CHIAROSCURO

PASCAL MANNAERTS

// Pascal is a photographer from Brussels, Belgium. The initial spark for his photography were his travels, paired with curiosity and a passion for images, with a profound attraction to the human element. The chiaroscuro series he shared, though from different parts of the world, is united by a special focus on light and dark contrasts.

“I am completely self-taught, I learned photography while traveling. It all really started during my first trip to India in the year 2000. At the time, we were well before the digital era and social networks,” Pascal says. “When I came back from India, I shared my photos with my relatives, friends and family, they loved my photos and they really pushed me to persevere in this way. Shortly after, I left at one year on the roads of Asia and it is there that I really began to dedicate myself to photography. We were at the time in 2001-2002. Subsequently, I continued to take photos, mainly while travelling, and they were gradually spotted by professionals in the field of travel, on forums in particular, where I shared them. Little by little, I created my networks so as to try to be able to publish my photographs regularly. Today I still do most of my photography while traveling. In the process of total immersion in every culture I discover, I place the human being as the main focus in my photographic work, through photographs which tend to open dialogues, arouse emotions and questions.”

“Every moment of light and dark is a miracle.”

Walt Whitman

What draws you to the arts?

“Art is essential for me because it allows to express emotions and feelings in any possible and imaginable form. Art is also a catharsis and allows us to express and transform ourselves personally. Art is also linked to the notion of creation, which is essential in my life. The act of creating, in order to give meaning and substance to one’s own life, and not simply to exist.”

What do you like best about this series?

“In the “chiaroscuro” series that I share here with you, I particularly like this atmosphere that I personally feel as meditative, even melancholic. I find it very introspective. This corresponds well to this feeling of introspection that I often feel when traveling to the four corners of the world. Because every journey is also an inner journey. I also like this continuity and this harmony that I feel while looking at this series, even though it represents realities and places that are completely different and have nothing to do with each other.”

We present a series of Pascal´s chiaroscuro photos, where he emphasises the effect of contrasted light and shadow. He took these photos in different places around the world. “Over the years, I have gradually assembled many series by theme during my travels around the world. I gradually grouped photos around particular subjects or atmospheres, instead of simply presenting the photos by destination.”

For this particular series, Pascal grouped together photos based on a similar kind of luminosity and atmosphere. You can see more of these beautiful images on Pascal´s website (link below).

Click on the photos to see a larger image.