Nicolas Dhervillers could be easily considered as the French version of Gregory Crewdson, sharing with the American superstar the same cinematographic light in scenes where characters wander or look around themselves surrounded by an eerie scenery.
But while Crewdson is mostly devoted to convey a certain kind of suburban angst and loneliness, Dhervillers is more interested in working on the layers of representation that can hide inside an image: his photographs from the series My sentimental archives and Tourists consists of old photographs and snapshots merged with new landscapes made by him, fused together by lighting and digital manipulation.
All images © Nicolas Dhervillers
I'd say the main difference is that his lights are photoshopped out and so they seem to come from nowhere, which is weird and unnatural, while Crewdson's are hidden around the corner or in plain sight so that they appear to belong to his scenes, the effect of which is more real/natural, even though it's not a real scene and is artificially lit also.
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