Chris Bouchet
BIOGRAPHY
The town of Essonne, near Paris, is where I was born forty-nine years ago and where, at age fourteen, I began my career as a young fireman. At sixteen I was a volunteer fireman and at eighteen I joined the fire brigade in Paris. I became a professional fireman and worked in other places in Department 91 for a while before changing, in 2001 to Annemasse, in the Department of Haute-Savoie. It was there that I was able to receive training in intervention photo-video, in conjunction with the SDIS 74 (Service de défense incendie et de secours de la Haute-Savoie) communications unit.
It was in that time, through seeing what emotional impact pictures could have on people, that I really became aware of my attraction to photography. When I was transferred to the Rescue Centre of Thonon les Bains, therefore, I quite naturally became the referent for my group’s photo-video unit.
What drove me to move to Thonon was my desire to join the GASP (Groupe Aquatique Sapeurs-Pompiers) as a Civil Security diver. So my work there involved taking a camera and a movie-camera under water to cover fire-fighting divers training.
I’ve lived in Switzerland for the past eleven years and have become a passionate underwater photographer. Diving in both salt and fresh water, my desire is to make the general public more aware of the underwater world and of the need to take care of our rivers, lakes, and seas and of the plant and animal life therein.
Artistic approach
Being very attached to water environments, I enjoy leading people to change their ideas about lakes and rivers, for example the idea that it’s always cold underwater or that there is no life there. In the sea I enjoy showing people that sharks are not at all the blood-thirsty monsters they are shown to be in movies.
My photographs in six exhibitions over the last two years have surprised viewers with the beauty of our lakes and rivers and of marine environment and all that is contained there, as well as shown them some very special moments with underwater creatures.
I enjoy interaction and exchanges with others on social media and am very active in that area, always informing people in an enthusiastic and friendly way and receiving a lot from these sharing times.
Exhibitions
2022 L’Eau de-là, un mois, Espace 52, St-Sulpice VD
2023 Par Fonds et par Vaud, un mois, Office du tourisme de Rolle, Rolle VD
2023 Stand d’exposition, une journée, Salle des Fêtes, Belmont S/Lausanne VD
2023 Stand d’exposition, une journée, Salle des Fêtes, Sciez (74) France
2024 Lacs et Mers, un mois, AbyssWorld, Nyon VD
2024 Stand d’exposition Lacs et Mers, une journée, Grandson NE
2024 Salon des Arts Ré-Visionnaire, deux jours, Aigle VD
2024 Festival de la Salamandre, trois jours, Espace Beausobre, Morges VD
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
Re-Visionary symbol: I leave my work free of copyright so that it can be shared among people who wish to reproduce it in the spirit of the Collective, as long as they indicate me as author.
Copyright symbol: I am the copyright holder of my own works: my work cannot be reproduced, except by the Re-Visionary Art Collective, under the conditions as indicated above in point 1. Unless I give my written consent.