entre chien et loup . tramolé france
Entre chien et loup is a saying in French that describes the moment at dusk when a shepherd can no longer distinguish a wolf from his dog. In the documentary the saying alludes to the blurriness in life between what was and will be when a generations pass one from the other. Tramolé is but one example of our dusk in human history as generations change and societies reorganize.
Rolling hills of farmland, woodlands and ponds lead to and from this village of 500 inhabitants. Situated in the Rhone-Alps region, province Isere, most would surely consider the village unremarkable. Centre village is at the one and only four corners intersection. On high side of the ‘carrefour’ is the mayor’s office, annexed to an abandoned elementary school. The village-owed 150-year-old church is 100 meters away. Bar des Amis is 50 meters - only place you can buy a drink, but hardly anyone goes. On the low side is an outdoor basketball court and playing field, recycling bins and the library/social hall building.
If you rode in and out of Tramolé along route départementale 56, Tramolé would appear to be only fields and cows with a house or two here and there. You’d miss the main residential area which sits up on the hill. Main activities are commuting, working in the yard or on the house, walking, reading, sleeping, eating, drinking and talking. People talk a lot in Tramolé.
Beauty, though, is often hidden by a veil of blandness. Tramolé manifests its grandeur in a vegetable garden, a field bared, cows bulky randomly standing, patches of woods, a scatter of ponds swept over by fog, the smiling visage of a widower, the bent figure of an aged man unearthing potatoes. The humanness in a wince of advancing age, a smile of regard and the tactile exertion of a day’s work unveil the elegance of Tramolé’s years.
Tramolé is a village similar to the other billions of names that dot the maps of the world. But it’s the village I’ve documented. It’s the village I present to you. It’s the village that awes me in its presence for its humanity
Photos can be deceitful. They only capture a fraction of a second of any story. And possibly that’s the beauty of photography. They allow the viewer to imagine what came before and what will follow. Those fractions of seconds are signposts along a time line we call life. Entre Chien et Loup is the accumulation of fractions of seconds that have inspired me to share my reflections with you .