Geoffrey James's Paris

I bought a copy of this book yesterday and would like to recommend it

to people who are interested in urban landscape photography. Amazon

has one copy left, but apparently more are on the way.

I purchased the book at the Canadian Museum of Contemporary

Photography, where the current exhibit happens to contain several

works from Mr. James's series Place: A City on the Prairie. That

series is also available as a book, with a text by author Rudy Wiebe,

but the museum was sold out of it.

As much as I like the book Paris, I admit to being a tad miffed that

Mr. James gave my old neighbourhood, the 14th arrondissment, rather

short shrift. If you read this, Mr. James, next time you are in

Paris go and see Didier Leger at the laboratory/gallery Imaginoir

(www.imaginoir.fr). Didier lives and works in the 14th and will help

you make amends for this ovesight.

http://www.photoeye.com/indexbookstore.html

check out the "booktease"

not sure I'd want to be known as "one of the most underappreciated photographers working in the landscape today" ...?

Rory,

Sorry about the 14th arrondissement. I guess I'm not an equal-arrondissement photographer, or maybe some arrondissements are more equal than others. I just followed my nose, and seemed to end up on the Rive Droite mainly in the east. The book has something to do with the transformation of working-class Paris. Paris is hard to photograph. Tim, under-appreciated is fine. One doesn't want fame too early -- it can go to one's head. Seriously, Photo-Eye has always treated my books well. I do books for a variety of reasons, but one is to overcome the old notion that geography is destiny (Toronto being something of a graveyard of ambition.) It's like putting a message in a bottle and throwing it into the sea. You never know who you will reach, but eventually other messages come back. Plus, I have never felt really at ease in the world of so-called "fine art photography." Seem to fit more easily into the discourses surrounding architecture and contemporary art. The pleasure, though, is in the work.

I'm generally describew as "one of the most unkown photographers working in the landscape today" ;-)

tim

"Paris is hard to photograph."

Especially if you don't want cars in your pictures. You must have been carting your camera around awfully early in the morning.

You really should drop by Imaginoir next time you're in Paris. Didier Leger runs what is probably the best lab in the city and he regularly hosts exhibits. He's also a great guy.