February 2004 Archives

picture: me in my automobile... by Jean pierre ventura

hi there,
it's been a long day and a long night, working on this website...
i think it's much better now: i find my "new" website more... "professionnal". i've removed a lot of images, mainly from the pics i took in india and in the surf community... i think it makes things easier to watch... i've added my favourites pictures from the wct in france last october (yes i know.. at last!) and i've added new images in the "seen on earth" category...
to sum up: we've done a big cleaning in every category excepted "Music" and "sk8 and BMX" (as this one has been already cleaned few months ago)... but the "music" category should be completely rebuilt soon... as i have a lot of pictures to add in it, and i am gonna install the radio in this category and put a song of each band who gonna be in there, so you can listen their music while you see the images...
and we are now working on how this blog can be more central on the website...

(15 minutes later)
yeepee!!! i just got the issue of february of 7sky magazine and they have used two of my pictures in it (a colour pic of kelly slater and a b&w one of a the shadow of a crowd in line in front of the ocean, pages n�114 and n�132), and it is the special photo issue... i am really happy, as this mag is really gorgeous. it's one of the nicest core mag ever... there are a lot of pictures in it, and every single image is really good. it's printed on a really nice paper and the mag is really cool.. so i am really happy to see 2 of my images have been picked up to be in it.. it means my work doesn't suck so much... and it means i am still in this business: as long as i make money with my pictures it means i am still a pro photographer... and i've been working too much for free these last few weeks... so i really need to make money now, to eat and for my self esteem.
of course i am really glad to work on the cover of the album of the gravity slaves, as i already said on this blog: i LOVE doing it... and i am happy to work for the fanzine l'Oreille, as i started "working" for them when i was 17... i got my first works published in this zine, so it means a lot to me... but things would be much easier if i could earn enough to live properly with my photography... so i would be able to take off again to take more pictures to sell, and so on...
i've been working quite a lot last year, in the surf/sk8 scene and i had quite cool publishing all over the world, in quite few core mags... but unfortunately, not enough... i know i am still young (in my life and in this business) but that would help me to do not give up to earn more money with my pictures. of course i don't take pictures for money, it's something i really love to do and that is one of the thing i enjoy the most in the whole world ... but that would make me feel more self confident and it would help me to plan a bit this year... i still don't know if i go back on skate/surf events or if i start another subject.... if i try to work for an agency or if i keep on being on my own...
i am 25, it's been good, but it's been lonely. i've always loved my own company, and being on my own.. but now i start to discover it's really good to work with others too... i mean : when you work with others on the same thing... it's interesting to see your images being manipulated by someone else to become something else... when i work with a graphist by example: it's amazing to see that my images are just the material and the graphist just turn them into something else... he picks them up according his own feelings and emotions... and express himself with your work: so you rediscover your images, and it feels weird!! but good "weird" (maybe because i haven't been disappointed yet by the result...)
thanks for reading, and thanks to everyone who come here to read my posts oftenly and who sometimes post comments or send me emails... it makes me fell really good to feel supported.. not for my ego, i just feel happier when people tell me they like my work... it makes me think "yes i am on the right way"
so THANKS: YOU!

no�mie.

picture: building by no�mie ventura

i borrowed my dad's small digital camera... i am having such good fun with it...
so small you can carry it everywhere and you don't have any concerns about taking crappy images as it is cruelty free (it doesn't affect the environment, it doesn't use films, which do use animals gelatin in its derivatives...) so it's quite cool to have that kind of small camera to try frames (before shooting with the "real ones", the ones with films)... actually i do think that if photography is just your hobby you should go digital. but if it's really something you love to do, something that is that much deep in you that you can't help, then ok, use films, of course it's a better quality and to me nothing can replace b&w films (even the best camera digital ever) but don't waste films. it's just a matter of respect for the animals who died to be used to manufacture films, and for all the damage it causes on the environment... (if you want to read more about this concern, you should read Glen E. Friedman essay about photography and veganism here)
i think digital cameras are not as good as the real ones (well, ok... maybe excepted the very very very very big and very very expensive ones... i dunno i have never tried them) but it's really good enough to take pictures of the stuffs/people you like... to me it's like a polaroid, but really cheaper: you can bring it everywhere with you to take pictures of everything around... people in a party or in a concert... a trash in the street, funny buildings... it's a good way to spot good frames and cool stuffs to take pictures of later...
anyway... have a good day!
thanks for your attention,

no�mie.

