For his third exhibition at gallery in camera, Jean Noël de Soye presents about fifteen color prints from his new project “Hydra”. These photographs were taken between 2016 and 2024.

« Hydra » was born from Jean Noël de Soye’s enduring fascination with Mediterranean light, a memory rooted in his childhood in Marseille. He discovered the Greek island by chance while on vacation and was immediately captivated by its rocky landscapes plunging into the Aegean Sea. What initially seemed like a simple holiday destination gradually became a terrain for exploration, embodying Henri Cartier-Bresson’s vision of photography: “For me, photography is the spontaneous impulse of a constant visual awareness that captures the moment and its eternity”.

That eternity is found in the laughter of children playing in the sea, or in the silent ambiance of a restaurant bathed in light. In the spirit of his previous explorations of Venice and Madagascar, Jean Noël de Soye continues to invite us to reflect on our connection to the world, to beauty, and to the profound mystery that surrounds us. His seascapes invite meditation, while his overhead shots of busy beaches remind us that poetry resides in the everyday. This poetry also emerges in the moon waltzing with fairy lights and in the melancholy of a young woman gazing out at the vastness of the ocean.

At the same time, Jean Noël de Soye does not turn away from life’s hardships, as shown in the photograph of a donkey struggling up the city’s narrow steps, bowed under the weight of its load. This lucid awareness, combined with a deeply sensitive gaze, unfolds across the island of Hydra—offering a vision that is as precious as it is human.

Rachel Wuhrmann