An email from a reader:
I am a French photographer born in Bordeaux, I have lived in Paris for over 25 years. I have been working as a portrait photographer since 1994. At the same time, for the last 10 years I have been moving towards other practice of photography.
My work is positioned at the crossroads of street photography, documentary and fine art photography.
Observer and chronicler of modern life, my approach is part of the lineage of 20th century humanist photography.
Lovers of the images of Erwitt, Frank, Davidson, Weiss, Franck, Cartier-Bresson, Mark, Ronis, Freed, Evans, Maltête, Winogrand, Meyerowitz … My universe is inspired by the heritage of all these photographers who knew how to document their time.
Like them, I photograph the daily life of my contemporaries, of these anonymous people whom I meet over time in the working-class districts of Paris, on the sidewalks of Fifth Avenue or among the effervescence of Piccadilly Circus, the emotion always remains intact, animated by this tireless and visceral desire to freeze unique moments.
Macadam Paname is a collection of monochrome images taken over the past ten years in the working-class districts of Paris.
I photographed passers-by with the greatest spontaneity and never consented to staging. I am sure that the behaviors of these anonymous people are interesting enough to let them express themselves in their entirety.
Always on the lookout for burlesque, incongruous or poetic situations, I sought to capture the invisible in the ordinary people I met. Each of my photos is connected to a story, a singular moment, always with kindness.
Often referred to as street photography, in my opinion, my universe is closer to humanist photography. I do not content myself with taking pictures in the street, I am also present in the metro, train stations, public places, museums, in this regard some photos in the book were taken in the Grand Palais on the occasion of ” a carte blanche (one year 2018) ordered by the Réunion des Musées Nationaux.
In a certain form, this work wants to be in the vein of a (somewhat lost) tradition of street photography practiced in France in the last century, unfortunately hampered for a few years by the problems of image rights that photographers are confronted with .
Laurent Delhourme
Laurent Delhourme : Macadam Paname
published by HEMERIA editions
printed by Printmodel
artistic direction agency “En Tandem”
30x30cm
120 pages
87 black and white photos
ISBN: 978-2-490952-02-1
