“As early as my first photos, I had the certainty that the world belonged to me. Everything, absolutely everything, from the red boat washed ashore to the cat jumping in mid air, everything could enter my black box, even if sometimes it was necessary to rearrange the arrivals, the skinniest were not always the most flexible.”
If I hadn’t written about photography, or about photographers, I would quickly have stopped. There is always a level of disappointment with photography, linked to its stillness, its dead weight, the theatrality inherent to the medium. But as I learned to decipher pictures by the masters, by those who went beyond limits, reaching eternity in their viewfinder, I continued, hoping for miracles, after all, without being an ace at the lasso, like Manuel Alvarez Bravo, I had a few skills.
Abandoned chairs in the streets were my first subjects. It was great freedom. No permission required, silence while I worked. After having included my friends who graciously sat and posed, I started shooting the renowned anonymous, introduced during future articles to write for Libération, as I met them.
One of the most stupefying was Peter Galassi, then curator at the Museum of Modern Art (New York), shot in Paris, at the Jeu de Paume, – who couldn’t believe I was working with a Yashica. “Film” he asked, amused, clearing his throat, as if pronouncing the bad password, that we would suddenly find ourselves trapped in the 19th century, without a BlackBerry (and no way to answer emails).
Yes, dear Peter, film.
I progressively enlarged my field of action, and my audacity took over. Above all, I began to enjoy taking pictures.
Brigitte Ollier
La couleur annoncée
Brigitte Ollier et Daniel Boudinet
Les Douches, la Galerie
5, rue Legouvé
75 010 Paris
Tel : 01 46 07 10 84
Wednesday-Friday: 1-7pm
Saturday: 2-6pm
