Chocolat chaud
On this day I took a walk with my camera near Republic Square. Despite the simplification of quarantine rules and the ability to go outside, even days spent away from home are becoming similar.
"Walked around Paris, took some good pictures" this is a simple phrase that can be used to describe almost half of my posts of recent months. That's why the concept of “Ce-jour la”, which I started with being overwhelmed by the world of photography and travelling around France at the time, is a little irrelevant here. In the context of the covid, my baggage of stories is small compared to the number of photos I want to share.
But even if many of the photographs don't have interesting and touching stories behind them, I would like to leave a trace of how my taste and understanding of the art of photography has developed over time.
I might not have paid attention to this particular image a couple of months ago, just as I might have passed over the Modigliani portraits with indifference a decade ago.
But recently I discovered Saul Leiter, an American photographer, one of the pioneers of color street photography.
One of his 1958 shots called “Canopy” astounded me - it shows 80 per cent of the frame obscured by a black curtain, leaving a small gap at the very bottom which reveals a winter cityscape and people wrapped up in the cold. To the average person it might seem that the photo has failed, that by accident half of the lens has been covered by something, which has spoiled the shot.
I, on the other hand, cannot tear my eyes away from this image. The proportion in which the negative space overlaps the frame, the cut-out on the fabric which makes reality seem to dig into the darkness, create undeniable harmony.
My photo reminds me something of this work. In it, the negative space is also a big part of the composition, and in the gap you can see the city and its inhabitants. This cliché is a kind of my tribute to Saul Leiter.
Also on this day:
