In the winter of '08, I inadvertently received one of my favorite photography books as a christmas present. Inadvertent because I was given a gift card to Borders, and well, the rest is history. Over the past year I've read what I could here and there and only until recently have I come to appreciate the treasure I found on Sunset and Vine.
This book embodies everything I admire about the man and everything I hope to build through my own vision. His life's portfolio is so much more than Le baiser de l'hôtel de ville.
A visual historian of the city of Paris is how I choose to approach his work. The stories, observations, and of course his photographs, takes the viewer through the rapid changes of this metropolis while simultaneously going inside the mind of an old man who adores his hometown in spite of many of the transitions.
There are others that have their last names titled with a specific city...Lee Miller's Paris, Cartier-Bresson's Paris etc etc However each vision is completely different. Like with any major city in the world, there are many recording their cities as they know it. Each vision is unique even if the subject has been covered before.That is something I have to keep reminding myself from time to time...and time to time...
At this point in time, my approach to photography is one of preservation. Whether I take someone's portrait or shoot cityscapes, I feel its important to record something that can be used as a visual document in the future. I suppose some artists say "someone else will do it" when it comes to using visual tools for historical purposes. For now, I guess I am that "someone else"
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