Who am I?
A pedestrian in Paris with a camera. Stroller in the street, I extract smiles from things seen. Well, I try. Make those you love smile. Dispel their boredom. Revive their life. Indispensable to ward off an era that no longer contains enough joy in it to make life smile. So, in the adolescence of my old age, I continue. The street remains my favorite terrain. I always and again take my eyes out of their pockets, to track down the extraordinary that hides in the ordinary. The curiosity of my goal spares no one. Men, scenes of life, statues, singularities and the spirit of the times are no exception.
Wherever my lens crosses them, I try to immortalize them in a way that is both penetrating and light. I make funny with sad or funny with funny. Never sad with sad. Too sour, like vinegar. I prefer sour. Like the bittersweet sensations that the sour candies of my childhood gave me. Nothing predestined me to photography. Except for the Olympus OM-1 that I got when I was sixteen. And since then, I have been photographing for more than fifty years in my professional positions abroad. My photographic ambition, if I have one, is to continue to enjoy what I do.
But that’s not all. To also feel like it makes sense. What to do with all these photos? Delight in watching them with friends. It wasn’t enough for me. While stationed in Egypt, I wanted to give back to the Egyptians what they gave me. Photos are good, hard cash is better. So, I submitted my photos to the Press of the American University in Cairo. The largest publisher in the Arab world. From this collaboration three books have been published. But that’s not all. To also feel like it makes sense. What to do with all these photos? Delight in watching them with friends. It wasn’t enough for me. While stationed in Egypt, I wanted to give back to the Egyptians what they gave me. Photos are good, hard cash is better. So, I submitted my photos to the Press of the American University in Cairo. The largest publisher in the Arab world. From this collaboration three books have been published. Paris Le Caire, Déserts et Poésies d’Égypte, Egypt Forever. The royalties, the sales of the photographic prints and others have been paid to the Association des Chiffonniers du Caire.
They made it possible to build a house for the women of Mokattam. Why women? Because when you educate a man, you educate a person. Whereas when you educate a woman, you educate a nation. In this house, they learn to refuse genital mutilation for their daughters and also to emancipate themselves from social pressure. On my return to France, other books appeared. Always with the same destiny for their recipes. Editions de l’Atelier have published a book on the ragpickers of Cairo. Then, Milalma editions published Egyptian Fugues.. The royalties, the sales of the photographic prints and others have been paid to the Association des Chiffonniers du Caire.
As I wrote above, my photographic adventure continues. In Paris now, where the streets have become the scene of my childhood. Hoping to capture, during my strolls, small joys for small smiles. So to the question who am I, the answer is quite simple: an old photographer always in search of sharing by trying, now, to bring a smile to those who look at my photos. To also find this part of ourselves which still contains, for some adults, a part of naivety, lightness, cheerfulness and self-mockery. Without forgetting that the smile does not impoverish the one who gives it and enriches the one who receives it.
Patrick Longueville
