Dan's Interview
Restaurant “Chez DUCON” – 20 Allées de Tourny – Bordeaux (Gironde) – FRANCE.
Link To Version Française. Profession : Owner of the restaurant « Chez Ducon » and other themed restaurants. The Restaurant “Chez DUCON” is situated in the beautiful heart of Bordeaux, and houses a permanent display of black and white photographs, all very beautiful and some of whom ( the “Doineau” photographs for example) are classified as “collectors items”. Hanging on all the walls of the restaurant, they are shown diner's in various frames, all sought after in the antique dealers, or local junk shops around Bordeaux. Seeing the collection so beautifully shown off in the elegant and classical interior of a typical “French Brasserie”, gives an added pleasure to the taste of the high quality “cuisine”. Sophisticated and traditional at the same time. Ducon’s: a beautiful jewel-box for a treasured collection!
Some of the collection of Daniel Cuny
including a couple of Doineau prints!Since when did you become interested in photography? From my early childhood, since my first “instamatic Kodak”
What was your first photographic emotion? My self, when, as a baby, I was photographed, naked, by a professional photographer. Seeing this picture always gives me lots of happiness and pride!!
What contemporary photography would you buy? Some pictures about jobs, precisely professionals in their job situations. Generally they are absorbed by their task, in an unnatural posture or stance, so they show a composition part that I like particularly.
Would you buy unknown names as an investment? Of course, it would be wrong to say that because a photographer is famous is stuff is automatically good. I buy pictures that I like, no matter what is the fame of the photographer.
How do you decide what to display in your premises? For me, photography is a reflection of the existence, which is in itself, active, not passive. Maybe, I find photography more expressive than paintings, and there is not necessarily an artist’s interpretation. It’s a picture in “life”. That theory explains my choices regarding what I put on display.
What are the comments about the photos in display? The photos in display must be compatible with the name of the restaurant “Chez Ducon”, all of them are meant to be humoristic, leading to a smile or a laugh, thought provoking, or derisive. All the photos are two edged; they are not ordinary and must have something which makes us wonder. They fly over and review French humour, what politely can be called the “French stupidity”. My client’s comments are all in this way, I see them smile and laugh, they react in any case. That was my goal!
Do you prefer landscapes or figure/ portrait work? I can be sensitive to all kind of photographs. It’s true that some landscapes are breathtaking, but it’s a matter of taste, I like nature finely worked by humans: vineyards for example, they are natural sceneries but created and shaped by men. At this stage, I think the photographer’s work becomes more interesting, more effective. Paying tribute to nature shaped by people is sometimes more difficult than paying tribute to a natural beauty, which is according to me, possible for everybody.
Do you see a difference between England and France in appreciation of photography as art? I don’t see very much difference, for me talent is universal.
Was there ever a photograph you particularly wanted but was unable to obtain? There was one I wanted badly, but I finally got it after a long wait!! It was quite difficult to get it. It was a photograph of Manzanares (very famous “torero”) in Dax’s bullring (Dax is a town in Dordogne), fighting with a very famous bull called “Botterio”. It was an extraordinary picture by a photographer called Blanc. I obtained this photograph five or six years later. A huge happiness!
