“Street photography”, photojournalism, visual, documentary, culinary, sports or wildlife photography… The 17th edition of Photo Fair takes place from Thursday to Sunday at the Grand Halle de La Villette, in Paris, in the 19th arrondissement.
The event also honors a photographer through a retrospective of their work in the Grande Expo. The street photographer’s shots where “bodies and settings rhyme together” Jean-Christophe Béchet are on display this year. The opportunity for 20 minutes to return to the making of an image taken in Tokyo, in 2018, with its author. A photo that makes the cover of his book Macadam Color Street Photopublished by Lece.
What do we see in the image?
Jean-Christophe Béchet described to 20 minutes “an urban photo of a young woman in a café with a special light. She has an attitude and clothes that go perfectly with the decor. » The street photographer specifies that the image has “a cinematographic enigma” because it is “a microfiction where we can tell ourselves an imagination”. He confides that he is “sensitive to urban melancholy and the way of being alone in cities”, a bit like the American painter Edward Hopper (1882-1967) whose work draws “American banality” with ” bored people, alone at bars, street corners, transparent windows.” He adds: “In Tokyo, there are 14 million inhabitants and it seems like a lot of people are alone. » When asked about the play of lines in the framing, he responds: “For me it’s the basis, it’s what I have to achieve to get my message across, it’s like a well-written text. » He cites the photographers Willy Ronis (1910-2009), Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004) and Robert Doisneau (1912-1994) as a reference for “a photo anchored in a territory and a temporality”. He tries to “make everyday life interesting through the quality of the photo”. The photographer concludes: “For me, this photo represents the inhabitant of a city at the beginning of the 21st century. »
What is the shooting context?
The photographer explains that he locates the locations while walking around the city. “I feel that a place is going to give birth to something, I feel that the light is beautiful and I can stay there for a quarter of an hour, half an hour, or come back several times because the light and the attitudes change over time. of the day. That’s also why it’s well framed because I take my time. » And specifies: “If I like the decor, I tell myself that in cities like Paris, Tokyo or Hong Kong, something interesting will inevitably happen inside. » For this image, he says he chose the frame “before the girl enters the café”. He found “the crossroads interesting” but declared that “it’s still the light that shapes the image, and I’m lucky that the girl arrives, that she’s in yellow, that she’s wearing stripes.”
The extra anecdote
After taking several photos during this day in Tokyo, Jean-Christophe Béchet remembers: “In my memory it was not at all this photo that had remained engraved, I had forgotten it… I was thinking of another and it was turned out to be the best. » He confides: “I don’t consult my images at the moment, I take photos digitally as well as on film and I look at them cold, with good surprises and less good ones. » Regarding advice he could give to street photographers, he concedes: “It’s rarely little facts that seem amusing in life that will be amusing in photos. » And adds: “To be readable, a photo must have a visual grammar, framing and lighting. It’s not about speed and speed but rather about patience and perseverance. » Regarding the differences between photojournalism and street photography, Jean-Christophe Béchet explains sympathetically: “It’s a bit like print journalists and writers who are not in the same dynamic. » The photojournalist is rather “constrained by information and immediacy”. He prefers “to photograph moments which have no interest but which become so through photography” with “another relationship to time and the subject”.