l'�quipe de v�ganimal vient de faire tr�s tr�s fort!! ils viennent tout juste de mettre en ligne un nouveau site en fran�ais, sur la vivisection.
je n'ai pas encore tout lu... car le site est tr�s tr�s riche et super int�ressant (comme toujours avec veganimal!!)...
� peine arriv�e voil� ce que j'ai lu:
"C�est un fait historique : apr�s plus 200 ans de vivisection et des milliards d�exp�riences sur animaux, ni le nombre de gens qui sont tomb�s malades, ni le nombre de maladies mortelles ont diminu�. C�est seulement pour des maladies bact�riennes et parasitaires que la m�decine a �t� capable d�agir sur les causes, en tuant les micro-organismes qui produisent ces types de maladies. "
plus loin j'apprend � quoi sert en r�alit� l'argent du t�l�thon ( "Le T�l�thon pr�f�re mettre en avant des images d�enfants handicap�s, nettement plus "vendeuses" que des �pis de ma�s transg�niques.")
et qu'en r�alit� nous servons tous nous m�mes de cobaye: l'indutrie pharmaceutique, l'industrie agroalimentaire, pharmaceutique, chimique, cosm�tique, des biotechnologies et de l��nergie ne font qu'un et s'amusent � jouer au yoyo avec notre sant�, en nous donnant n'importe quoi � manger pour que nous, pauvres consommateurs, d�veloppions tel ou tel type de maladie et qu'ils nous refilent des rem�des super co�teux...
le site est tr�s tr�s bien document� et ils ont raison de nous pr�venir, en intro :
"StopVivisection.info expose les dessous de la recherche m�dicale et de l�industrie pharmaceutique. Apr�s la lecture de nos dossiers, vous ne pourrez plus jamais croire que l�exp�rimentation animale est un mal n�cessaire."

le site de stop vivisection

merci de votre attention,
no�mie.

photo: la traite des vaches par no�mie ventura

mon reportage photo sur l'exploitation des vaches laiti�res et leurs petits est en ligne sur le site de veganimal, dans la gallerie photo.
et tant que vous y �tes, n'h�sitez pas � vous ballader sur ce site qui est vraiment tr�s bien fait (c'est le premier site en fran�ais sur le veganisme)
merci de votre attention,
no�mie.

p�tition � signer ici pour les femmes intermittentes du spectacles qui, depuis le 01er janvier 2004 se retrouvent � la rue si elles tombent enceintes...
enceintes, elles perdent leur statut d'intermittente du spectacle et ne touchent plus rien: selon le nouveau statut, les intermittents ont d�sormais 11 mois pour faire leurs 507 heures... avant les femmes enceintes se voyaient comptabiliser 5 heures par jour m�me quand elles ne travaillaient pas, ce qui leur permettait quand m�me d'accumuler des heures pour la reconduite de leur statut l'ann�e suivante. avec le nouveau statut, elles n'ont plus ces 5 heures par jour et perdent leur statut car elles ne peuvent plus ni compter sur ces heures "offertes", ni travailler, car leurs employeurs habituels ne les fais plus travailer car elles sont "trop enceintes". imaginez une musicienne, une danseuse, une actrice, une com�dienne, une cam�raman.... en train de travailler enceinte jusqu'aux yeux! on imagine difficilement une danseuse �toile enceinte sur sc�ne avec 10 kilos de plus!!
donc, pour elles, mais aussi pour tous les intermittents qui se retrouvent en gal�re depuis que ce nouveau statut est en place, cliquez ici et signez la p�tition en bas de la page.
merci pour elles, pour eux...
les femmes intermittentes ont un blog

merci de votre attention,
no�mie.

