Saigon Archives No.1698 — A new chapter in the NSD51/50 editions

With the release of Saigon, a new volume enters the Archives collection — a series of collectible books each named after a city and conceived as part of an expanding photographic record. In this edition, Ho Chi Minh City reveals itself through a direct and unembellished lens, offering a portrait far removed from touristic narratives and official imagery.

The Archives series is grounded in an approach that privileges presence over interpretation, and Saigon continues this method through raw and powerful black and white photography. The absence of color reinforces the density of the city’s visual language: tangled electrical lines, layered architecture, humid light, and the constant flow of bodies and machines. The monochrome treatment intensifies contrast and texture, allowing the physical reality of the streets to dominate the frame.

This monograph immerses the viewer in neighborhoods shaped by rapid urban transformation, where tradition and modernity collide in visible and sometimes uneasy ways. Markets, alleyways, workshops, and informal gathering spaces form a complex social landscape marked by resilience and adaptation. Rather than isolating iconic landmarks, the work focuses on everyday environments, emphasizing how economic pressure, mobility, and community networks define daily existence.

A central element of the book is its engagement with the local tattoo community. Within Saigon’s evolving cultural fabric, tattoo studios act as meeting points where global influences intersect with deeply rooted personal stories. Tattooing becomes a language of self-definition in a city negotiating identity at high speed — bodies carrying symbols of memory, migration, rebellion, and belonging. These spaces are photographed not as subcultural curiosities, but as vital components of the urban ecosystem.

Through deliberate sequencing, Saigon unfolds as an experiential narrative. The images accumulate gradually, echoing the rhythm of the city itself: dense, layered, and constantly in motion. This immersive structure aligns with the broader philosophy of the Archives collection, which treats each book as both a visual document and a physical object meant to be handled, read slowly, and revisited.

By documenting the social and economic tensions present within these communities, Saigon seeks to expand the understanding of a city often reduced to simplified historical or exoticized views. It aims to show a living, changing environment — one shaped by labor, negotiation, and cultural reinvention — and to reveal the histories embedded in its streets beyond familiar depictions.

As part of the Archives series, this volume continues a long-term effort to build a constellation of cities connected through lived observation. Saigon stands as both an independent monograph and another fragment of a growing archive dedicated to preserving the realities, cultures, and human experiences that define contemporary urban life.

• Size : 13 × 20 cm (5.12 × 7.84 in.)

• Hard-cover silk matt

• Paper silk-matt 105 gsm

• 208 pages

• Language : english

• Printed in USA

The first printing was published in 2025.

ISBN : 9798295076183

One-to-One mentoring (12-month program) with Brice Gelot

Whether the objective is to build a long-term photographic project, advance a professional career, or refine an overall artistic practice, this 12-month mentoring program is designed as a fully personalized experience. Structured yet flexible, it adapts to each participant’s level, intentions, and rhythm, offering sustained guidance rather than one-time feedback.

Over the course of a year, the program creates the conditions for meaningful development. Each session combines practical advice, industry insight, and creative strategy, addressing both the conceptual and professional dimensions of photographic work. Discussions may focus on editing and sequencing images, defining a coherent visual language, preparing exhibitions or publications, or navigating the realities of the photographic field. The aim is to help participants move forward with clarity, confidence, and a stronger sense of direction.

Unlike short-format reviews, this mentorship emphasizes continuity. Ideas are tested, refined, and revisited over time, allowing projects to evolve organically while maintaining a clear framework. The process encourages critical reflection, disciplined production, and the gradual construction of a body of work that is both intentional and sustainable.

Open to emerging and established photographers alike, the program functions as a collaborative space for dialogue, experimentation, and growth. It is not about imposing a method, but about helping each participant articulate their own vision while gaining the tools necessary to bring it into the world.

Book a session or get in touch to discuss which review format is right for you.

Register now at nsd5150.com/collective

A new collector’s edition — Brice Gelot expands the Archives series

Currently in development, a new premium edition of Brice Gelot’s monograph series is set to expand the Archives project into a more ambitious format. Conceived as a large-format art book, this forthcoming release places particular emphasis on material presence, scale, and collectibility, reinforcing the idea that photography must be experienced physically as much as visually.

Designed as a limited edition, the publication will feature carefully produced reproductions intended to highlight the depth, contrast, and tactile quality of Gelot’s black and white work. The enlarged format allows the images to breathe differently, inviting closer attention to detail, texture, and the spatial relationships that define his documentary approach.

