New York and photography. The wedding has been consummated now for quite a long time. When we think of New York, we see photography. When we live photography, we want New York. To talk about this historic union is also to be interested in its witnesses. Or better yet, to its actors. Those who, day after day see and create the thousand passing images that drown our newspapers and screens.
Jonas Cuénin could have dwelled on places and objects, but he prefers people. Having them pose with their favorite camera, people from the world of New York photography that he’s met in the United States, he hopes he can express in his own way the generosity and confidence that most of them have graciously offered him. That’s what has surprised him the most since the beginning in this small world. With passion. Jonas Cuénin also hope that he can reach those people that have never been in front of the fire of the lights. Those who look at images all day but become self-conscious once the camera is pointed at them.
They all love photography. Everyday they are linked to it, in one way or another. Elliot and Carol create the copies. Pauline makes the selection. Mimi takes care of managing them. Mark sells them. Camille organizes them. Aurélie publishes them. Mia exposes them. And Robert talks about them. And Abe? In this chain, he is just as important: He provides the tool capable of taking them. All of them, no matter what their status or their talent, they all have their place in this portfolio.
On March 28th, 1958, Art Buchwald introduced in Jour de France a series of pictures of New York by Cartier-Bresson stating: “ A great photographer – Henri Cartier-Bresson- invites us on to the streets of the New World. We discover alongside him that the city of giants also shelters men.” The banks of New York have perhaps forgotten the men swarming in the arcades that Cartier-Bresson and others have immortalized. The world of photography does not seem to create that impression to Jonas Cuénin. These ten portraits compose his New York Photo. Only one person is not shown, and he will recognize himself.