REYKJAVIK

- reykjavik - j'aime bien ce mot et j'aime beaucoup l'islandais. ils utilisent souvent mes 3 lettres de l'alphabet pr�f�r�es: le k, le j et le y (et les 3 sont dans reykjavik!) j'aime beaucoup lire de l'islandais, m�me si je n'y comprends rien: il faudrait d'ailleurs que j'essaie de me trouver un livre �crit en islandais, juste pour le feuilleter... et regarder ces petits dessins align�s les uns apr�s les autres...
reykjavik, reykjavik, reykjavik...

comme beaucoup de gens, c'est avec bj�rk et ses remerciements en islandais dans ses disques que j'ai d�couvert l'islandais �crit, avec pleins d'accents sur les o, des j, des g, des y et des k ...
r�cemment j'ai r�cup�r� ce disque: "101 reykjavik", une bo featuring damon albarn (blur)... le disque n'est pas terrible mais je l'ai choisi simplement parcequ'il y a �crit "reykjavik" en gros dessus et que je trouvais cela agr�able � regarder... �a m'apaise... ma copine c�cile, du groupe poney club m'a dit que c'est la lecture de l'odyss�e d'homer qui l'apaise, elle... �a m'a rassur�e je me dis que je ne suis pas si bizarre finalement, avec cette id�e de "lire" (ou plut�t feuilleter?) un livre en islandais...
d'ailleurs �a leur irait bien � poney club, l'islande... je les verrais bien jouer en plein milieu de l'islande, dans cette grande immensit� de vide blanche immacul�e, cette esth�tique tr�s particuli�re, tr�s arty.... blanche et lumineuse... et tout �a en n&b. tout en n&b, rien qu'en n&b, juste en n&b...
ben dis donc avec mes id�es de s�ances photos en islande ils ont int�r�t � cartonner, car il me semble que c'est assez cher, comme pays...

poney club... ils sont justement en train d'enregistrer leur prochain album au studio nyima... je suis all�e les voir enregistrer et faire quelques photos... on sent clairement que cet album va surpasser son pr�decesseur (qui �tait d�j� tr�s bien) disons que l� ils se donnent vraiment les moyens... ils prennent le temps de faire vraiment ce qu'ils veulent et d'aller au bout des choses, comme par exemple faire des prises de son dans un parking sous terrain, dans un hangar... pour avoir des sons et des ambiances diff�rents... je pense que �a va �tre vraiment bien!

merci de votre int�r�t,
no�mie.

picture: the gravity slaves live in jou� les tours, 30/01/2004, by no�mie ventura

great gig of the gravity slaves last tuesday at l'alien caf�... i came early, with the band to sort the stage out, with the lights and stuffs.... to get everything ready to try to take good live images... thanks a lot to dudu, who managed to borrow these big spot lights, it helped me a lot, i think that's the most efficient lights recipe ever: just 4 big white lights on the band...
this week i got back the super 8 films of the gravity slaves' gig of the 30rd of last january at jou� les tours (see picture). there are some quite good stuff on it... but i am not sure yet of how it's gonna be used: we'll see!
some of my images may gonna be used for the forthcoming album of the gravity slaves ("come down", they have just finished to mix it this week). being involved in the artwork project is something really exciting. i am working with the graphist designer who had this brilliant "engraving - wood cutting idea"... i provide the pictures and some ideas and he brings all the rest... we are going to prepare 2 versions and then we'll show them to the band: they may gonna like the first version, or maybe the second one... or maybe none of them!
actually i love working on this project, that's the best part: trying to express what you feel listening to music... but music is one of the most important and influencial thing in my life, it is my biggest inspiration: the music i listen to influence me a lot in the pictures i take... and i love shooting listening to music (i bless my mp3 cd player)
i remember this image i took last october:

(pic: view of capbreton listening loudly to the NIN's album "the fragile")

i took it listening to the NiN's album "the fragile", and now when i see this picture, it reminds me how it felt then, at this very moment, listening loudly to NIN in my headphones: that was pretty intense, believe me!!
thx for your interest,

no�mie.

here is a piece of information that really sucks: if we can't trust the wwf, who can we trust then? this very confident organization we all know for years is calling for thousands of animals to be killed in a test that scientists admit is not relevant to humans! we have all suscribed to wwf at some point of our lives: when we were a kid and even later... i was still a member of this organization 5 years ago, when i was 20 and i thought i was giving money to help to protect wild animals and environment...it should be the same way of thinking: animals - environment... well apparently it's not the way wwf see it. it seems that some animals are more about to be protected than others, according to them. i would have never thought a minute wwf would betray me this way!!!!! as you'll read below, it's such a shame!
and i am sure most ofthe memebers of wwf don't have a clue their money gonna be used to do that:

"The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has been actively pressuring government agencies in the United States, Canada, and Europe to greatly increase the amount of testing that they require for new and existing pesticides and other chemicals. The result of the WWF�s lobbying has been the establishment of what threaten to be the largest animal-testing programs of all time.

The WWF was the driving force in pressuring the U.S. Congress to legislate the screening of chemicals for �endocrine (hormone) disrupting� effects and has subsequently been heavily involved in establishing the framework for the Environmental Protection Agency�s (EPA) massive chemical-testing program now under development. As its Web site points out: �WWF invested substantial resources in the EPA�s Endocrine Disruptor Screening and Testing Advisory Committee,� which �agreed upon a set of tests to form the foundation for the screening and testing program.� What the WWF neglects to mention, however, is that 10 of the 15 recommended screens and tests are animal-poisoning studies, some of which kill hundreds or thousands of animals at a time. According to scientific estimates, the WWF-backed endocrine testing program will kill up to 1.2 million animals for every 1,000 chemicals tested, and with environmental organizations pressing for tens of thousands of chemicals to be retested under this program, the toll in animal suffering and death will be staggering. The WWF is also pressuring government agencies in Europe to embark on a similar animal-testing program.

In addition to lobbying for more chemical testing, the WWF has teamed up with Procter & Gamble, S.C. Johnson, and other chemical companies to create an institute to pursue �basic research� on endocrine disruptors. On top of this, the WWF is now pushing the U.S. Congress to pass a bill that would pour additional millions in public funds into endocrine research��much of which would likely be used to fund experiments on animals.

Unfortunately, the �endocrine disruptor� issue is not an isolated example. The WWF has been a major force in pressuring the European Union to amend its Chemicals Policy to require companies to test and retest as many as 30,000 new and existing chemicals. The British Institute for Environmental Health estimates that this process will kill upwards of 45 million animals if the standard battery of animal-poisoning tests is used. The WWF�s U.S. and Canadian offices are also calling for more testing of pesticides, despite the fact that more than 9,000 animals are already killed for each pesticide product on the market. The organization has called for certain pesticides to be tested for �developmental neurotoxicity� (DNT) using a test that kills upwards of 1,300 animals each time it is conducted. This test has been heavily criticized by scientists, including the EPA�s own Scientific Advisory Panel, which concluded that �the exposure of rat fetus/pups was not shown to be equivalent to human fetus/infant during equivalent stages of brain development� and that �the current form of the DNT guideline is not a sensitive indicator of toxicity to the offspring.� In other words, WWF is calling for thousands of animals to be killed in a test that scientists admit is not relevant to humans!