Each copy will include a signed archival print, offered as an integral component of the edition rather than a supplementary object. This gesture extends the logic of the series: to connect the book as a narrative form with the photograph as a singular artwork. By pairing publication and print, the project creates a dialogue between reading and collecting, sequence and presence.

This new edition continues Gelot’s long-term commitment to producing books not as mass-market products but as carefully constructed art objects. Materials, printing processes, and finishing are being considered with the same rigor as the photographic work itself, ensuring that the final piece reflects the permanence and intentionality at the core of his practice.

Still in progress, this premium release signals a new phase in the evolution of the monograph series — one that deepens its focus on craftsmanship, rarity, and the physical experience of images. More than a publication, it is envisioned as a collector’s object that embodies the values of time, observation, and material memory that run throughout the Archives.

Palais de Tokyo - Brice Gelot selected for the Leica Tour 2025/2026

Brice Gelot has been selected to participate in the Leica Tour 2025/2026, one of the most exciting photographic events of the year celebrating the 100th anniversary of Leica Camera. This national touring showcase invites photographers from around France to present a personal and distinctive photographic vision under the theme “Perspectives singulières”, and Gelot’s work has been chosen to feature alongside a curated selection of images on view throughout the tour’s multiple stops.

The Leica Tour debuted in June 2025 at the iconic Palais de Tokyo in Paris, where thousands of visitors were welcomed to an immersive experience blending archive exhibitions, hands‑on demonstrations, and collaborative photographic showcases. From Paris, the tour continues its journey to other major cultural centers including Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille, Lille and beyond, bringing together passionate audiences and photographic communities at each stop.

His selected photograph, “Mr Chino (Prayers)” from his series “wish you were here”, embodies a compelling and introspective outlook that resonates with the Leica Tour’s creative calling. The image captures a singular moment that goes beyond the surface, inviting viewers to engage with its emotional resonance and nuanced perspective — a visual expression that aligns perfectly with the open call’s intention to celebrate unique personal vision and thoughtful interpretation.

Being included in the Leica Tour is a special recognition of his ability to blend documentary observation with artistic depth, and to present images that speak both technically and emotionally. Selected photographers see their work displayed in prominent exhibition spaces and partner galleries as part of the ongoing celebration of Leica’s century‑long influence on visual culture, and they receive dedicated exposure alongside archival treasures and contemporary voices shaping the photographic landscape.

This opportunity not only highlights Brice Gelot work to wider audiences but also reinforces the enduring power of photography as a medium that connects personal experience with collective imagination — a central thread that runs through both his practice and the Leica Tour’s mission.

© Leica / Palais de Tokyo

More info :

leica-camera.com

palaisdetokyo.com

Los Angeles Archives No.1781 — A new chapter in the NSD51/50 editions

With the release of Los Angeles, a new volume expands the ongoing Archives collection — a series of collectible books each named after a city and conceived as part of a wider photographic testimony. In this edition, Los Angeles emerges as a landscape of contrasts, where mythology and reality collide, revealing layers of urban life often hidden beneath the image of the “City of Angels.”

The Archives series is driven by a commitment to direct observation, and Los Angeles continues this approach through raw and powerful black and white photography. Stripped of color, the images emphasize structure, light, and human presence, reinforcing a visual language grounded in honesty rather than spectacle. The monochrome palette heightens the sense of tension and materiality, allowing the city’s surfaces — concrete, skin, signage, shadow — to carry their own narrative weight.

This monograph moves beyond the cinematic façade commonly associated with Los Angeles, immersing the viewer in neighborhoods shaped by resilience, labor, and survival. Streets become stages for everyday realities: moments of solitude, exchanges between communities, traces of economic disparity, and the constant negotiation of space. Rather than framing the city through glamour, the work focuses on the lived experience of those who form its backbone.

At the heart of the book is a close engagement with the tattoo community, where studios function as cultural hubs and spaces of transmission. Tattooing is approached as a social language — a practice rooted in identity, memory, and belonging. Bodies become living archives, bearing marks that speak to personal histories as well as collective narratives embedded in the urban environment.

Through careful sequencing, Los Angeles unfolds as an immersive journey rather than a collection of isolated photographs. Each image builds upon the next, creating a rhythm that mirrors the movement of the city itself. This approach reflects the philosophy of the Archives collection: to produce books that are not only visual documents but also experiential objects, inviting viewers to engage slowly and physically with the work.

By documenting the social and economic struggles present within these communities, Los Angeles seeks to challenge familiar representations of the city. It aims to reveal a deeper cultural fabric — one shaped by endurance, creativity, and the complexity of coexistence — offering a perspective that extends beyond conventional depictions of urban America.

