Brassai

If you're also a Parisophile, then you likely know the name Brassai. Between world wars he moved to Paris ftom Hungary. As he explored the city at night, he began taking photos and publishing them in books like Paris de nuit.

Brassai, Couple au comptoir 1930s Paris, courtesy of Paname Paris

I photograph Hamburg in black and white because that's how I see it, but Paris is always in colour. Thinking of Brassai when I was in Paris recently made me want to try black and white, but each time I framed the shot, I always switched back to colour.

It also made me wonder if I could photograph Paris like Brassai did and publish such photos. Today, I'd have to understand the French privacy law, GDPR, get model releases etc.

One of my stock phrases is ‘optimise for one thing, deoptimise for something else’. In optimising for individual rights we've deoptimised for a photographic record of the times in which we live. Social media photos tend to be looking inward towards the experiences of the photographer. Selfies are nothing but that and they're frequently processed to the nth degree. How many influencers can you imagine wanting to show the world their RAW photos, if they had them?

Brassai was looking outward, though and he built up a remarkable body of work that documented life in the city he loved.

Could Brassai be Brassai today?