Paris - David Bacher
This
project is a visual essay about street life in Paris as I have witnessed it
after spending many hours exploring on foot over the past 5 years.
Paris is a
city that has probably been photographed more than any other place in the
world. Thus, my main goal at the outset of this project was photographing
Parisian street life in a way that was different from what had already been
done by the great photographers of the 40s and 50s like Cartier-Bresson,
Doisneau, and Kertesz just to name a few. At the outset, this project had no
particular theme, or concept. It began five years ago when I moved to Paris and
was eager to visually explore the city with my camera in color. I began taking
long walks in the city, always on the look out for people, shapes, colors and
patterns that caught my attention. I still work this way with no real
preconceived notion of what I will find, where, and at what time of the day.
This is the most pure and exciting form of photography, but probably the most
difficult as well.
After
having worked on this project for several years, I am just now beginning to
notice themes that bring the work together in a coherent form. At one basic
level, I am eager to say that Paris is indeed a place that can be seen in
color, a notion that is in radical contrast to the works of the photographers
mentioned above. At another more complex level, I have come to recognize that
Parisian street life is a curious, often disorganized mix of sporadic moments
in places that seem to contradict one another. As an example, we have many
cliché images of Paris in our minds. One iconic symbol of Paris is the Eiffel
Tower. It looms over the city of beautiful architecture, top fashion, and
refined cuisine. One of my favorite images contrasts this symbol with an
illegal Senegalese immigrant who is selling Eiffel Tower key chains on the
Trocadero esplanade to comparatively wealthy tourists from around the world.
The Eiffel Tower is lighted blue and decorated with the stars of the European
Union, signifying France’s presidency in 2008. Ultimately I have come to enjoy
searching for these kinds of special moments that document, deconstruct, and
pose questions in a single image.
- David Bacher
Se more of David´s work at his Homepage or at his Blog
All photos copyright David Bacher
Comments
Thank´s for sharing David
BRAVO!
Bravo,
Roger