In its defense, the WWF says that �in the absence of effective, validated alternatives, WWF believes that limited animal testing is needed for the long-term protection of wildlife and people throughout the world.� However, there is nothing �limited� about the massive amount of animal testing that the WWF is endorsing. Dr. Joshua Lederberg, Nobel Laureate in Medicine, pointed out in 1981: �It is simply not possible with all the animals in the world to go through chemicals in the blind way we have at the present time, and reach credible conclusions about the hazards to human health.� Now more than 20 years later, millions of animals are still dying in agonizing chemical toxicity tests, and we are no closer to getting dangerous chemicals out of the environment. In fact, despite killing hundreds of thousands of animals in painful chemical toxicity tests, the EPA has not banned a single toxic industrial chemical in more than a decade!"

click here to see what you can do.

source: www.wickedwildlifefund.com
thanks for your attention,
no�mie.

pour les francophones qui viennent ici prendre des nouvelles, tout d'abord, merci d'�tre venu, j'esp�re que le contenu de ce blog et de ce site vous int�ressent... si vous �tes sensibles au v�ganisme et � la souffrance animale, sachez � titre informatif que je suis en train de travailler avec le site www.veganimal.info sur la r�alisation d'un blog en fran�ais sur le v�ganisme.
ce blog restera fid�le aux id�es de veganimal: ne jamais dissocier le sort des hommes de celui des animaux et de la plan�te, en utilisant des mots simples plutot que de l'intello prise de t�te, essayer d'informer au mieux les visiteurs et surtout: les aider � mieux consommer. car le consom'action est la base m�me du veganisme.
il y aura des conseils pratiques sur le v�ganisme, en compl�ment du site d�j� existant de veganimal : ce que c'est, en quoi consiste le fait d'�tre vegan et comment le devenir sans se ruiner et sans avoir de carences alimentaires... il y aura aussi des id�es de produits 100% naturels, efficaces, non polluants sur l'environnement et �conomiques... il y sera �galement question de commerce �quitable, d'�cologie... bref tout ce qui constitue le mode de vie vegan. ce blog sera ouvert � tous vos commentaires et � toutes vos questions/suggestions...
nous esp�rons, l'�quipe de veganimal et moi m�me que vous le trouverez int�ressant et que ce sera un outil qui rendra accessible le veganisme au plus grand nombre. certains des produits ou des recettes conseill�s vous seront peut �tre d�j� familiers... et vous constaterez peut �tre que vous �tes d�j� plus ou moins vegan sans le savoir!!!
je vous dirais ici m�me, sur mon blog, d�s que ce blog vegan sera en ligne... je compte sur vous pour le faire vivre! en attendant, n'h�sitez pas � vous rendre sur le site de veganimal, qui est une v�ritable mine d'informations.

merci de votre attention,
no�mie

toutes les images: www.veganimal.info

picture: me in june 1981 by jean pierre ventura

une nuit j'ai r�v� que je partais en alaska pour photographier des chardons et des roses mortes. je devenais photographe sp�cialis�e dans les photos de chardons et de roses mortes... et en fait j'y restais super longtemps en alaska... si longtemps, � croire que j'en avais oubli� ma mission de d�part... ou bien qu'il y a tellement de chardons et de roses mortes en alaska que �a me prenait tout ce temps de les photographier...
no�mie.

