Parisians photographed by Jean-Baptiste Pellerin gathered in a book

You have probably already seen them in the street, stuck to the wall under transparent glass: the photographs by Jean-Baptiste Pellerin (born in 1968) have been appearing for ten years right on the corner of city boulevards, calling out to attentive passers-by.

Their subject: the Parisianstheir looks, their smiles, their facial expressions, their poses with friends, their children, their odd jobs (bartenders, doormen, sweepers), their pets, their anger too (during a demonstration, arrested by the police, gathered in front of a busy fire at Place de la République).

Nearly 200 photographs

“I try through my smile and my good humor to give my model enough confidence to create a natural pose. »

For the tenth anniversary of this great portrait of ParisLes Grandes Personnes editions publish one exciting collectionwith a short introduction written by its author followed by nearly 200 photos… Where almost all the models look straight into the camera’s eyes, smiling.

You have to imagine the man behind the camera, an extravagant photographer all in kindness and wearing a beret: “I try, through my smile and my good humor, to give my model enough confidence to create a natural pose,” he explains in the preamble.

Inspired by Robert Doisneau

He also tells how he discovered photography, somewhat by chance, thanks to a gift from his father who was worried about his future. Equipped with a Pentax case “a little worn, like in the movies”, he first grasps “people without their knowledge”inspired by the images of Robert Doisneau.

In 2014, he opt for the posed photoand immortalizes the refugees in a camp set up a stone’s throw from his home. The same year, he opened up to “strangers”, then a documentary on Banksy decided him to hang your photographs all over town“the concept being to return my photos to the street,” he explains further.

All Paris, all Parisians

Since then, he has stuck more than 4,000 executives all over the worldand took even more photographs, most of them light, joyful, rich in the crazy style of the people he stopped at, others more disturbing, portraits of activists, homeless people, garbage collectorspeople with disabilities, transgender people, chimney sweeps.

The ultra-visible and the invisible, on which man always poses a kind look – in the most honorable and respectful sense of the term. There is humor in each of his images, light and, above all, an infinite love for Parisits nuances, its strange beings, its kids on scooters, its umbrellas. The whole thing is very beautiful, and much more moving than it seems at first glance.