As part of the Archives series, this volume contributes to a growing body of work dedicated to recording cities through lived proximity and material presence. Los Angeles stands as both an independent monograph and another piece of a long-term archive, continuing the effort to map the history and culture of urban spaces through images grounded in reality.

• Size : 13 × 20 cm (5.12 × 7.84 in.)

• Hard-cover silk matt

• Paper silk-matt 105 gsm

• 140 pages

• Language : english

• Printed in USA

The first printing was published in 2025.

ISBN : 9798295076176

Between presence and truth — The manifesto of Brice Gelot

The manifesto of Brice Gelot is not presented as a theoretical text about photography, but as a declaration of position. It frames the act of photographing as an ethical and human engagement with the world, one shaped by presence, encounter, and responsibility rather than aesthetics alone. Through two complementary statements titled “My Position in the World” and “Reality Does Not Lie,” Gelot defines photography as both a social commitment and a form of resistance to disconnection and fabrication.

In the first text, photography is described as a transformative tool in a world marked by violence, inequality, and poverty, used to confront injustice and encourage empathy rather than passive observation. The photographer positions himself not as a distant witness but as an active storyteller whose role is to amplify resilience, dignity, and collective struggle through images grounded in lived reality. The streets, often associated with hardship, become spaces where strength and unity can be revealed, turning documentation into an act of advocacy.

This vision treats photography as empowerment. By highlighting grassroots initiatives, human encounters, and moments of hope, the work aims to generate awareness that leads to dialogue and, ultimately, action. Each photograph is understood not simply as representation but as participation in a broader social narrative, exposing systemic injustice while insisting on the possibility of transformation.

The second manifesto, written in response to an era saturated with synthetic imagery, shifts the focus toward the meaning of reality itself. Gelot argues that contemporary images can be technically perfect yet disconnected from lived experience, challenging photography’s historic role as proof while reaffirming its necessity as an act of witnessing. In this context, photographing the real becomes a deliberate stance against simulation, acceleration, and the erosion of tangible experience.

Central to this position is the idea that photography is fundamentally relational. A camera cannot replace the human presence required to share a moment, gain trust, or inhabit a situation. What matters is the encounter behind the image as much as the image itself. To photograph is to agree to be somewhere, to accept the time, risk, and physical experience embedded in the act of witnessing.

Gelot therefore chooses the finite over the infinite circulation of images, privileging existing light, real places, and faces shaped by time rather than constructed environments. In this approach, a photograph is less a visual product than a condensed experience, a trace of having been present in a specific moment that cannot be repeated.

Across both texts, the manifesto ultimately defines photography as a record of existence. Images are conceived as fragments of history and testimony, grounded in human experience rather than fabrication. Far from nostalgia, this insistence on reality is presented as a contemporary necessity. As long as human encounters remain irreducible to simulation, there will remain something worth photographing.

Taken together, these writings articulate a practice where photography is inseparable from ethics, presence, and lived engagement. The manifesto is less about how images are made than about why they must continue to be made, anchored in the conviction that witnessing the real is itself a meaningful act.

Available to read here : nsd5150.com/manifesto

Online portfolio reviews with Brice Gelot

With more than two decades of experience spanning photography, exhibitions, book publishing, and gallery representation, these individual portfolio review sessions are conceived as focused moments of exchange and evaluation. Designed as a direct dialogue, each session aims to help photographers refine their work, clarify their artistic direction, and better position their portfolio within a professional context.

The review is tailored to the needs of each participant. Whether addressing editing choices, sequencing, project development, or presentation strategies, the conversation combines practical feedback with broader industry insight. The objective is not only to assess images, but to help shape a coherent vision and provide concrete guidance for moving forward.

Open to both emerging and established photographers, these sessions offer an honest and constructive space for discussion. Participants are encouraged to question their approach, strengthen their narrative, and gain the tools necessary to present their work with greater clarity and confidence.

Book a session or get in touch to discuss which review format is right for you.

Register now at nsd5150.com/collective

XX Anniversary 2004/2024 — Twenty years translated into a print

The release of XX Anniversary 2004–2024 is conceived as a commemorative print marking two decades of photographic practice by Brice Gelot, tracing a line from the earliest images made in 2004 to the work produced twenty years later. Rather than presenting a retrospective in the traditional sense, the piece functions as a distilled statement — a single visual object that embodies the passage of time, the evolution of Brice Gelot’s gaze, and a continuous artistic intent.

