Street Photo of the week by Robert Doisneau
Street Photo of the week by Robert Doisneau
Robert Doisneau is one of the most talented and amazing photographers that has ever lived. Period. He was an active Street Photographer for more than 60 years, more than most others and his work depicts the evolution of the modern world from the early 1930s all the way up until the end of the 20th century, in the mid 1990s. His photographs of France are iconic, they are epic. You have certainly seen one or more of them in your lifetime even if you don’t know that he was the photographer that made the shot. He was creative, innovative, funny, brave and daring. He would take the photo of a funny situation just as passionately as he would photograph the fighters of the French resistance in the barricades during WWII. He would capture the magic, playful moments of children, just as well as the sensational look of a beautiful woman. He would be there to snap the moment, to forever record scenes that are now part of European Modern History.
You can see more of Robert Doisneau’s photographic work on his website at http://www.robert-doisneau.com/fr/. If you wish to learn more about this great artist I highly recommend reading Andrew Sweigart’s “Under The Influence of Robert Doisneau”!
Accordion girl
Robert Doisneau was a photographic genius and that alone makes my job, to pick one of his photos for this week’s feature, ever so difficult. At first I thought I should look at compositions but that made my task even harder. Then I thought of looking at meanings, messages, but again I couldn’t make up my mind. Everything I looked into was just great! So, I went with my gut, I let my feelings guide me, I immersed myself in his work with an open heart, not an open eye and that made me return to the same photo over and over. This photo of the accordion girl. Robert Doisneau had captured her a few times in Paris. She must have worked the same streets he did. But out of all the photos of her, this one, just makes me want to look and look.
But why? I thought to myself “Why do I want to look at this photograph? Why do I want to look at her? I don’t feel that urge in the other pictures of her, so why this one?” The answer came to me when I stopped thinking logically and I just let myself go. It is her eyes, that powerful gaze, the angle of her body and her overall body language, the sense of her moving away while looking back at me, I am suddenly close to her, I am in the photograph, I can feel her eyes burning through my lens… Robert Doisneau placed me into the photo, he took me back in time to that place, to that moment. How many photos that you have seen have made you experience this sensation? This photo is an experience and a compositional masterpiece. For me, it is perfect.
Merci beaucoup monsieur Robert Doisneau!
About this weekly feature,
As you know, every Friday we feature a photograph of a Street Photographer on our website. The Street Photographer that is featured is selected by the Street Hunters team.
If you would like to have one of your shots featured on our website, then please contact us by visiting https://www.streethunters.net/contact/, or join us on our Flickr Group or subscribe to our GooglePlus Page.
Thank you
