© Isa Beirer
The idea is to show a series of pictures, that at first seem to be random shots, however they all follow one theme: my vision of Paris during the weekend of the 10 - 12 of July 2009.Every picture is taken in the same spirit, every frame shows the first thing that struck me when I first got to a new place or a thing that struck me shortly after getting comfortable somewhere be it in a friend's appartment, in the metro, in the park, on the street and the moment of the first impression had just passed.For you to understand: Imagine entering a new city. Imagine a city that in your mind is a "tabula rasa"(Rousseau) or better a white sheet of paper. What is the first thing that strikes you when you come out of the TGV and enter Paris through the Gare de l'Est? What is it you notice when you first walk down a busy parisian Boulevard?Where do you look first?What keeps your eyes fixed upon something longer than on something else? Why are you looking right and not left?Who is guiding you?Is it you, is it the city, the people, the objects, the light?That is the spirit of this short series. It is the unworn, still enthusiastic and pristine look upon a city that I do not know. It is a look upon the unknown, with a clear mind, not accustomed to this ever inspiring place.Technically the work has been composed with two totally different cameras. The colour part was created with my mother's rather humble compact digital camera (Pentax Optio SR) and the other with James Elphick's analogue Cosmic Symbol LOMO.The idea was to test both on these special surroundings and to include analogue in a world almost entirely taken over by digital amateur photography.Both cameras are very limited in their use and choice of options. It is for this reason that I chose them. Sometimes, the amateur tool can creat true wonders, thus reaffirming the idea that it isn't always true that an expensive camera will give the best pictures by default. It is the eye looking through the viewfinder that counts.Most of the time you will only get to see one shot of an impression, specific "look" upon the given enviornment however at times I have included more than one picture of the same "look". This is because I wanted to keep up the spirit of my fleeting glimpse upon Paris.Another reason for creating ParisNOTEiffelTower is the joy I personally take out of looking at books which represent a subjective "régard" (way of looking) from other photographers in travel photography.It is this randomness and the illogical sequences of snapshots that never fail to intrigue me.This project is created with the idea to create more of these weekend trip diaries. For now, I hope you enjoy looking at the first result.Finally one thing was clear: I did not want to see the Eiffel Tower.Le Voilà!Merci d'être passé and thank you for taking a look, even if it is a fleeting one.Isa Beirer Pez Llobell
J adore encore plus.... Tu vas les mettres sur facebook? Bises christèle
ReplyDelete