Anniversaries are often treated as moments of celebration, but here the emphasis lies on reflection and persistence. The twenty-year span referenced in the title is not approached nostalgically; it is understood by Brice Gelot as an accumulation of experiences, locations, and encounters that have progressively shaped his photographic language. The print becomes a marker of duration, acknowledging the distance travelled while remaining firmly anchored in the present.

By choosing the format of a standalone artwork instead of a book or exhibition, Brice Gelot reinforces the importance of materiality. The image is meant to be lived with — to exist on a wall, to interact with light throughout the day, and to function as a constant rather than a fleeting digital impression. This approach reflects a broader philosophy that values the photograph as an object, not just a file, and considers printing to be the final and most essential stage of the process.

XX Anniversary 2004–2024 also highlights the notion of continuity within change. Over twenty years, tools, environments, and contexts inevitably shift, yet the core gesture of observing and recording remains unchanged in Brice Gelot’s practice. The print stands as a visual bridge between these different periods, compressing years of movement into a single, resolved form.

More than a commemorative release, the work acts as a timestamp — a way for Brice Gelot to register that photography is not only about capturing moments, but also about measuring the time that separates them. In this sense, XX Anniversary 2004–2024 is less a look back than a reaffirmation of an ongoing trajectory, a reminder that the archive is still being written.

• Limited edition of 50 + 1AP

• Size : 50 × 69.3cm

• Hand-pulled screen print on Fuji Olin paper 250gsm

• Numbered, signed

• Certificate of authenticity

© Luc Maker / Media Shape

Napoli Archives No.0474 — A new chapter in the NSD51/50 editions

With the release of Napoli, a new volume joins the growing Archives collection — a series of collectible books each named after a city and conceived as a fragment of a larger photographic testimony. Through this ongoing editorial project, Naples becomes not just a location, but a narrative ground where history, identity, and daily survival intersect.

The Archives series is built on a simple yet demanding principle: to approach each city without embellishment, allowing its textures, tensions, and human presence to speak for themselves. In Napoli, the images unfold in raw and powerful black and white, a deliberate choice that strips away distraction and emphasizes structure, contrast, and emotion. The result is a visual language that feels immediate and unfiltered, echoing the density and complexity of life in the streets.

This monograph immerses the viewer in environments shaped by resilience and contradiction. Narrow alleyways, marked walls, improvised spaces, and intimate encounters form a portrait of urban existence far removed from postcard imagery. Rather than seeking spectacle, the photographs remain grounded in observation, revealing the social and economic realities that define many neighborhoods while maintaining a profound respect for the individuals who inhabit them.

A significant thread within the book is its focus on the tattoo community — a network of artists, clients, and cultural practitioners whose work is embedded in the fabric of the city. Tattooing here is not treated as trend or ornament, but as a lived expression of identity, memory, and belonging. Studios become meeting points, and bodies become archives themselves, carrying personal and collective histories etched in ink.

Through sequencing and pacing, Napoli invites a slow reading. Each image builds upon the previous one, constructing an atmosphere that is both documentary and deeply human. This immersive approach aligns with the broader intent of the Archives collection: to create books that function not merely as catalogues of photographs, but as experiential objects — visual records that preserve the cultural and emotional landscapes of urban environments.

By focusing on the grit, dignity, and complexity of these communities, Napoli aims to expand how cities are represented. It moves beyond familiar narratives to highlight the layered realities that shape everyday life, offering a perspective rooted in proximity rather than distance. As part of the Archives series, the book contributes to a long-term effort to document cities through lived experience, building a constellation of places connected by a shared commitment to truth, presence, and material memory.

In this way, Napoli is both a standalone work and a continuation — another chapter in an evolving archive dedicated to revealing the history and culture of urban spaces beyond their typical depictions.

• Size : 13 × 20 cm (5.12 × 7.84 in.)

• Hard-cover silk matt

• Paper silk-matt 105 gsm

• 140 pages

• Language : english

• Printed in USA

The first printing was published in 2025.

ISBN : 9798295076169

Capturing Vladimir Cauchemar — Anthropology, a night behind the mask

Some assignments are less about documenting a performance and more about entering an atmosphere. Photographing Vladimir Cauchemar during his final show Anthropology was exactly that kind of experience: a visual immersion into a world built on anonymity, symbolism, and raw musical intensity.

