Slightly Nutty Street Photography

    The cleaning lady and I were the only people in the museum gardens on a hot summer morning. As the sun started to fall on the columns, I had the impression that she was desperately trying to sweep all this warm and sudden light as if it was nasty dust to get rid of.

     At a flea market, this owner of an art gallery was selling frames in front of his shop. As he was asked the price of one particular frame, he tried to find it written somewhere and I took the opportunity to snap him lost among all his frames.

     During the May Day parade, this kid was waiting for his parents talking to friends nearby. He started to make a great hat from tree leaves, and to imagine a story for himself probably based on pirats or  musketeers.

     I've been passing in front of this little shop selling fresh coffee many times before, the owner usually talking to customers or packing stuff at the back. But this time, he was cleaning his coffee pots, and you could feel from the other side of the window that it made him happy.

     Just before this bridal dress shop closed definitely, I snapped this runner who seemed to be running into the arms of one of the mannequins. Maybe he was  regretting the closure of that beautiful store as much as I did, and it  was his way to say goodbye to them.

     This summer was very hot, and people tended  to hide in air-conditioned shops. This old man was taking all his time, just after entering, to avoid a thermal shock.

     It was not even spring yet, but the sun was splashing the pavements. As an old man and his dog were approaching me with the sun in their backs, it looked like they were  emerging from a veritable sea of light.

     Unlike the young actor, the old man  doesn't particularly want to be known or even recognized. He just wants to walk a little in his neighbourhood,  under the quiet anonymity guaranteed by his good old cap.

     As I was in a Grenoble place called Minimistan, with great wall paints everywhere, I noticed this painting of a girl smoking a cigarette, with eyes shut and smoke rising from her mouth along her face. I was waiting for something else to photograph with, when a very elegant man passed by. And just before I snapped the scene, he gently closed his eyes, showing beautiful eyelids looking alike the girl's ones.

          At first I was attracted by the beautiful starry background of this shop window. Then I noticed, as she noticed me shortly after, the girl sitting in front and waiting for someone. And finally I saw the mannequin, striking the pose from the beginning for me to take her picture.

   A few days before Christmas, people were running  all over the city center to finish their gift shopping.  This frenetic atmosphere disgusted me and I felt the urgent need to find some calmer place. Which I found on the sidewalk in front of a paper shop selling postcards. A woman was alone there, hidden in the middle of the postcard displays, simply and slowly choosing a greeting card.

     The  end of a cold winter afternoon. For me like for this old lady and her little dog, it was time for a short walk. As I followed them in a narrow street, I was struck by the vision of a huge wall painting whose hand seemed to  be trying to grab  both the dog and its mistress.

     It was about noon in a crowded street of London, and a few people were already having lunch on the terraces  of chic restaurants. I spotted a waiter carrying a huge pepper pot. As he came by a couple, wondering if their meals possibly need extra pepper, I found the scene funny and shot it immediately. The three actors and their great facial expressions actually made it even funnier than I expected.

          From Brighton's famous Palace Pier, I was appreciating the view on the beach. Seagulls were flying above, showing their nice shadows on the boards and I deciced to shoot one of these.

     B efore leaving London's Science Museum, I noticed this window showing a cat jumping towards butterflies and lots of other different types of animals. As a girl came by, I pretended to be shooting this window so that she leaned over and looked as if she was attacked by this crazy cat.

     Little Venice is an affluent residential district in North West London, located around the junction of several canals. With my wife and kids, I was following one of these canals when a tall blond man caught up on us. And his t-shirt's stripes were in nice agreement with the bars.

     In Camden Market,  jewelry sellers  are quite imaginative in decorating their shops. One was  inspired by ancient Egypt, with a few statues of famous deities lined up against a wall. Just like me, a young lady was surprised by these and I was lucky enough to catch her reaction.

     This dad had just picked up his boy at his basketball training session. The young fellow  still had his mind on his sport and was working on his ball throw, while his proud dad played the role of the coach and carried his bag.

       Since then, I've found out that this shop window is famous in London. But the surprise was entire when I first saw the huge T-rex. And a few seconds later, I decided to cross the street in a hurry to take a picture of this lady taking a bite of her sandwich just in front of the dinosaur's huge teeth.

     At the Beaucroissant agricultural fair, this old timer was obviously waiting for someone at the entrance of one of the giant parking lots set in  the fields all around. Such a contrast between country life and the modern car world was so striking in this vision I had that I snapped it.