Virgil Brill lives in La Ciotat, France. He was born in 1940 near Royan. Durint the war years, he lived somewhere in the Pyrénées.

A balcony overlooking the mountains, the sky, the wind ripples through the meadow grass. Happy and uneventful chilhood in a large village between Burgundy and Champagne. Crazy about painting as a teenager. Painters and painting himself. Towards the age of twenty, the inevitable conclusion : I’m a flop. Stop. Camargue, July 1961. Salt, sun. The naked young girl comes back from the sea, glistening drops pouring over her against the light, she thinks she’s simply walking and he sees this dance of light and of the body triumphant, it’s too much, he must do something, the young psychologist on vacation quickly borrows a camera, gets someone to set it for him (he hasn’t got a clue about these things) and discovers the godly effulgence of centring. He’ll be a photographer. Cape Canaille, 30 years later. He did become a photographer in fact. Made a living out of it. Fashion, advertisement. Paris… « No comment ». Cape Canaille. A mountain in the sea. A circle is closed. New beginnings.

Excerpt from : Memory of the golden land, 1993.