Promotional Photo of the Band 5.1 – Staged Vintage Scene on the Merville Airfield
Between fiction and vintage rock imagery. On a cold winter day in 1987, on the Merville airfield in northern France, a cinematic scene unfolded in front of my Nikon FM2. With a few musician friends from the band 5.1, we borrowed World War II pilot jackets to shoot a series of black and white promotional photos.
The setting? A majestic Noratlas aircraft we had spotted the weekend before — the perfect backdrop to recreate the feel of a 1943 mission debrief. The sky was heavy, grey, and cold. The winter light enhanced the natural contrast of the Ilford HP5 film, known for its expressive grain and wide exposure latitude.
Armed with my Nikon FM2 and an 85mm f/1.8 lens, I framed the scene with the intent of creating a photograph with deliberate realism. The composition, the worn jackets, the camaraderie in the band’s expressions, and the blurred background transformed the shot into something almost timeless.
The choice of black and white film photography was deliberate: it amplified the scene’s visual impact while subtly concealing any modern details that could break the illusion. This wasn’t a historical reenactment but a free creation — where visual aesthetics took precedence over factual accuracy.
In hindsight, this photograph stands as a visual testimony to a time when we were already exploring staged photography as a form of creative expression. It mixes musical spirit, visual play, and narrative freedom. Decades later, the image still carries its full storytelling power — much like recent series such as Under the Mothership.
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About the author: Sebastien Desnoulez is a fine art and former press photographer, with a passion for narrative staging and cinematic imagery. This archival black-and-white image from 1987 reflects the early days of his creative vision.
All the photos displayed on this website are copyright protected © Sebastien Desnoulez. No use allowed without written authorization.
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