i am having this horrible allergy: my eyes keep on crying, my nose is running all the time: it's really annoying. i am working now on an "abstract pictures project"... i know it sounds boring, but i promise i'll try to do it in an interesting way: i am not gonna take some fuzzy images of a tea pot pretending it's art. no, i am not in that kind of artistic mood at all. i want to try to do something more weird and dark :)
as you may have seen i had my first trackback today, on the previous post.... and i am glad to have my first trackback from onetrip's blog. i've been trying to send back a reply in french but it didn't work...
hey this country is getting more and more expensive: i feel like in england sometimes:
since we use this �uros currency, everything is more expensive, all the prices have been grown up... everything cost you at least 10 �. you go in a bar with a friend and have a drink: bam! 10 � (around 10 $ or 6.5 pounds), you wanna go out to watch a movie: bam! the ticket for the cinema cost 10 �... you wanna go to see a gig in town: bam! 10 � if you are lucky: it's usually around 15 �. it's crazy.
and the smaller stuffs they haven't managed to charge you 10 � yet:
- a book of 10 stamps= 5 �
- a 6x6 tri X roll= 5 �
- a baguette (bread) = 0.70 �
and people's incomes don't grow up at all, and the thieves from the french government, who is now reigning on france for 19 months, don't give a shit: they deprive the poorest of everything. in social stuffs, education, culture... every single thing is being suppressed, erased, deleted, removed, abolished.... what's the point? there are more and more really poor people everywhere around, and they keep on voting laws against the most needy or creatives people!
do you realize that the minister of the home office (the department of the interior) go to visit schools without telling to the minister of education, to put some cops in there and say he gonna make some law against absenteeism... what a nice spirit for a team! what's the hell is that mess we're in?????
as i told you before, this government is destroying everything and specially the stuffs for the poorest, they are such real pains in the neck... i am sorry for talking about politics down here but today was a kind of busy day here in politics: they have voted laws again, some guys went to demonstrate in the streets again while the government was telling lies, craps and bullshits ... as they have been doing almost everyday since they are here.... but i am a bit worried: we haven't seen the prime minister for a while, and i am really afraid of what he's preparing! it's better to see him quite often: you really understand why you hate him then... when you don't see him, then it's scary, you just wonder what's coming next!
anyway... the extreme right-wing french guy is trying to play the victime again... exactly as he did 19 months ago when he did this pretty good score in the elections.... i hope french people gonna react and make everything they can to avoid that disaster to happen again next month, for these regoional elections...
thanks for reading,
no�mie.

sorry for being redundant, i know: one more post against animal testing, but please consider that it is really important to be conscious of all this suffering generated by our desire of "wanting". we always want something. and advertisers make us want all the time this or this l'or�al shampoo or cream, or whatever... and i know even when you try to think about the animals who are suffering in the laboratories, it's just not strong enough to make you resist and do not buy this l'or�al shit, full of dead animals, blood and suffering, feeling terribly guilty after you bought it. i think every single vegan on earth had to go through that once or twice in his/her life... but when your beliefs have become strong enough to make you resist, then it's a real relief and you feel great: you feel free, you are now unsensitive to advertising!! how lucky you are!!
so please, read the information below and try to remember these rabits next time you are about to buy something from a brandt that test its products on animals (a list of cruelty free products is available here or here for french. consum'acting is the only solution: the only power we have in this consumer's society is to be consumers ourselves, so please, be careful, buy only cruelty free products, and please spend every single euro/dollar/roupie/pound... as a caring consumer.
that's the only solution to make things change.
you can also send all your empty packaging of cruelty free products here:

join a letter explaining that you are a consumer who care and you have decided to buy only cruelty free products. remember: you can vote, so they will pay attention to your letter... and even more if they receive many letters like that.
if you are not french send it to the ministry of research of your country.

"Rabbits are locked into full-body restraints and a test chemical is applied to the shaved skin on their back. The wound site is then covered with a gauze patch for the duration of the exposure period, normally four hours, after which the patch is removed and the degree of irritation is read and scored at specified time intervals. Untreated skin areas serve as the control.A chemical is considered to be an irritant if it causes reversible skin lesions, such as inflammation or other clinical signs, which heal partially or totally by the end of a 14-day observation period. No painkillers are provided.

