Street Photography in Paris

Another great exhibit this winter at the Jeu de Paume showcasing Federico Fellini’s works through pictures and videos. I got so fascinated that at some point I thought his ghost had appeared, peacefully watching a short of “8 1/2″, one of his autobiographic masterpieces.

The exhibit (La Grande Parade) ends January 17th, so if you have the opportunity until then, don’t miss it.(click on picture to enlarge)

Leica M9 with 40mm Summicron at F2, 1/40, ISO640

I have just launched a second photoblog called Souls. It will be dedicated to B&W portraits and will update it on a weekly basis.  Here the address of this new blog;  http://souls.yanidel.com

As for this blog, Street photography in Paris, it will go on as usual with a picture a day.

Here is a picture you can probably find in many iterations on the web as it was taken today at the Paris Photo Fair. I found it a good symbol. Eve in Paradise with the many visitors trying to resist the temptation of … buying too much superfluous photographic equipment. (click on picture to enlarge)

Leica M8 with 60mm Hexanon at F1.4, 1/250, ISO160

Great news today as the first full format digital M Leica was finally anounced. This camera has a 24 x 36mm sensor that will replace the brave M8. I had a chance to try one this afternoon and something tells me that pictures on this blog will soon be taken by this camera I am not a pro so I will let others review it such as www.stevehuffsphoto.com or www.reidreviews.com but my first impressions is that this is the digital M camera that so many have been waiting for. So here is my first test picture taken with the 35mm Summilux Asph. Click on picture to see the full size picture (slightly compressed). Note that you can also look at this picture unprocessed by clicking here.

As for the story of this picture, simple, this woman had her breath taken away as she saw the new Leica M9 in the window of PhotoSuffren.

Leica M9 with 35mm Summilux Asph at F1.4, 1/710, ISO160

As I wander through the streets of Paris, I usually pay special attention to the numerous tourists and their relationship to photography depending on their nationality. I believe there are some trends that can be extracted from these observations. So here is a little quizz full of stereotypes and, of course, just for fun :

Match the following nationalities (numbers) to the description of their photographic style (letters)

1) Japanese 2) American 3) Spanish 4) Parisians 5) Russians 6) British 7) Italians  8 ) Argentine

A) They own the biggest and latest cameras but use them on automatic mode. The ladies of this country will  pause with one hand on the hip and a leg elegantly positioned in front of the other. The stance will be completed with a deep and sensual look at the photographer.

B) There are two generations of photographers from this country. The  elder one lugs around a tripod all day and spends endless minutes composing his pictures. Yet at some point, after he set the self timer and walked to his position, he turns back and wonders why the tripod and camera are not here anymore.  The youngest generation always look for the most creative framing to match their extravagant clothing.

C) No contest here, they are always the best dressed in the streets. So each pictures has to look like the cover of the next Vogue magazine. They are sometimes seen complaining about not seeing well the LCD. Of course, this is usually solved when they finally take their sunglasses off.

D) The easiest to detect since most have never seen old stones before,  therefore they tend to behave like shooting machines. Note the generic smile of all females when pictured, probably the result of years of practice for the annual shoot of their High School yearbooks.

E) Most of their pictures are taken at night in a bar. After a few beers, creativity is always at its best. They  can also be detected by their clothing as it is usually adapted for temperatures at least 10 degrees higher. Expect them therefore to wear shorts in December.

F)  Only group pictures. Yet it takes forever since the grand mother does not know where the shutter is located. She is then helped by her grandson who cannot figure it out either. It usually ends up by asking a passerby “Take picturre please”.

G) They don’t take pictures as they think they look so much better live than on a still image. Therefore, they only use the LCD screen of their camera as a mirror and spend endless minutes contemplating their own reflection with their long hair wavering in the wind.

H) Street photographers come from all over the world just to picture them. So why bother?

Got it right ? You will find the answers below the picture.

Leica M8 with 28mm Summicron at F2, 1/4000,  ISO160

Answers : 1B, 2D, 3F, 4H, 5A, 6E, 7C, 8G

A few days ago, I received a book that I had been longing for, that is the 1975 “Women are beautiful” by Gary Winogrand. I had previously posted an entry about this photographer that I greatly admire. He shot mainly with a 28mm lens and spent his life in the street photographing people. This book is regarded as his most famous, the one where he took snapshot of unknown women in the streets of New York in the aftermath of May 69. But in order to explain his approach on the topic, here is a quote of the introductory essay of Helen Gary Bishop :

“… Garry Winogrand has done more than record artful compositions of beautiful breasts and bodies. I believe he is genuinely attracted by the dynamics of the female being. But with the unerring instinct of the artist he has caught the conflict of the feminine creature: the body as object vying with the self as person.”

35 years after, our society has made giant steps forward and the condition of women is now the equal of man in most Western countries . Women in Paris are now liberated, self-confident, independant, …….still driving men nuts, and still …. beautiful.

Over the coming days, as a wink to this great photographer, I will post a series dedicated on this theme. Yet today we start with this shot taken a few hours ago on Les Champs-Elysées and shows a chic Parisiangirl on an afternoon shopping spree.  (click on picture to enlarge)

Leica M8 with 24mm Elmarit at F2.8, 1/3000, ISO160

As July arrives, the first of two waves of Parisians leave the city to head towards the provinces for vacations. I was one of them last week for a week vacation in Southern France. During the long drive, I definitely had time to reflect on the topic of street photography in the country side.

To me the main components of street photography are a human setting, a human presence (or hint of presence) that are linked through a story or a feeling.  Therefore, even if street photography might have a urban connotation, it can certainly be performed in the country side, with of course, a few differences :

1) patience,  a farm community main street is definitely not as busy as Les Champs-Elysées.

 2) it is definitely a challenge to take candid shots when there are only two people in a street. 

3) in Paris, someone with a camera is a tourist and clueless. In a village, photographers only come for the national newspaper. They expect to be in the front cover the next day

4) there are a lot of old women taking their dogs for a walk. Shot variety might especially suffer in villages of <100 people.

5) animals do not count as humans, look for other shots and read point #1 again.

6) having  your companion pause as a stranger in a selected spot does not count, read point #1 again.

Jokes apart and to match the vacations period, I will start tonight a two weeks series on the topic of Street Photography in the Countryside. Hope you will enjoy the vision of a Parisian in the country side.

If you plan to be in Paris over the next 10 days, you absolutely need to visit the Controverses exhibit. It displays pictures that gave rise to big controversies over the last century. Be it the Benetton religious kiss, Bresson’s nude picture of Leonor Fini of the Ground Zero Hand, all these pictures have marked the history of photography, for the good or the bad. You will be your own judge.

Sigma DP2 at F5.6, ISO100

This new camera seems to be generating a lot of interest, so for those who are contemplating a possible buy, here are a few more samples. Especially shots close to wide-open to let you judge of the quality of the lens

Sample one :  F2.8, ISO 200

Sample two :  F4.0, ISO 400

Sample three : F5.6, ISO 100 (for bokeh)

Sample four : F2.8, ISO 800 (night shot)

Sample five : F2.8, ISO 200  (click on picture below to enlarge)

The DP1 was the first compact camera with a digital reflex sensor type. Though the concept was innovative, the camera had some quirks that made it  inadecuate for street photography. Eighteen months later, Sigma just launched the DP2 which showcases a lot of improvements such as a faster lens (F2.8) and a focal lenght of 24mm (that corresponds to 41mm on a full frame). Advertised were also several improved menu features, more responsiveness and better ergonomy. So I fell and was lucky to get one of the very few that were shipped to France this week. I will come back on my impressions in a next article and compare image quality to the Leica M8 but meanwhile, here is what I believe to be the first picture of the Arch of Triumph ever taken by a Sigma DP2 …. ;)    Thousands by happy tourists will certainly follow in the coming years …      (click on picture to enlarge)

Sigma DP2, 24mm at F2.8, ISO800

Note that the camera was bought at L’Instantané, a small camera shop with an owner passionate about his job with great customer service. He was very helpful and is a great Sigma specialist. So if you are in Paris, do not hesitate to visit him, he also sells Pentax, Ricoh and other brands. His address :

L’Instantané
40, Bd de Beaumarchais
75011 PARIS
Téléphone : +33 (0) 1.43.55.02.32
The owner’s name is Marcel

The main difference between a rangefinder  (such as the Leica M8) and a common reflex camera is the fact that rangefinders do not have zoom lenses. It means the photographer need to carefully select the lens he will use depending on the scene he is going to photograph. I will leave the debate on pros and cons of both systems for a future post, as my intend today is to illustrate the impact of the choice of focal on a given scene. In my case, I use mainly three focals, that is 24, 35 and 90mm (I sometimes add a 50mm). As the Leica M8 has a smaller sensor than the standard 24 x 36, the focal needs to be multiplied by 1.33 to get the equivalent. Therefore, these 3 lenses correspond on film to roughly 35mm, 50mm and 120mm or in technical terms; a wide-angle, a standard lens and a tele. Let’s look at the impact of the choice of focal on a landscape scene.         (click on pictures to enlarge)

24mm Elmarit : the wide angle lens permits to incorporate a background (classic Parisian building), the roofs of Paris, the Eiffel Tower and the sky with heavy clouds. The importance of each elements are pretty well balanced.

35mm Summilux : this standard lens shortens the field of view and the foreground building can no longer be seen. The clouds are also less present yet, the darker ones give an impression of heavy cast on the city. Together with the foreground roof, they create a tonal circle that centers the subject on the tower and the two main buildings.

50mm Summicron : this is a focal I use seldom as  I find it either too similar to the 35mm or not long enough such as the 90mm. On this picture, it is unclear which is the main subject besides the Tower. Clouds can only be seen partly, the building on the left is half cut and the foreground roof only shows its chemineys. The building with the many windows on the right seem to take over the attention but with no real meaning.

