Are any of you doing the Arles Photography Festival (Rencontres D'Arles Photographie) [1] from 8th to 12th July?  Nope, not me I'm afraid as much as I'd like swan around Southern France and bathe in some sunshine peering at photographs.  This year, the guest curator of the festival is Christian Lacroix [2] and he's picked a stunning set of guests to exhibit at the festival along with other fashion-worthy exhibitions all themed around 'Photographing Clothes' [3] with titles that make me want to book a random flight to  Nîmes-Arles-Camargue for that week pronto; 'Model Registration Photographs', 'The still life at Vogue', 'Fashion Publishing: look books & collection catalogues', 'Photographer of Fashion Shows: Guy Marineau', 'Clothes in Motion', 'From the street to the blog'..... yup all of those exhibitions that would give me so much fashion fodder to think about my head might explode.  Painful stuff to miss...

Still, onwards and upwards and I'm extremely glad to have discovered Grégoire Alexandre's [4] work through the invited guests of Christian Lacroix [5].  Pared down spaces and clever starkness are is trademarks and he seems to utilise the idea of a photography studio well despite the seemingly monotonous image of studio shoots.  There's also a sharp linear quality about his work that isn't about super-imposed graphics but just a smart use of props along with a smattering of digital retouching that enhances the images perfectly.      

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]