First, there is the sea. “It has always been my passion; I pretty much only photograph the sea!” photographer Olivier Kauffman laughs. After a childhood spent on the Atlantic Coast, he now lives by “the Mediterranean”, near Montpellier. Next, there is architecture, his original profession. He worked for many long years as an architect before dedicating himself gradually to photography. He draws on this experience for each of his images: “Town planning enables me to learn and understand the sites I’ll photograph,” he explains. “Knowledge of the weather that comes from yachting allows me to know when to photograph and the scenography that architecture taught me is palpable in my framings.” Digital processing does the rest. His photos are an invitation to meditate and take strolls; he affirms that they are “decorative, aesthetic, and often minimalist.” His influences are mainly found among painters: Pierre Soulages, Yves Klein, Marc Rothko, or Maggi Puig. “My work is above all the search for a patch of beautiful colours, monochromes or multi-coloured patches, which stand out on a wall,” he explains.