Adopted from Cotentin, photographer Alexandra Kaladgew has released a book on trees

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Alexandra Kaladgew pulls out all the stops, as long as her inspiration guides her, the camera never far away.

She who “on the way” likes to capture in black and white “the ephemeral moments of street life”, published in the summer of 2024, in editions The seated traveler, a work where she testifies to her passion for trees, Trees in majesty.

A whole different universe. “I had a grandfather who was a grain grower who had several plots of land. The fields, the earth, are not something unknown to me at all,” explains this great traveler.

Originally, an exhibition

As someone who has moved a lot in my life, I am very happy to have put down roots in this beautiful territory that is Cotentin. With my partner, we live in the countryside, in Val de Saire, and we have started to plant a few trees. Between not always easy ground, easterly winds, wild boars, deer, we have experienced some setbacks, but we are not giving up!

In short, Alexandra Kaladgew takes advantage of the nature around her to take photos, “like that”, and then things accelerate.

After a year of settling in the Channel, she agreed to take the presidency of Walks and discovery in Val de Sairecreated a Facebook page and a paper newspaper for the association.

“And as this began to become known, I ended up being asked by Cotentin Nature to do an exhibition around the tree in Vicq-sur-Mer. The idea for the book came from there…”

Dream vision

The artist then collected hundreds of photos. Those that we can admire in his work are essentially trees of Manche and Val de Saire.

True to form, from her subject, the photographer created very contrasting chromatic work (the different chapters are also organized according to colors, Editor’s note) which makes its mark.

I wanted to offer a dreamlike and colorful vision of the fantastic world of trees.

No captions here, giving any details on the species or the location of the photo taken.

Alexandra Kaladgew is not an arboricultural expert, her book is not a collection of botany.

“The idea, when I designed it, was not to give lessons in ecology, but to call us to be amazed with this message: look at what is around you, protect it ! »

Alone or accompanied, dead or alive, in a clearing or at the edge of a body of water, in the blush of an evening or the brightness of a summer day, the author shows it with talent, “the tree is a king on this Earth”.

Trees in Majesty, The Seated Traveler, €25. Available to order (www.le-voyageur-assis.fr) at the E.Leclerc Tourlaville culture space, at Schistes bleus in Cherbourg-centre, and at La Chaloupe, in Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue.

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