Despite their years of use, animal-based skin irritation studies have never been properly validated. In fact, evidence exists that animal studies are highly variable, of limited reliability, and generally poor predictors of human skin reactions. For example, a comparison of data from rabbit tests and four-hour human skin-patch tests for 65 substances found that 45 percent of classifications of chemical irritation potential based on animal tests were incorrect. (MK Robinson et al., Food Chem Toxicol 40, 573-592, 2002)"

source: http://www.stopanimaltests.com

thanks: YOU!

no�mie.

collage of vegan products, by no�mie ventura

oftentimes when i meet someone they ask me why i'm a vegan. if you have read my previous posts on this blog, i guess you already know why...
to sum up: i love animals, and i believe that a vegan diet causes less suffering than a diet centered around animal products. it's such a shame to see how cruel is today's farming and how our western countries treat animals, with such a lake of respect. animals are sentient beings, they do feel pain, fear, stress... and they have their own wills. To me it's really unsane to force our will onto another creature just because we're able to.
we've been too far in the extreme of intensive farming, with battery breed, so i believe that now the only solution is to go too far in the other way.
and at last, a lot of medical evidence points the fact that a vegan diet is really healthier than a diet centered around meat.

a vegan: someone who neither eats, wears, or uses animal products.

i live in france, a country which is a distance solar system away from veganism. as you probably know, france is famous for its food and cosmetics. the french food is mainly based on meat, and france is one of the countries who test the most of chemicals on animals in the world:
in france 30 000 animals are used every year to test cosmetics. it's 3 times more than in whole europe. a lot of people don't give a shit about animals suffering. it tends to change a bit... but we are really in late, compared to england, germany or northern europe countries. so when i say i am a vegan, french people consider me as some kind of freak... and they always reply "meat is the best thing ever! how can you be a vegan?"
now i am used to it, but it's sometimes really annoying. i always try to respect meat eaters. but it's hard sometimes when you have to eat with people who eat foie gras, staring at you in the eyes, smiling.
i am very sad when i see how much people don't care about what they buy. i can try to admit that people don't want to stop eating meat... but i think they should, at least, try to buy meat which come from a quite healty way of farming. they should be careful to do not buy meat, eggs, dairies... from battery farming: battery farms are real slaughter houses: one of the worst thing ever created by human beings. and for cosmetics: EVERYONE SHOULD BUY ONLY CRUELTY FREE PRODUCTS.
for the french who are reading this, they should go there, it's a great website in french about veganism, it explains clearly the importance of being a vegan today.
i made this collage (see the top of this post) with packaging of vegan products you can really easily find in france, to help you to buy vegan stuffs. of course there are so much more others good vegan cosmetic products, these ones are just examples. you can check the links on the right of the screen to visit the websites of many vegan brandts.
but be careful: there is not any official vegan brandt in france: every single cruelty free brandt sometimes use honey, bee wax, propolis, wool (...) in some of their products and they sometimes use animals ingredients. it's not because a product is not tested on animals that it doesn't contain any animals in it. so it's important to read the ingredients list:

there is a great book, called "animal ingredients from a to z" (by the E.G Smith Collective, AK press) which compiled all the animals ingredients used... not only in cosmetics, but in food and in every single thing for sale.
first time you read it, it makes you freak out, you become a bit paranoid, discovering all the dead animals contained in everything around you (by ex cetyl alcohol: a wax found in spermaceti from sperm whales or dolphins, used in lipsticks, mascaras, nail polish removers, hand lotions, cream, rouges and many other cosmetics, shampoos, hair lacquers and other hair products, deodorants, antiperspirants (us regulations recently prohibit the use of ingredients derived from marine mammals)... but after a while you just use it as the "guide of the consumer who care".
well, i hope this post wasn't too boring to read... if you are now reading this it means you've been reading until here, so thank you!!!
don't hesitate to email me if you have any question about veganism, i'll do my best inform you!
thanks for your attention,
no�mie

cover of the current issue of zigzag magazine

i received it, at last! the current issue of zigzag magazine with one of my picture on the cover... it's almost the first time i've got one of my images that big on a cover: i had one once, on extreme world news, but it was as big as a stamp... this one is quite bigger!! (that's the b&w one top, right by the way)
zigzag is a surf mag from south africa. but they have a website and i guess you can find zigzag in australia, america, and in the uk... and probably in many other surfie places in the world

