Agricultural silos are everywhere in the Beauce. This is hardly surprising in a region known above all for its cereal farming. What interested me more was the diversity of these buildings: their shapes, sizes, architecture and colours can be very different from one place to another. These often imposing structures dominate the Beauce landscape. Their primary purpose is to receive and store grain, but their presence in the landscape also makes them particularly interesting photographic subjects.
One of the first silos I photographed, in Membrolles, led me to develop a rather unusual photographic approach (see below). I decided to return to the same location regularly over the course of an entire year. Each time, I stood in exactly the same place in order to keep the same framing.
The idea was to photograph the silo through the four seasons and, in the foreground, to show the changing appearance of a field of rapeseed. The first photograph was taken in autumn. The field had just been sown and the first young plants were beginning to emerge. Then came winter. With the cold weather, the vegetation slowed considerably and seemed almost to stand still. In spring, growth resumed. The rapeseed developed and eventually came into flower, completely transforming the appearance of the field. Finally, summer arrived. The rapeseed had ripened and the time for harvesting had come.
Four photographs, one location, the same framing, but four different landscapes.
This sequence of images allows us to follow the cycle of a crop while keeping the silo as an immovable landmark in the landscape. It is also at harvest time that the silos take on their full importance: the grain harvested from the surrounding fields is then brought there for storage.
The Beauce is traditionally known as “the granary of France”, because of its important cereal production. When travelling through this region, it is difficult not to notice these large buildings, which punctuate and dominate the landscape. Through this series, I am therefore not simply trying to photograph silos. I also want to show their relationship with the agricultural landscape around them and the way that landscape changes with the seasons. A single building can thus become an immovable witness to the transformation of the landscape, from autumn to summer.
It is possible to see these photos with their caption in full screen. To do this, click on one of the photos below and then on the small rectangle at the top right.
