About the Book
I grew up in the suburbs of Paris, France. Growing up, I spent my days - and later my nights - in the streets.
The city changes, depending on the time and the mood. Because of its chaos, noise, diversity or its calm, the city triggers in its residents rich and diverse emotions.
Loneliness. It is not always a negative feeling and you feel it often. At night, when coming home late, loneliness comes from the missing usual busy crowds. During the day, the flow of rushing pedestrians and disoriented tourists drowns you in a comfortable anonymity. I wanted to share this diurnal loneliness. This time of the day when, if you stop and look at your surrounding, you see crowds running, lost in their thoughts, focused on a goal and ignoring each other. This street full of life ignores you as much as you are ignoring it.
I wanted to put myself in this state of extreme loneliness. The pictures haven’t been processed beyond basic color adjustments. I used a technique that lets me take long exposure pictures in bright daylight. People and cars are going too fast to be visible, leaving the city empty. To take these pictures, I used a tripod and stayed next to it for some time. I experimented the looks on people faces, between curiosity and anger (they were probably thinking I was taking pictures of them). I stood out from being anonymous, but not enough to make people interested in speaking or interacting with me in any way.
I love the city, and this kind of loneliness.
The city changes, depending on the time and the mood. Because of its chaos, noise, diversity or its calm, the city triggers in its residents rich and diverse emotions.
Loneliness. It is not always a negative feeling and you feel it often. At night, when coming home late, loneliness comes from the missing usual busy crowds. During the day, the flow of rushing pedestrians and disoriented tourists drowns you in a comfortable anonymity. I wanted to share this diurnal loneliness. This time of the day when, if you stop and look at your surrounding, you see crowds running, lost in their thoughts, focused on a goal and ignoring each other. This street full of life ignores you as much as you are ignoring it.
I wanted to put myself in this state of extreme loneliness. The pictures haven’t been processed beyond basic color adjustments. I used a technique that lets me take long exposure pictures in bright daylight. People and cars are going too fast to be visible, leaving the city empty. To take these pictures, I used a tripod and stayed next to it for some time. I experimented the looks on people faces, between curiosity and anger (they were probably thinking I was taking pictures of them). I stood out from being anonymous, but not enough to make people interested in speaking or interacting with me in any way.
I love the city, and this kind of loneliness.
Features & Details
- Primary Category: Arts & Photography Books
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Project Option: Standard Landscape, 10×8 in, 25×20 cm
# of Pages: 44 - Publish Date: May 24, 2012
- Keywords long exposure, urbex, photo, nd, city, villes, paris, nyc, boston, usa, france
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