Ben Wilhelmi

Paris, Street b/w photography with a Rolleiflex

a 1961 Rolleiflex 3.5F medium format to be precise.

The advantage of a ‘weird’ Rolleiflex Twin Lens Reflex is that it looks so special that people don’t see it as a threat. Maybe these 2 pretty girls wouldn’t have posed and smiled at me had I been pointing with a bulky modern digital reflex and big lens… then they may have seen the link between my vintage camera and their vintage Vespa?

 

this other pretty unaware model didn’t even notice me. Special feat of the Rolleiflex: the usual position to shoot is to hold the camera on your belly. People sometimes don’t even notice you're snapping away. 

 

on the Trocadéro scene.

Paris, B/W photography

 

I’m not a translator, but basically here we go

“Passer-by, stop here, the building was dedicated to the muses and to the joy by R.S., he welcomed therein the famous Cabaret du Chat Noir”. The Muses and Joy… what a program

 

Paris on B/W films, street photography

 

 

one of the excellent  Yellow Korner galleries. A young connoisseur admiring nudes.

 

did you know LP’s are back, brand new? There was a t-shirt with various dates of birth and death for music tapes, Walkman, LP’s…but for the latter there was a rebirth date!

 

 

street photography, spring time in Paris

 

Champs-de-Mars, near the Eiffel Tower, people enjoying some puffs.

 

Prints for sale, Les Tuileries.

 

La Pyramide, le Louvre.

 

Le Pont des Arts, nice place ofr pedestrians to relax over the Seine. Notice the numerous padlocks on the fence. They express eternal love or wishes for…

 

les Colonnes de Buren.

 

les Tuileries near the Obélisque entrance.

  

Paris is peppered with many little green spaces.

Paris in B/W photography

Spring in Paris, "à la Doisneau", that is a with an old Rolleiflex camera, his favorite. 

Paris, b/w pictures

 

 

shot with a 1961 Rolleiflex 3.5F, medium format

a Rolleiflex in Paris, b/w street photography

 

 

a wink to Cartier-Bresson, a man in partial profile with family eating on the Seine bank.

 

Paris, B/W street photography

 

with a Leica M6, great camera for street shooting. Zeiss and Voigtlander/Bessa for instance have done great similar great rangefinder cameras too. Nikon and Canon too but decades ago...

spring time in Paris, B/W photography

 

 

Leica M6, Delta 100 films

Paris, B/W, Rolleiflex

 

that is a vintage 1961 Rolleiflex 3.5F

Notre-Dame.

Montmartre, caricature artist at work.

Le Sacré-Coeur

Pink Floyd, Versailles concert, 1988

 

With all the fuss this year about Pink Floyd and incredible released remasters on the market, I thought I could fish for some old stuff too.

June 1988, still in some final exam period, some dudes and I went to Paris. Initially the exams were supposed to be done by then. Things change…but we were not going to let some exams prevent us to assist to a Pink Floyd gig. At 19, a bit of rock’n’roll attitude for f… sake! Convincing mom was quite easy being a fan herself. Going to Versailles was easy in one afternoon.

But it took many hours by night and early morning to come back from neighboring Paris since we lived in the middle of nowhere Belgium…I think there was  an alphabetical order for taking exams, so we didn’t have to worry that much for arriving early at school that morning, still without stopping home for breakfast nor showers. Not quite fresh for oral exams… I had a biology exam but that teacher was a cool post hippy kind of guy who seemed quite interested in the concert after all, asking a few questions about it and I didn’t have the feeling he tried to trash me. He must have grown up with the Floyd, maybe even a fan. My friend jean-Louis had a harder time with his P.E. exam, haha.

Anyway, Versailles…yes the castles, Louis XIV and all… in the middle a Floyd concert! How the authorities and the band ever got a deal puzzles me. But then there was Venice, the Pyramids, there had been Pompei…

As in many concerts, photography is prohibited. With all due respect to Floyd… and I brought some gear. I still bought the VHS and CD’s later on (1988, remember) but I liked the challenge and still do to get my own stuff. Now I was a real rookie by then and thought nothing better than bringing a 100-300 mm zoom! Too dark zoom and the films by then…400 iso was the maximum for decent pictures. 1000 or 1600 iso films were extreme, and rarely great, touchy to use. For my next concerts, including another Pink Floyd, I had a 135mm 2.8 lens, much better.

