4 March 2009, I fell into the possession of a ticket. That ticket allowed the admission of one adult to the pre-opening night of the new Marc Riboud exhibition at the Musée de la Vie Romantique. Who is this Marc Riboud you ask? Don’t you worry, I had no idea either, until I went and saw his work. That’s when I realized I knew who this man was, and I knew him well.
We’ve all seen the photo of the young girl at a protest, sticking a flower into one of the barrels of many rifles pointed in her direction. Pretty intense. And you may have seen the picture of a man casually painting the Eiffel Tour, trusting the thin metal beneath his feet that’s suspending him hundreds of meters above ground, with a very very tiny looking Paris in the background. That was the photo that made him famous, but his other photos are what gave me and many others inspiration that night.
Ribound was (and still is, even at the age of 85) a world traveler. He went to China, Africa, America, Thailand, anywhere a boat or plane could take someone, and took pictures of people and their conditions. Life at it’s best, life at it’s worst, colors, no colors, blurry pictures, clear pictures, Paris, friends, family, strangers. Some pictures were absolutely astonishing, others were not, but it was appropriate and exploited in the best of ways. We all know his work because we are his work, we are the human condition he was so enthralled with. To be able to see the progression of different social movements and everyday life during those times through the work of one man in one night was an experience I’ll never forget.
I was given the ticket because the Graduate student overseeing the program here had two, and couldn’t go for some unknown reason. She talked to another girl in our program about photography during our first week here, and she saw my ancient Canon AE-1 during our touristy outings, so she thought we would both enjoy it. She has no idea how much we did, I’ve kept my camera close at hand ever since.
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ReplyDeleteThanks for the post . . . a few comments:
- You are a wonderful writer . . . very descriptive . . . you have a real gift of being able to paint a picture for the reader.
- I did not know Marc Ribound by name, but when I looked up his images, several were familiar. The really successful craftsmen (not just good portrait photographers, but world famous artists such as Ribound or Annie Leibovitz) are able to capture [as you said it] 'life'. Very inspiring work.
- I did not know you had a Canon AE-1. If you are interested, I have a 70-300mm zoom that will fit your AE-1 . . . if you want it when you return, it is yours.
- Please call me by my first name . . . I am a simple guy, and as a bonus you will make me feel comfortable.
P