Today Suz and I went to a free photo exhibit at the Hotel de Ville—yes, believe it or not, you can see Paris on a budget. It was an exhibit by the celebrated photographer, Monsieur Doisneau, who liked to call himself a “fisher of images.” When he died in 1994, he left behind more than 450,000 negatives (the exhibit featured 280 of the photos).Over six decades, Doisneau took photos of “the ordinary gestures of ordinary people in ordinary situations.” He loved walking the city of Paris and as a patient bystander, captured just the right moment or emotion with his camera. Although some of his photos were staged, he was usually able to maintain a certain unobtrusive distance from his subjects and capture the most amazing tableaus of life.
We are all familiar with this one. In 1950, “Life” magazine commissioned a set of images of Paris lovers and the result was a famous series of kisses. This one became Doisneau’s signature image—actually taken in front of the Hotel de Ville. It is called Le Baiser (kiss) de l’Hotel de Ville.
