May 10, 2014 through June 10, 2014

Roger Dorband - Paris Solitaire

Images from the City of Light

“I began this body of work on a visit to Paris in 1980 using my first camera, a 35mm Olympus OM1 loaded with tri-X 400 ISO black and white film. At the time I was unaware of the great tradition of street photography in Paris with which I was unconsciously aligning myself. Since then I have made a half dozen photographic trips to Paris. When I am there I always use the same camera and film type with which I began the series.

Perhaps because by now I have looked at so many photographs of the city by Atget, Brassi, Doisneau, Cartier-Bresson, Robert Frank, Man Ray, Bernice Abott and many others, I see Paris in black and white. Not that I don’t respect the color work of modernists like William Eggelston and William Klein, but for me black and white and the graininess of Tri-X film still provides the grit and atmosphere that I find synonymous with the streets of Paris.

All of Paris is a vast stage set of amazing architecture, great public art and wonderful light and spaces where the players are the residents and visitors of every stripe who go about the city with a sense of ownership and conduct their lives openly in the cafes and narrow streets and along the sprawling boulevards; a city where one sees and is seen, where one can take pride in simply being in a place where so much greatness has transpired. My goal is to contribute in a humble way to the great human photographic document whose subject is the kaleidoscope of Paris.” ~ Roger Dorband

Please visit Roger’s website with his Bio and other work

Return to Exhibits