René Maltête inspired?

The first photo was taken by the French photographer René Maltête, probably in the 1950s or 60s. His street photographs are simply amazing and what’s even more impressive is the sheer number of fleeting moments that he was able to capture. I don’t pretend to know about every photographer working in this spontaneous manner, but I have heard of quite a few. Thanks to a post on Facebook today by Maltete’s son I was fortunate to discover his father’s keen eye and ability to play with the world using a camera. I won’t get into a lengthy summary of his biography. I recommend having a glance at this site which gives a great overview. It’s in French, so just copy and paste the article into Google translate if necessary.

After skimming through some of his photos I noticed the photo he took of a man, probably throwing his son in the air. Strangely enough I took a similar photo in the Place des Vosges in Paris, hmmm, probably 4-5 years ago. Maybe at the time I was inspired by Maltête without even knowing it.

Website launch - First blog post

I would like to dedicate this first blog post to my two favorite cities, Paris and New York City. They are the topic of my first photo book, published last September by Lammerhuber Editions in Vienna Austria. They are also two cities which have been severely affected by the current Covid19 virus. I took the first photo at a hand ball court in Coney Island, Brooklyn, NYC. I hung around with the players for an hour or so, mainly taking photos of them inside the court. On my way out I noticed how the chain link fence was casting interesting shadows in the late day sun. I asked one player to come my way and he agreed to pose for a portrait. To me his face symbolizes the strength and tenacity of the people of NYC. I took the second image on the steps just below the Sacre Coeur in Montmartre, Paris. The street performer’s name is Iya Traore and he is known for doing amazing stunts with a soccer ball. Here he climbed up a lamp post and started juggling the ball at the top. This photo symbolizes the vibrant and spontaneous moments which one can find when exploring Paris on foot. These moments will surely return after the virus lock down ends.