From the moment the lights dropped, the stage became something closer to a ritual space than a concert setting. Shadows, strobes, and dense fog sculpted the environment, revealing fragments rather than offering a complete picture. This constantly shifting visibility defined the photographic approach. Instead of trying to “show everything,” the goal was to follow the rhythm of appearance and disappearance, letting the imagery echo the mystery that defines the artist himself.

Working in this context required embracing contrast and imperfection. The lighting design moved from blinding flashes to near darkness within seconds, forcing instinctive decisions rather than controlled compositions. Each frame had to be anticipated, felt, almost guessed, aligning the act of photographing with the pulse of the music. The camera became less an observational tool and more a responsive instrument inside the performance.

What makes this project particularly compelling is the tension between identity and concealment. The skeletal mask, instantly recognizable yet deliberately impersonal, transforms the performer into an icon rather than an individual. Photographing that presence meant focusing on gesture, posture, and energy rather than facial expression. The narrative emerges through movement, scale, and the interaction between sound, crowd, and scenography.

The Anthropology show also marked a sense of culmination. There was a perceptible weight to the evening, a feeling shared by the audience and carried through the visuals: hands reaching toward the stage, dense silhouettes suspended in haze, moments where the performer appeared almost statue-like before dissolving again into light. These fleeting transitions became central to the photographic story, emphasizing ephemerality over documentation.

Rather than producing straightforward concert imagery, this shoot aimed to translate a sensory experience into still form. Grain, deep blacks, and sharp highlights were preserved intentionally, maintaining the physicality of the moment instead of smoothing it into something overly polished. The result aligns with a documentary approach to live performance—images that retain the tension, noise, and unpredictability of being there.

Photographing Anthropology was ultimately about capturing traces: fragments of sound made visible, gestures caught between flashes, and the presence of an artist who communicates as much through absence as through performance. It was less a matter of recording a show than of preserving the atmosphere of a closing chapter.

Inside NSD51/50 Studio — Where street reality becomes collectible art

Founded in 2022 in Dijon (France), NSD51/50 is more than a photography studio. It is a creative space, an independent publishing house, and a laboratory for visual storytelling led by photographer Brice Gelot. Conceived as a meeting point between documentary tradition and fine-art craftsmanship, the studio transforms raw street experience into carefully produced works of art. At NSD51/50, the philosophy is simple: quality over quantity. Every photograph is approached as a singular object rather than a reproducible image. Prints are signed, individually numbered, and released in strictly limited editions of 30, reinforcing both their rarity and their emotional value for collectors. This deliberate pace allows each work to maintain a strong, lasting connection between the subject, the artist, and the viewer. The production process is rooted in traditional photographic excellence, using Ilford’s renowned panchromatic paper to achieve luminous whites, deep blacks, and a wide tonal range that gives each image a timeless presence. The result is not just a print, but a physical object designed to endure, both visually and materially.

The studio’s guiding phrase, Welcome to Fear City, reflects its core mission to confront reality without filters. NSD51/50 focuses on documenting environments, communities, and lived experiences that are often overlooked or misunderstood. Rather than aestheticizing the street, the work seeks to elevate it by revealing complexity, resilience, and humanity through direct observation. Photography here is treated as an act of witness, with each project examining social structures, inequalities, and cultural dynamics with respect and clarity, aiming to spark reflection and conversation. The images are not only meant to be seen, but to be understood. NSD51/50 rejects passive image-making and embraces photography as a form of engagement, an opportunity to question, to reveal, and to create dialogue. Every series is crafted to carry meaning beyond aesthetics, addressing themes such as power, identity, community, and the systems shaping everyday life. This approach positions the studio at the intersection of art and social awareness, where storytelling becomes a catalyst for empathy and understanding.

Since 2023, NSD51/50 has expanded into independent publishing, translating its photographic philosophy into printed form. Books are treated not as commercial products, but as carefully designed artistic projects. Working across disciplines, the studio collaborates with photographers, writers, visual artists, and musicians whose practices align with its values of authenticity and intentional creation. Each publication is developed from the ground up, with format, materials, typography, and pacing shaped by the story itself rather than imposed by standard publishing models. Limited editions and hands-on production reinforce the importance of the physical object in an increasingly digital culture, celebrating the book as a lasting vessel for memory, narrative, and artistic expression. NSD51/50 operates as an atelier dedicated to preserving the material and emotional power of photography, a place where images are made slowly, printed carefully, and shared deliberately, where the street meets the archive and storytelling becomes both an artistic and human act. In an era of endless images, NSD51/50 stands for something different: photographs with weight, presence, and purpose.

© Luc Maker / Media Shape