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Film: Enfin! Large Format Fine Images of the unheard of Postcard Photographer of Paris!

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
By the time you finish reading this and especially if you browse the picture on the New York times link below, you will have decided to buy this special book and even at a savings of $13!

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Book cover Photo WW Norton & Co Yvon's Paris
Retail Price $40.00​

Reflections of Paris: David Dunlap writes on the NYT Lens blog report of the book Yvon's Paris.


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Yvon: Paris from Reflections of Paris



Are Yvon’s photographs as resonant as they are because they capture the spirit of Paris so well? Or is Paris as resonant as it is because it captures the spirit of Yvon’s postcards so well?

The question is not facetious. In looking through “Yvon’s Paris,” by Robert Stevens, which W. W. Norton & Company has just published, I had to ask myself whether Yvon’s postcard views of Paris — especially the quais along the Seine — had subconsciously shaped my view of the city itself; so much so that I wouldn’t trust my own eyes unless the scene before me looked like an Yvon: silvery water, leaden skies, misty outlines, thin light.

Not that I knew who Yvon was before the book came out. Until recently, I would have recognized that name only as the signature line — raked like an acute accent — on vintage, black-and-white picture postcards.


Read the entire NYT article here.


On the Amazon.com page to buy the book for $26.40 , one reviewer writes, in part




Genius is knowing when to stop. The French did, early on, and now they have a city with extravagantly beautiful buildings topped with a sky as open as Kansas. Customs change. Storefronts and restaurants change. Paris remains.

It should be a simple matter to photograph Paris. Pick your image, wait for the best light, shoot. What we do not know, as we hold up our digitals, is that one photographer beat us to most of these pictures --- Pierre Yves-Petit, known professionally as Yvon.

Born in Bordeaux 1886, he discovered photography at 12. A few years later, he "discovered" 100 francs --- a worker's wages for a month --- in his father's desk and bought a camera. At 23, he moved to Paris, took a dull job, and spent his weekends bicycling around Paris. By 1919, he was a published photographer.

Yvon's great gift was a refined sense of light. He loathed direct sunlight, working most often in that great light that defines Paris for many of us. That light revealed architectural details and shadows; it suggests the fullness of the day. When he shot in fog, in the early morning --- even better, when there were clouds --- he felt the photo was complete."
 
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Ruben Alfu

New member
Born in Bordeaux 1886, he discovered photography at 12. A few years later, he "discovered" 100 francs --- a worker's wages for a month --- in his father's desk and bought a camera. At 23, he moved to Paris, took a dull job, and spent his weekends bicycling around Paris. By 1919, he was a published photographer.

What beautiful story, the book surely promises to be a nice addition to any photographer's library. Thanks for sharing Asher!
 
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