The teaser began to take shape in the winter during a shooting in the ‘Vendée’ (it will be the subject of another article). Pictures speak louder than words, so it was very important to us to present exhult with our homemade images.
A spring Friday, in a coworking to the Loire's edge.
I think about the missing scenes while discovering an exceptional weather forecast for the coming weekend, my dreamy mind switches on : a sky immaculate blue, accompanied on the surface by a slight swell and in the air by a light offshore. Here is the background promised in Brittany. The excitement goes up.
After recording the first surf images in the Vendée, it was important to me to have images also recorded in Brittany. ‘La Bretagne’ that I love so much, the one that made me vibrate since the childhood and where are based some eternal memories.
In parallel to this weather, in a concern for aesthetic perfection, I also wanted to find our ‘Breton faces’ (local faces from Brittany) filmed in the Vendée during the winter. I remember then that a surfing competition organized by the 29Hood surf club of Thomas Joncour (filmed during the winter shooting) and his associates was scheduled for this spring, I check, bingo ! It is this weekend and the young Tom Esteva, who appears next to La Jonquette on our winter images will take part in the event. Now my dreamy mood goes even further.
I still have to find an enthusiastic team.
First of all, I call Guillaume my cameraman who helps me on this project and this time he is available ! Perfect.
A few phone calls later and I find the rest of the motivated friends. Will be there, the Nantais Pierre-Baptiste, my Breton sidekick Gurvan and his girlfriend, and finally a Franco-German friend. Other friends will join us directly on the spot.
Here we go, six boards, four bags, four tents, a camera, a guitar and a few provisions.
Direction La Torche, in southern Finistère on a Saturday morning under the sun. The team gets on well with each other, we quickly reach the destination, namely, the Tronoën beach. I have never seen so many people on this carpark, everything is full and the excitement goes up, shared between impatience of discovering the environment for some, desire of going out surfing for others. Once parked and the dune crossed, we discover the spectacle of the waves smoothed one by one by the offshore. The competition has already started, and all the local figures are on the beach. Guillaume takes a lot of pleasure during the shooting, we look at each other with a smile, coming here was definitely a good decision. Gurvan is already gone, board under his arm. Other friends will join him while the rest of the group laze around in the sun. That day, the time goes so fast that without realising it, the sunset was already showing up on the horizon.
After helping the 29Hood team to reassemble their equipment, we decide to go to the Eckmühl lighthouse as well as the emblematic lighthouse of Penmarch to shoot some footage. On this Saint-Pierre Point, a lighthouse can hide another. It is time to go back to enjoy the last sunbeams and shoot our last scenes before the light is too low.
Back on the beach ! We bring back our material to settle our camp.
Allow me to share a little anecdote.
Before leaving, Guillaume was not ready to sleep in the nature, so a plan B was prepared and ready, several double-bed rooms in a large house equipped with full modern comfort. I promised him that we would go to this house whenever he wished.
As surfers, it is true that we are sometimes in our own bubble. We think it is easy and full of benefits to live so close to nature, apart from any modern comfort and disconnected from our society (such a connected society). For those who have years of other habits, this lifestyle is not always obvious. So we will go with the flow between those who prefer to sleep on the beach, and those who prefer the environment of a traditional house.
However, back to the story of this teaser.
We find on our way a huge tree trunk that would be gently slid towards the cove where our camp is located. Some other pieces of wood are gathered. Gurvan picks up the guitar and starts singing, the girls follow the music with a smooth movement of the hips. Our campfire begins to crackle vigorously, it's time for an aperitif and to take out the sausages.
Night has definitely come, we push a piece of our tree trunk into the fire in case we spend the night near the ocean… In this respect, as discreetly as possible I propose to Guillaume to continue the evening in the house. After a few glasses in the calmness of the nature under millions of stars, between dances, song of sailors and incredible stories, he replies « pas pour l’instant ». A new smile raises on his face, I feel he finally enjoys the atmosphere.
« reconnect to the essentials and learn how to live simply. Personally, I would not change this rich learning experience for anything in the world. »
Guillaume's bedroom will finally stay empty that night…
This positive atmosphere in harmony with our environment get the better of his habit to modern comfort. It is precisely at moments like these that we realise what the surf and its environment give us : reconnect to the essentials and learn how to live simply. Personally, I would not change this rich learning experience for anything in the world.
These are precisely the values we wish to convey through exhult. Do not be afraid to explore the unknown, to push you to vibrate, to live, while not forgetting what nature offers.
WRITING : CHRISTOPHE CHA. | VIDEO : exhult in collab. with GUILLAUME KERHERVÉ