yesterday i have spent the day trying to send a fax to australia
richard bennett (who is a surf psychologist, in oz) is now finishing his book, "the surfers mind", with one of my pictures in it:

picture: kelly slater by no�mie ventura

yesterday he faxed me the licence agreement, and i had to sign it and to fax it back to him. it was supposed to take half an hour, but it took me almost the entire day! i don't have a fax machine so i had to go at l'oreille's head quarters to receive the fax... i wanted to send it back from a post office (so it won't cost anything to l'oreille) but it cost 12 �uros!!!! 12� to send a fax to australia, it's such a robbery! so i decided to go back to l'oreille to send back the fax from there paying them the cost of the sent. i had to try on many fax machines: the transmission were failing all the time. after a billion of tries, and hours wondering why it wouldn't worked, some magic spell happened and it's worked!
yes i know: that's a colour portrait i don't do that very often... but when i took this picture i thought that shooting in colour could be nice, to show the ambiance of the light on his skin, the beanie... but during this photo shoot i shot mainly in b&w and really few in colours
thanks for reading,
no�mie.

for watching something rather good click here (turn the volume on...)

picture: poney club by no�mie ventura

last sunday i have spent the day with the band poney club, who are good mates of mine: they were recording a demo in this concert hall... and i went with them to film them with my super 8 camera, and to take pictures. we had really good fun. they played and recorded their new songs, to hear them properly before recording them, for their new album in april... that gonna be wicked: they gonna record few songs in a barn, some others in a underground parking lot...
last sunday i filmed them with super 8 b&w films, that j�rome bought in the usa... and they don't sell developped super 8 films there... (here you can only buy colours developped super 8 films: that means you send back your film to kodak when it's exposed and they don't charge you the developpment as it's included in the price you bought it) so i'll have to send those films in the netherlands, to a small organization who promote super 8 and 16 mm way of filming. you can check their web site here

france really sucks at the moment. i don't know if you have heard about it, but it's really awful: such a bad time for artists and poor right now in here!
the french government are thieves, and the president of france should be in jail, with all his fellows: they have all stole money from the french government. one of them were just sentenced yesterday: one of the most biggest play event ever! i don't know how they can be such good actors: i guess there are some drama course in these special universities, where you learn politics... this guy was sentenced instead of the president of france, everyone know that here, but everyone (all the media and stuffs) are now avoiding to mention that!
and this guy, who has accpeted to be sentenced instead of the president of france is now welcomed in every biggest french channel on tv, and everyone say they are sooo sorry for him, saying it's so unfair!!!!!!! why the biggest french channel doesn't receive all the sentenced guys on their prime time to explain they are no guilty and to whine about the lack of justice during the trial?
he's a fucking thief!!! he's stole a lot of money from the government, so did the french president and his fellows and now they keep on saying how great men they both are and how this trial is such a shame.. it's unbelievable!
everyone is applausing the greatest thieves ever.... and you keep on paying taxes to those guys and they keep on screw us up.
this government is sooo ugly! they are all really ugly, really hurting people. it's really too sad! i don't know how they can do that, being such good liars! now there are more and more beggars in the streets and people are more and more poor: well done guys, you did it! you managed to make the poor being more poor and the rich, richer!
today i had lunch with boun�s, from near death exp, and we all agreed that if people vote again for this government during the next elections next month, we all move out from here!! if french people don't react and keep on giving more power to the thieves, we leave. it would mean we have definitly nothing more to say and to do here!!!!!!
thanks for reading,
no�mie.

if you are french or if you understand it, you should visit this page to listen to this radio program: l� bas si j'y suis. it's brilliant. i listen to it every day in my dark room, while i am developping my pictures.