The security guys searched everybody got me take the batteries out of the camera, didn’t spot my spare batteries luckily. For all the cheap cameras or the ones working without battery, it was either going back or dumping them on the high piles of cameras behind, with no return I suppose. Rookies but we planned ahead still. Like spare batteries, or Jean-Louis carrying the big zoom only. So when he got searched he pretended the zoom was only to be used as binocular, got searched a second time for a camera body and was let go. Obviously that staff knew nothing about cameras.

 

so, poorly equipped, lack of experience, some pictures turned blurry but some were OK to salvage.

David Gilmour under the spotlights, Nick Mason on drums.

 

Pink Floyd being Pink Floyd, the screen was showing incredible video clips! Here along with “Time” track.

 

Some got blurry as said earlier.

Laser shows were all the rage in the 80’s

B/W street photography, Paris

 

my great Leica M and black’n’white films at work in Paris, springtime.

Champs-de-Mars, 2 girls napping after lunch.

 

ZZ Top on the Seine?

 

Jardins des Tuileries, an illegal souvenir seller bothering 2 girls.

 

la Pyramide du Louvre and around.

 

la cour carrée du Louvre.

 

Colonnes de Buren, young model having fun.

 

les Jardins du Palais Royal.

 

complementary t-shirts.

Paris, vintage cars in B/W

 
B/W film, Leica M6.

Steve Mc Queen's Ford Mustang in "Bullit". What a beast, huh? Paris got a few hills but nothing to match San Francisco.

 

more of the Ralph Lauren's collection. A Ferrari above and 2 Alfa Romeos below if I remember well. And I remember well that pictures were forbidden...a concept I just can't stand in exhibition places.

and a Jaguar below. What a profile...

 

a Citroen 2CV, a myth! The big competitor of the Beetle, well at least in Europe since the USA refused to let them in for some obscure safety reasons. On the other hand, and I love America for its numerous paradoxes, no problem for junk and OGM food or free guns for all (especially for the unspotted retarded...)

Starting in the 40's the last French 2 CV was built in 1989 but Chile kept on assembling them for a while under licence. Like the Beetle the general shape hardly changed, no need to change a winning team. I used to have a bright red one and loved it so much I wish I had one here. The conditions would be perfect as over the decades those cars were notorious for handling world trips without problems. I saw one the Kenyan roads.

 

a bit older, here are a bunch whose drivers stopped by for a take away at Fauchon restaurant, here is the Fauchon doorman.

 
 

Paris, cemetery le Père Lachaise

 

the most beautiful cemetery in Paris and around, le Père Lachaise. This spring, I went back to Europe with only film cameras, my Leica M6 and vintage Rolleiflex 3.5F, I had decided to shoot Paris and Brussels old-school style. I had also reused my very first camera, a Minolta X700. Below the Leica at work.

another stylish example. If I were to get some inspiration from this dude, I’d have a statue carved like an aircraft with cameras dangling from the propeller. “His friends and admirers” says the caption, nothing less!

 

Oscar Wilde’s tombstone, angel style for Oscar Wilde?! Cool isn’t it?

 

she looks bored amongst the dead people.

 

 

cobble stones and high heels don’t mix well.

 

 

 

 

street life in Paris, B/W images

 

street photography again in Paris last spring. Only film stuff, B/W films, here used with a Leica M. Such a wonder of a camera.

 

 

Canal St Martin, young woman reading. A feat in this age of  iPod and various electronic devices. Sometimes I couldn’t help but wonder what’s the point of visiting such a beautiful city, or whatever else, and spend so much time with the nose stuck in an apparatus… gulf between generations I guess.

 

the typical old artistic sign and posts for the metro or tube stations.

 

les Buttes Chaumont, the belvedere is the highest point of view.

 

food! In Paris, lots of choices of course.

 

 

an American in Paris?

 

not an artist but a guy selling posters, employed victim of the Asian mafia apparently.

 

the famous Hotel du Nord, used in the eponymous classic French film. I guess had the director chosen another title, that hotel would be by now forgotten as there is not much to it.

