SAUVAGE
PHOTOGRAPHY - HUMANITY - ART WITHOUT DISTANCE
Smoke rises. Potential stalls.
sau·vage | so-vahzh |
adjective [French; literary, artistic]
1. untamed or wild in nature: *une beauté sauvage* — a wild beauty. • unrestrained, natural, or instinctive in character or expression.
2. feral (when describing animals): *les bêtes sauvages* — wild beasts.
3. primitive or raw (when describing people, emotions, or art): *un art sauvage* — art that is raw, expressive, and unrefined.
4. unrefined / natural (in a poetic or artistic sense): often used to describe authenticity, purity, or the absence of polish.
[Origin: from Old French, from Latin *silvaticus* — of the woods, wild.]
Unless otherwise stated, every photograph or digital image in this magazine — including portraits, artwork and all featured subjects — is an original photograph or original digital image of an original, real-world subject, not an algorithm. No images are AI-generated unless explicitly noted.
LOS ANGELES. VENICE. SaMO. MALIBU
instagram -- @sauvage_magazine
editor’s talk p/ 01 p/ 04 under the light - steve pyke mbe p/ 10 on the sea p/ 12 on the streets p/ 18 portrait mindset p/ 41 still rolling - if.... p/ 26 arrested development p/ 30 kept local - evan shaner on the wall p/ 32
EDITOR’S TALK harder than expected!
Here it is. Issue number two. Later than I wanted, different than I expected, but better than I hoped. I learned so much putting together issue one. The feedback was amazing — and by amazing I mean honest. Critical. Not just pointing out the problems, but offering potential solutions.
What I didn’t anticipate was the timing of the printing process. Issue one went to print during the busy Christmas period and, let’s just say, the printers have a very unsophisticated and unhelpful way of communicating. On the day it was due to ship, I received an email bluntly stating that the print was delayed three weeks. No warning. No explanation. And even more irritating, the three weeks was only an estimate. Apparently, in the “printing world,” this is not unusual — really?
There were other issues, all of which affected the timing of getting issue one out and freeing me up to work on this one. But we’re here now. As I write this, issue one has landed in two stores and will be in more this week. I also realized that, at least for now, releasing an issue every month is too much for me. So for the next few issues, while I find a solid rhythm, Sauvage will come out every two months.
In issue one I put out a call for photographers and artists to submit work. Because of the delay, there wasn’t really time for that to land properly before this issue went to print. So let me say it clearly: if you’d like to submit work, please see the inside of the back page for details and contact me.
“You don’t know what you don’t know.” That’s certainly true when it comes to hardware trials and tribulations. What surprised me more were the internal ups and downs. The self-judgment. The
doubts. Who am I to do this magazine? Who the hell will buy it? What’s the point? And anyway, are my photographs even worthy of being bought? These thoughts ran through my mind almost daily. Of course there were moments of excitement — dreams of the magazine finding its way into many hands.
There were also moments of “fuck it, I’m done.” It’s a timesucking, low-return enterprise. Yet something keeps pushing me forward. When I break it down, it’s no different from lifting to failure in the gym or stepping out of a plane. Resistance shows up. The ego wants the easy route.
Today I ran a little mental exercise. I imagined two scenarios. In both, I’m wrestling with the same negative mindset, questioning whether to continue. In the first, I know the end result will be modest critical acclaim and some financial reward — recognition that this is a worthwhile project. In the second, the result is neutral. It sells a little. The feedback is neither here nor there. Not because people dislike it, but because life is busy. It just… drifts.
I played both out. Immediately I realized that in either case, I would continue. That was the moment. If I’m only doing this for the “successful” outcome, and I wouldn’t continue without it, then I shouldn’t be doing it at all.
I started Sauvage to express myself. To challenge myself. To give myself a new experience in something I’d never done before. It was never about the result. It was always about the journey.
So unless I go bankrupt — or the current government decides to deport UK expats for having a funny accent — Sauvage will continue to forge ahead.
Oscar De La Renta - black suede boots