90mm Summicron : the 120mm equivalent on the M8 give a tremendous “compression” ability. Meaning that several planes can be brought in one flat surface, giving the impression that all subjects are at the same distance. In this case, it basically compresses four planes; that is the building with the many windows, the top of the church and surrounding buildings, the Eiffel Tower and the clouds in the background. Yet it does not create an interesting compression as the Tower stands outs.

In my opinion, the 24mm shot is the most balanced closely followed by the 35mm, but it is a matter of taste and why photographers choose different standard focals to express their own perception of a scene. Also, I almost used the same central point on each picture so it disadvantages the longer lenses that depend especially on sound composition. In a next article, I will reiterate this exercise but allowing for recomposition. It will probably have a large impact on each focal’s rendering of the scene.

Gary Winogrand is one  of the great street photographers of this century. He is especially famous for quotes such as “I photograph to see what the world looks like in photographs” or similarly “I don’t have anything to say in any picture. My only interest in photography is to see what something looks like as a photograph. I have no preconceptions”.

While I don’t adhere to most of his views on photography as I usually like to understand before hand why I am taking a picture, sometimes it comes instinctly just to see “how it will look like”. This is the case of this picture taken this afternoon on a street perpendicular to Les Champs-Elysées. I was probably attracted by the colors, contrast and shapes. Content took over context though the latter one can obviously be added back to this picture once taken. So really, as Winogrand would say, a picture with “no preconceptions”             (click on picture to enlarge)

Leica M8 with 24mm Elmarit at F4, ISO640

There are two main reasons to visit this exhibit that runs until May 31st in Paris : the exhibit is located in a wonderful setting and the quality of the 150 pictures displayed is just outstanding. Indeed, the Hotel de la Monnaie on the banks of the Seine River hosts the exposition in old Renaissance style rooms whose decorated roofs are a must see in itself. As for exhibit it contains, among others, a few of LaChapelle’s large scales pictures such as “the Deluge”, his surprising series of “Awakened” (where people hover dressed in a water container) and his most famous pictures of world reknown stars. Note also that two videos on the making of his large scale works are shown and give an idea of the human resources and technical means necessary to perform such shootings. Finally and on top of being a “pop art” artist with an endless creativity and composition talent, David LaChapelle knows how to convey strong messages  such as a a dismissal of capitalism and consumerim, or the presence of God in even the most incongruous scenes.

The shot below shows a visitor at the entrance of the exhibit looking at the top of the building. Was he looking at the ceiling decorations or already feeling a divine presence ?      (click on picture to enlarge)

Leica M8 with 24mm Elmarit at F2.8, ISO640

Today I visited the Robert Frank exhibit at the Jeu de Paume. This building, located within the Tuileries Garden, is all devoted to photography and usually runs several exhibits at the same time. Therefore if you are interest in one of the great street photographers and plan to be in Paris over the next month, don’t hesitate to visit that great exhibit which will end on March 22nd. The main floor dedicated to Robert Frank had the full series of two of Frank’s books displayed, that is “The Americans” and  “Paris”.

So, after going through the whole exhibit, the following impressions and thoughts came to my mind :

- I had a clear preference  for “The Americans” over the “Paris” series and found that matter of fact puzzling as I live in Paris. Indeed, I did find the pictures of “Paris” full of poetry yet not in any ways as powerful and documentary as the Americans. Robert Frank being European, it might have been more difficult for him to extract the essence of his own continent than America’s which he could discover with a candid eye.

- plenty of pictures had a very approximate focus. Yet I found it made them even more expressive and added to the poetry of most of the scenes depicted by Frank. It was a refreshing view, as nowadays photographic equipment manufacturer’s marketing arguments have us running for the latest in terms of sharpness, lack of vignetting or even micro-contrast. Robert Frank is one more proof that the equipment does not make the photographer and as many of the greatest shots in the History of Photograph were made with 1950 equipment.

- finally, I often read the following statement :”this picture has already been shot in the past, this is nothing new”.  Consequently, are most contemporary street photographers damned to repeat the shots of the past made by Greats such as Robert Frank, Henri Cartier-Bresson or Walker Evans ?  While our style is certainly a mix of many influences, shots taken in 2009 are definitely different than 1950 as fashion, architecture and mainly society has evolved significantly. A given framing might have been done before, but the content and its meaning cannot be repeated. Would a couple have dared kiss next to a lineup of people in total indifference back in the 50’s (see shot below)? Probably not …

Leica M8 with 35mm Summicron at F4, ISO640

Leica M8 with 35mm Summicron, ISO640

The Paris Photo Fair took place this weekend. Main manufacturers of equipment, resellers, association and magazines presented their latest offering in dozens of stands. As part of the attractions, most camera makers showcased model shoots to present the many functions of their latest products. This serie of pictures were taken minutes before these sessions.

Leica M8 with 35mm Summicron  (click to enlarge)

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