On this late afternoon in May 2023, many passersby are still crowding around Paris Cathedral, which is still closed and undergoing reconstruction.
As I sat down on a bench opposite Notre Dame, I never imagined I would spend several hours “staring” at so many tourists, and a few lost Parisians…
But this new story of street photography in Paris begins with an unexpected interaction.
The photographer photographed
As soon as I arrived at the square in front of Notre Dame, I noticed a photographer in costume stopping tourists to offer to take their portrait for free.
I immediately decided to capture this brave and smiling fellow human being on my (digital) film.
So I lie down on the ground, to grow even taller than this slender young woman alongside the towers of the old Notre Dame.
Of course, she spots me right away and turns to me with a big smile…
The street photographer, photographed
Caught in my own trap as a street photographer, I can’t refuse to be photographed myself…
That’s how I ended up on the front page of La Gazette De Paris, and, incidentally, probably the only “celebrity” to be photographed that day without the Paris cathedral in the background!
From back to front, at Notre Dame Cathedral
I continue for a few minutes with my low-angle photography to complete a series I am working on about Parisian monuments.
Before focusing more specifically on close-ups and faces.
I then give free rein to a photographic practice based on intuition, without systematically looking through the viewfinder or at the camera screen.
Fragments of lives and faces
Copper-colored hair,
and faces golden from the sun.
Arms raised,
and protective hands.
From animal fur,
to hunted pigeon.
Of happy childhoods,
in loving hands.
From joyful self-portraits,
to colorful souvenir photos
Fragments of lives are displayed around the fences and railings surrounding Notre Dame.
The old man, hand on the phone
As with each episode of this series devoted to a street photography session in Paris, we had to select an image to highlight and illustrate this article.
One photograph stood out naturally.
The whole time I was taking photos, this old man was sitting next to me with his old-fashioned cell phone.
We were only about 20 inches apart when he held it to his ear, and I was able to capture a frontal shot of his wrinkled hand in front of his face.
The child, the crane, and the bird
A few minutes before leaving, I captured this new image with its very dynamic composition, combining a piercing gaze, a bird, and cranes along the cathedral under construction.
The sun is setting, the square is emptying.
It is time to turn away, like the passerby walking away with long strides, from the greatest lady in Paris,
S T R E E T P H O T O P A R I S
Another lady in the spotlight, photographer for the Gazette de Paris
During this Parisian street photography session in front of the Cathedral, I had the opportunity to watch a photographer at work who shared a contagious enthusiasm for capturing faces, even more so than I did.
Note: The “Gazette De Paris” is the work of an international street photography project (undocumented) that has no connection with the political publication dating from the 18th century.
Photographs and texts: Thierry Allard, all rights reserved.
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