All rights to this photograph is reserved the photographer
December 1st, 2009, driving outside of Paris:
Anisette Gras is one of the challenger of Pastis 51 or the worldwide renowed Ricard. I think it is the very first time of my life I saw a painter redoing letters, and I just wish this kind of “reclame” (old french word for advertisement) would come back as shiny and clear as this one.
Why I use a Leica:
I have been using Leica since the very beginning of my carrer as a professional photographer in France in 1987. I first used two Leica R4S2 with 2/35 and 2/90.
That is all I had, and was then doing everything with them, even soccer. I loved the quality of the picture, the feeling of the camera and even the specific sound when triggering the shutter. Two years later, I bought my first Leica M6 called “panda”. I then discovered what photography was all about. I felt that rangefinder was giving some freedom I did not have with reflexes. To make it short, i fell in love with this camera that i still carry around.
Digital equipment came, and radically changed photography. But the M7 came too and it kept the philosophy of the M camera with automatism that simplified life a lot. I now shoot everyday my lovely 21 months aussie shepherd named Rose and street scenes with mostly the recent D-Lux 4 that I have all the time, even for getting bread around the corner.
Having this little piece of jewelry in the pocket at all time, allowed me to take the picture of the painter redoing letter of an ad on the wall outside of Paris. This shot reminded me some photographs made in the 50’s, but it has the modernity of the metallic ladder. I like it because it is not only rare to see that in France, where this kind of “billboard” did tend to disappear, but it is like two worlds put back together.
Please visit Xavier Lhospice’s personal website on xavierlhospice.com.
Would you like to be a Featured photographer? You can – here’s how
Beautiful picture. Seen in large shows all the details and texture!
Lovely tone and moment.