Bernard Pivot
...subjected to the lights of Chartres.
It's also an other album that's rather extraordinary.
That's true, Eustachy Kossakowski, nobody else had photographed the Chartres cathedral yet,
although, God only knows, the Virgin Mary, who was really...
she was often photographed.
Eustachy Kossakowski
This is a subject which I just cannot understand.
Bernard Pivot
So now you, you also had an idea, like Mr., like your neighbour, you had an ingenious idea.
Eustachy Kossakowski
No, it wasn't an ingenious idea.
With lots of experience and many years of reporting,
I started to do something different
in the sense that, until now, I've been spending lots of time dealing with light in photography, especially in black and white photos.
And my work on the Chartres cathedral,
was the continuation of my research on the question of light itself, the light from different angles.
Bernard Pivot
Well, that's good, I need to inform the viewers about this so that they understand this correctly.
So, you stayed there
for 2 years, and you watched over the light that was projected,
and which apparently changes depending on the hour, depending on the day, depending on the season,
and passes through the cathedral's windows,
forming coloured spots in the interior of the cathedral.
Eustachy Kossakowski
Absolutely.
Bernard Pivot
But where did you get this idea to take pictures of the projection of the light on the stones on the interior?
Eustachy Kossakowski
First of all, I think that I wanted to take pictures of the backsides of the window panes
because I saw magazines about it, there were always pictures of the window panes.
I asked myself: "Why don't I shoot the backsides of the window panes?
Let's see what's going on, on the other side",
and I noticed that something extraordinary was happening.
The first time, when I saw it, it was thanks to...
besides, it was a 2-year-old child that told me...
- and the book is dedicated to her -
She told me: "Look at the red ellipsis, look at the blue window.
I would love to have a picture inside of the red ellipsis".
Anyways, I told myself: "This is truly extraordinary".
After a certain amount of time, I went back to the cathedral and I followed the events a bit,
and I found it quite fascinating, so fascinating that I started to work seriously and systematically on it.
Bernard Pivot
Yes, but for you, you already had financing at that time...
Eustachy Kossakowski
No, it was work without an official order.
It was for my own pleasure.
Bernard Pivot
For pleasure.
So the publisher said:
"For 2 years, from morning to dawn,
Eustachy Kossakowski took pictures of the progression of light in the Chartres cathedral".
Eustachy Kossakowski
I'm working without any orders and without any aspiration.
Bernard Pivot
For 2 years?
Eustachy Kossakowski
For 2 years, yes, for my own pleasure.
You know, it's great to go to Chartres at 5 in the morning, twice a month.
I got in my car at 5 in the morning, I watched the sun rise over the freeway
and when the cathedral opened, I would go in and start to proceed with the events.
Bernard Pivot
The light changed, the light would change because a cloud would pass by, because the sun would travel.
Eustachy Kossakowski
The events that I took pictures of were events that lasted between 3 and 5 minutes, no more.
Bernard Pivot
And how many pictures did you take?
Eustachy Kossakowski
More than 1,000.
Bernard Pivot
More than 1,000!
In the end, I think that you must have taken lots of pictures.
Eustachy Kossakowski
I got rid of many of them.
They say that I destroyed them.
I didn't destroy them, I removed them from circulation.
Bernard Pivot
But the people, in Chartres, they must know you, right, the people from the cathedral?
Eustachy Kossakowski
No, I didn't know anybody.
Bernard Pivot
They saw you non-stop, taking pictures, but...
Eustachy Kossakowski
No, I know a few now.
I didn't know anybody back then.
I trudged on the ground without...
Bernard Pivot
You must have seemed a bit suspicious: a photographer that was always coming to take pictures...
Eustachy Kossakowski
But I had to pay 5 francs because of [inaudible], you have to pay 5 francs to stay in the cathedral all day, and I did whatever I wanted.
In any case, I became very familiar, because of the darkness of the cathedral interior,
with events that lasted between 2 and 3 minutes, you still have to record them, you have to centre them.
It's still architecture.
There is a photographer's point of view.
Unknown
It's pushing the envelope to the extreme, the impressionist approach.
