Last month we ran an article on France’s religious shopping mall, a melting pot of 30 separate congregations that “meat” (ha!) inside an abandoned slaughterhouse. We liked the photos so much that we asked Monsieur Guillame Belvèze to send us more pictures to put online for the world to enjoy. He did us one better by also writing a few lines about his experience.
“This was the most fun shoot I’ve ever done. It was the first time somebody tried to grab my camera from me, too. While I was taking pictures, one of the guys thought I was a bailiff [French slang for cop – ed.]. He was convinced that I was collecting evidence in an effort to have his family expelled from the premises. He was pulling my camera so hard if I hadn’t let go of it the flash would probably have been broken. Then he told me I had to delete the pictures, but of course I was shooting film. The guy was so angry I thought he was going to pry open my F3 with his fingers. Luckily, Valeria, the article’s author, brokered a deal using her impeccable negotiating skills. After developing the photos himself in order to make sure I was a journalist and not a bailiff, the man’s sister brought the film back to us, along with a couple of sodas as a peace offering.”