One of my street photos, which has been a hit on social networks and flickr, was inspired by a thirty-minute photo session.
As in the first episode of this series on street photography in Paris (Paris street photo, dog quest), I invite you to discover the multiple attempts, in chronological order, sometimes necessary for the emergence of a true conceptual street photo, without complicity.
On this post-Covid day in June 2020, I was riding my scooter around Paris when, passing the advertising window of a future swimwear boutique, I noticed a photo of three men pulling on the rope of an invisible boat.
This imposing image of giant men dominating the sidewalk made me think there might be something to do with it.
A small elderly woman was the first to appear in the midst of these 3 men in their sea of paper, creating a striking contrast with the exacerbated masculinity, as well as an effect of scale as I usually like to create on the street with a crowd.
On the other side of the window, the male model, his legs in the water, was positioned frontally, shirtless, in a suggestive position, occasionally attracting the gaze of a few passers-by, but leaving most of them unmoved.
Another middle-aged woman passed by the poster without even noticing the tanned aesthete.
A composition is enriched by the planes and guiding lines: here, the horizontals with the car and the sea, the diagonals with the hood of the Porsche and the model’s arms, and finally the verticals with the tree trunk, the lady in the hat and the model.
A photographer’s first approach was to contextualize the window as a whole.
It just so happened that a man sitting alone on a bench, which could represent the symbol of an apparent solitude in urban space, came to symbolically oppose the image of mutual aid in a dream setting.
However, I soon noticed that the younger women were turning their attention away from their cell phones…
So they weren’t all indifferent to muscular torsos!
A woman on the line
After 10 minutes of photographic stammering, a guiding idea finally emerged as I tried to hang “something” at the end of this objectless rope for the first time.
My first opportunity was to give birth to the very first corded cell phone of the twenty-first century!
First of the rope
What if?
What if, with this rope, these men were symbolically trying to hold back a woman or, on the contrary, to draw her into their net?
With this main idea in mind, all I had to do was be patient and wait for the right moment, when the “right” woman (in the right size) would come along.
While I waited for a passer-by to show up at the end of the rope, I made a sort of in vivo photo montage, with this male inclusion in the image, in place of the first character on the poster (the one who was strangely very small compared to his colleagues).
The jogger who passed in front of my lens took advantage, unintentionally, of a second arm extended in his movement, right in line with his elbow!
Post #metoo street photography?
This concept of “fishing for girls” was soon put into practice when a young woman appeared with a clear mask, allowing me to visually attach the rope.
A “gagged” woman drawn in with difficulty by three men?
Suddenly, a simple visual idea from a street photographer had gained strength and new meaning.
In these days of #metoo, symbolically addressing men’s difficulty in seducing the opposite sex through image hijacking seemed very appropriate.
A second woman with her caddy soon fell into the lap of these sinners of a different kind.
While her presence was more than interesting, her colorful mask didn’t link her as harmoniously to the white rope as in the previous image.
Satisfied that I’d produced a fun, meaningful street photo, I could leave this ephemeral spot for new microadventures in Paris and elsewhere.
I ended with a final inclusion, that of a man reading a man’s heart.
Photographs and texts: Thierry Allard, all rights reserved.
External links to this article are welcome, but please respect copyright and do not use text extracts or images without first requesting permission.
That says it all!
The images in this article are presented in their true chronological order.
This is a selection of 10 of the 30 or so photographs taken in 25 minutes.
Color images have been specially processed in DxO Photolab, with a slight Polaroid fade.
Other images not selected for this article:
Photographs and texts : Thierry Allard, all rights reserved.
Please respect copyright and do not use these images or extracts from the article without a link on this page and without first requesting permission.
To follow my street photo feed on Instagram.
