work of photographic creation, at the crossroads of plastic and documentary readings. His approach is based on a political and poetic vision of the territory, of which he questions the limits, the memory and the evolutions.
He also explores the notion of circulation, and in particular that of economic, financial and migratory flows. Questions related to absence, lack and reparation are part of the common threads of all his series.
Having spent a large part of his life outside the French borders, in Spain, on the African continent and in the Caribbean, he can also affirm that travels nourish his work without however claiming to speak of a country or its inhabitants. He prefers to take the back roads: revealing the shadow and inviting the exploration of an intimate geography.
In Dos à la mer, a series produced in the Caribbean, supported in 2010 by a creation grant from the DRAC Martinique, he photographs the collapse of a development model based on tourism. In L’autre pays (2010-2015), he undertakes the open-air archaeology of the bursting of the real estate bubble in Spain. With Borders (2016-2020), he provokes the tension of portraits and fragments of landscapes to question the notion of borders and its wounds. This work is accompanied by the writings of Wilfried N'Sondé.
In 2021, Borders was published by Actes Sud and exhibited at the Rencontres d’Arles, at the Sit Down gallery, then at Paris Photo. In 2022, Jean-Michel André was one of the winners of the Grande commande photographique supported by the BnF and the Ministry of Culture to carry out his project À bout de souffle, awarded the Maison Blanche prize in 2023.
Chambre 207, his latest creation, will be published by Actes Sud in October 2024 and presented at the Hospice Comtesse museum in Lille. This project received support from the Centre national des arts plastiques, the Institut pour la photographie des Hauts-de-France, and the Centre méditerranéen de la photographie.
Jean-Michel André presents his work in exhibitions, residencies, and publications, in France and abroad. His photographs are part of the collections of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Fondation Neuflize OBC, the Maison des Arts du Léman, and the Fondation Clément.
PRACTICAL INFORMATIONFace-to-face training courseLocation: historic center of ArlesMobility: stairs to access the building and for several interior rooms (contact us)Number of participants: between 6 and 10 peopleStart of the photo course on the first day: 10:00 a.m.End of the photo course on the last day: 7:00 p.m. followed by a group presentation until 9:00 p.m.Hours on other days: 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.Possibility to bring your own meal and eat on site during the lunch breakCONTENTDaily shootingSelection session on computer and/or on reading printStudy and analysis of the photographs takenDaily reflections and discussions to define the characteristics of a personal approachAnalysis of the different central stages of a photographic production“Final editing” session in order to produce a series homogeneousFinalization of a series on digital file, printed then hungOBJECTIVES- Understand different stages of the production of a photographic series: take shots- Finalize a “coherent” set of digital photographs on a personal themeSKILLS TARGETED- Be able to conduct a photoshoot session independently- Succeed in selecting a coherent set of photographs on a personal themePRE-REQUISITESNone.TARGET AUDIENCEAnyone wishing to develop their photographic practice. Amateur photographers, novices or experienced. People working or studying in the field of image, communication, journalism, architecture… Professional photographers wishing to explore a new field, a new technique.PRICESsee the price list according to the duration and type of support. Request a quoteBRING (IDEALLY)- A selection of about 30 images showing your practice (preferably on paper / format of your choice) / Highly recommended to get to know the trainer.- Your camera with charger, batteries ... (Free loan possible on request)- 2 memory cards (to keep your photos)- Possibly hard drive (mac compatible) or your computer if you wishTERMS AND CONDITIONS OF ACCESSAfter receiving the registration and self-positioning form, a telephone or message exchange may be made. Registration is definitively validated after acceptance of the training contract and receipt of the 30% deposit after a 14-day withdrawal period.TEACHING METHODSSupervision by a professional trainer/photographerThe trainer reads the registration and self-positioning form in advance in order to adapt the process and methods to the objectives.TECHNICAL METHODSMac computer workstations/card readerVideo projectorFlash and LED lighting on requestHybrid digital camera on requestA library of photographic worksASSESSMENT- Interview and individualized assessment upon entering the training- Carrying out practical exercises continuously assessed by the trainer- Oral assessment at the end of the trainingFORMALIZATION AT THE END OF THE TRAININGCertificate of completion of trainingACCESSIBILITY AND DISABILITYWhether you are recognized as having a disability or not, we are at your disposal for any information, and will do everything possible to support you, adapt the content, the materials, the pace and facilitate your reception.For any further information please contact Mr Fabrice Courthial at 04.90.96.76.06CONDITIONS OF ACCESS FOR PEOPLE WITH REDUCED MOBILITYPresence of stairs to access the training locationBuilding with stairs to access certain classrooms and shooting locations.No access ramp or elevator.
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