Paris, again and again, for this lover of the capital, Paris that he has photographed so much … But Paris-Matic … photographed with the Agfamatic, this disposable device, almost a toy, that a photographer might not take seriously …
Bernard Plossu plays with the possibilities of the device, very different from those of his professional Nikkormat, and offers us here a new “instant” look at the city …
“Pictures taken with Agfamatic, made” for children “, that is to say” a childish technique “… Nothing to fix, we just put on the little drawing of clouds or sun. A dream! And in fact childish, these are the most revolutionary devices! Think, there is nothing to focus , it is enough to press: one can photograph before one even had time to wonder if one was going to take the photo or not! We don’t even have time to hesitate. Faster than reporting!
The photo with the Agfamatic, or any other Instamatic, allows you to go faster than thought; it is shooting in a state of pure spontaneity, the anti-Freud, the anti-Sartre, it goes straight to the point, it totally frees you from shyness, it also allows you to photograph while laughing, discovering a new world with, precisely, the naivety, happiness, freshness and immediacy of a child. Thanks to the extreme simplicity of this toy , we finally free ourselves from our complex of being an adult photographer. Let’s go back to Bibi Fricotin!
And photography thus freed from all cumbersome techniques finally becomes the photographic cry that offers us the total freedom to see, and to go faster than our brain. Finally, the vision transcribed at its purest level. ”
YANNICK VIGOUROUX. Born in 1970, photographer, art critic, curator and photography historian. A graduate of the National School of Photography (Arles), he has published several books on photography including, with Jean-Marie Baldner, Poor practices, pinhole camera on mobile phone (CNDP / CRDP Créteil, Isthmes éditions) (2005) , and, with Christian Gattinoni, Ancient photography / Modern photography / Contemporary photography, as well as History of photographic criticism in new Scala editions. He is the specialist in France of “Foto Povera”.
THE “FOTO POVERA”. The term “poor practices” applies to photographic approaches employing amateur cameras. The approximate framing, the search for the non-event are as important as the events of the photojournalist. The theme of banality, usually is fairly recurrent in so-called poor practices. Blurred, shaky, pixelated, imperfect, screened, these images are not, however, missed photos. Bernard Plossu to sum up 40 years of photography, keeps the impression of having made very good very bad photos and bad very good photos. He thus evokes Diane Arbus for whom it was important to take bad photos.
BERNARD PLOSSU : PARIS-MATIC
texts by Bernard Plossu
and Yannick Vigouroux
Edited by Marval-rueVisconti, 2020
format: 16 x 20 cm
80 pages
Two-color black / white printing
Soft binding with flaps
€ 22.00
