Eugene Atget

Eugene Atget        

          Eugene Atget was a French photographer who lived from 1857 to 1927.  He came to be known as a surrealist, a fact that Atget denied throughout the entirety of his photographic stint.  His photographs concentrated on documenting the city of Paris from its large structures and buildings to the smallest details of store fronts, windows, and doors.  The interesting thing about Atget is he was never considered to be a famous photographer until well after he passed away.  Only then did people look back and see the amazing quality of his work during the time period it was shot.  Also, they began to debate just what his work was about.  Was Atget truly a surrealist, interested in photographing subjects only meant to represent other things, or was he simply a documentary photographer who wanted Paris to be remembered for how it was during this period of time?  We still do not know the answer to this question but we will let Atget's work speak for itself.

          This first photograph (below) is a striking scene of a Paris street, photographed with Atget's unique perspective.  Whether Atget knew it or not, he had a very good sense of composition, and also seemed to always find adequate lighting to accentuate these perspectives.  Just look at this frame.  We see two fronts of buildings on either side of a Paris street, then a much larger building behind, shaded by mist, partially hiding its identity.  We see from this photograph why some people may argue about Atget's intentions.  Was he simply trying to document these buildings and the street on which they lie, or was he considering the haze in the background and making some kind of statement about the uncertainty of the future?  I choose to believe that Atget was first thinking about the place he chose to stand and the way that he filled the frame, and never really realized that he was inferring things about our lives aside from the photo.

          This second photo (below) is another good example of the same style, but with a bit of a twist.  The difference in this photo is we can see people in the frame, which always helps to add a touch of humanity and timeliness.  The way that the road curves around to lead us to the larger monument near the back right side of the frame is very interesting and clever, and the buildings on the left side follow the same line to keep us interested and our eyes moving throughout the frame.  When Atget photographed his street scenes, he had a very intentional way of placing everything in the frame so that we can observe these aspects and appreciate them.  He wanted to document Paris as a beautiful place to be, with many unique attributes, and I think that he succeeds in this goal.

mples of the type of work he does.  More than anything, what I gain from this work is inspiration.  I always obtain inspiration from architectural photographers but Weller stands above many in my book due to his excellent craft.