Paris, spring 2011, street shooting on b/w films

people shot in various locations in Paris.

Buttes Chaumont.

 

le bassin de la Villette.

playing steel balls, aka pétanque. Far from the French stereotype, right? No black beret, no cigarette,no sleeveless shirt and no baguette under the armpit.

 

Opéra Garnier.

 

Paris without terraces would quite a different city.

 

all shot on a medium format camera from 1961, a Rolleiflex.

street photography in Paris on B/W films

 

Karine and I stumbled on this band, René Miller’s Band. So good that I bought a CD on the spot.

this musician even chose a vintage haircut to be tuned with the music they were playing.

 

not sure this is a good idea to get in a chocolate shop, lady…Godiva or not.

 

the public bicycle, that is the Vélib. Quite a success story in Paris and other French cities.

 

fashionistas.

 

just read in the news this Clara Halter’s piece of art for peace in the world was at the center of an argument to put it down or not. The word “peace” is written in 32 languages. Not my favorite style but at least it doesn’t clash by being built too close to an ancient monument. It is easy to skip it on any picture of the Eiffel tower or the military school behind me. Nothing like the glass pyramid at the Louvre which hits you in the face and can’t be avoided.

 

all shot on Leica M6 and b/w films.

Paris, street photography in B/W

 

Paris, spring 2011. Street photography with a vintage camera, a 1961 Rolleiflex.

nail painting any time of the day was not an unusual scene.

 

many girls were smart and graceful….the legendary Parisiennes… (of course some might be tourists but tourists wherever they go tend to be poorly dressed, no?)

Paris, street pictures, b/w film on Rolleiflex

 

near the Trocadéro.

 

suddenly these tuk tuks were all over the place in Paris. I don’t remember them the previous years….

 

Karine and I thought this detail of the Eiffel looked like a piece of sexy underpants dividing imaginary buttocks.

 

place de la Madeleine.

 

all shot on a 1961 Rolleiflex 3.5F and b/w films

Paris, street photography, b/w films

 

Louvre, in the “cour carrée”.

 

Eglise St Vincent-de-Paul.

 

Champs de Mars. 2 young girls napping after a serious lunch on the grass. Bottles of wine, empty…

 

Basilique du Sacré-Coeur in Montmartre.

 

Eglise (church) de la Madeleine.

 

One Yellow Corner shop.

Karine wondering what piece of art to buy. Yellow Corner is a superb springboard for photographers. Maybe I should consider?

all pictures shot on Leica M6, loaded with b/w films.

Paris, street photography

Spring 2011 in Paris, perfect weather. After the Fukushima accident, people were protesting even more than before. Here a lady at the place de la Bastille, symbolic place….

within the Louvre perimeter.

 

fireman on duty.

notice the old fashioned contraption to carry a hose.

 

scooters are all the rage in such a congested city. The old Vespa style still gather many aficionados.

all shot on a 1961 Rolleiflex medium format camera and B/W films.

Paris, B/W street photography

 

I know it looks awfully touristic but these guys are often real artists. In Montmartre around the Sacré-Coeur, dozen of them offer their services.

 

le Sacré-Coeur.

 

Place de la Bastille.

 

2 views of Notre-Dame.

booksellers alongside the Seine. I just love wandering near these books shops, I’ve found great stuff there.

All above hot on b/w films and with a vintage Rolleiflex camera from 1961.

Paris, around the Sacré-Coeur, b/w film

 

a little walk in Montmartre with a vintage 1961 Rolleiflex camera, stepping in Robert Doisneau’s steps.

Street photography, Paris, Rolleiflex and b/w film

 

these 2 lovely girls happily posed for me. I guess using a vintage camera like a Rolleiflex helps. It looks so much out of place one doesn’t look like a perv’ with a bazooka lens?

 

Opéra Garnier, a band member.

 

view from the Trocadéro.

 

happy couple, Louvre. I watched a bit and it seemed to me people, even kids didn’t really pay attention anymore. I guess the intolerant bunch stayed away…As said before, no chance to see girls behaving like this in some parts of the world…

 

Billy boys posing for a pro photographer behind me.

 

 

a bridge, Ile St-Louis, girls making up.