TITLE: The girl from the barn

Dorka, a talented amateur model based in Budapest, and I spent a week in Croatia in the summer of 2023. After finding an old barn in a lost place, we decided to create a story about a young girl who seems to be on her own. A stranger sees her by chance, and her attitude changes as the story unfolds. At first, she's suspicious after opening the barn door and wonders who wants to talk to her. In the second part, she's uncertain and doesn't know how to react to the stranger. She then becomes more seductive, feeling more sure of herself, and tries to seduce the stranger. In the fourth part, she is self-confident and fully aware of her beauty. In the end, she is seductive, and the stranger is fascinated by her mysterious, bewitching beauty.

AUTHOR: Eric Brunelle (Germany)

Eric is a French amateur photographer who is considered by some to be more of a photo artist, not least because of the many international awards he has received in recent years. He creates most of his nudes in Germany, where he lives, but also in Hungary, and more recently Croatia.

Venusonearth has been his project for 20 years. It includes his website, photo communities and social media, and more recently foto contests. Eric’s track record includes prints in magazines like PHOTO in France, VIEW in Germany, several books from the Trierenberg super circuit and catalogues from contests like the Salon International Photo (Riedisheim). Recent awards he is proud of include being the 3rd place winner at Monovisions 2023 and a Gold and Silver winner at the Muse Photography Awards in 2023. Other references include many honorable mentions at the Monochrome Awards, the ND Awards and the Chromatic Awards. His participation in PSA-sponsored competitions has also been rewarded with several gold medals. Back in 2012, his own exhibition took place at the Miskolci Fotógaleria in Miskolc, Hungary.

Thanks to three artists, Eric has been able to evolve from mainstream to artistic photography over time. Back in the late 90s, he learned high-quality photography with the professional German photographer Arboulan. In 2004, he started to work with the Hungarian artist Szeni Jung who facilitated the so-called Sebesviz workshop, a summer camp he's attended more than ten times since. Eric is now collaborating with Sandor Benkoe, also an Hungarian artist.

Eric’s motivation and creativity have further been shaped by three women. After working with Kerstine in the 90s, a successful amateur model who taught him the basics, and later with Julia, a student with whom he organized over 42 shoots, he now works regularly with Dorka, a talented Hungarian model who has helped him win most of his recent awards.

Today, Eric has worked with more than 100 amateur models and succeeded in getting international recognition. The best way to describe what has become his passion is a quote from Richard Avedon he read in 2023 at an exhibition in Palermo, Sicily: “If a day goes by without my doing something related to photography, it’s as though I’ve neglected something essential to my existence, as though I had forgotten to wake up“.