Willy Ronis and HCB

[vincentbenoit]

For those of you who understand spoken French (or don't, but like the music anyway), here is a recent video interview of Master Ronis :
http://www.lexpress.fr/mag/arts/dossier/photographe/dossier.asp?ida=435314

Great, thanks for the link.
I like the way he explains in part 4 that his calling was music rather than photography, and he only came to the latter "by accident". ("Parce que ma vocation c'etait la musique et pas du tout la photo et que la photo etait le resultat d'un accident [...]")

Vincent

 

[hoot]

For the record, though I strongly agree with Ronis's choice, in my opinion nothing beats Cartier-Bresson's Alicante, Spain, 1932. This is a photograph that truly awes me every time I look at it. When Ronis mentioned the word "ballet" in the interview, these three women immediately came to mind.

 

[Beniliam]

Excellent link.

Can some French - English spoken translate the most important phrases that said in the video?

One comment, has the voice sweeter than Cartier Bresson? Almost in the oldness ... 😛

 

[Marc-A.]

Hello,
I am back in this exciting thread. I had time to order books by Willy Ronis ... there are so many photos I didn't know altogether or photos I didn't know Ronis made them.

Last year I did some walks across Belleville, searching for houses and facilities which have survived the pretty radical urban renewal in the 80s, but this place has vanished completely , incredible, as if it never had existed . They have built the Parc Belleville there.
I went down the stairs leading into the park, , sat on a bank and mourned for a world which has disappeared for ever. Merde! Les spéculateurs ont gagné.
bertram

You're damn right Bertram!

 

[Marc-A.]

By the excellent link. I tried to translate some important parts of the interview ... it is far from being satisfactory but those who don't understand French at all, will have an idea of what Ronsi says.

The interview is split in four parts, I translated only bits of the first three parts:

1. Painters educated me about composition and taught me how to see bodies in space and how to see the composition of bodies in their connection … as if life was a ballet and I was happy to record those slices of life ballet … above all, when there are several characters on the same stage. [He takes an example in his portfolio, a scene with two characters walking in the sunlight; he explains that the photographer must know when he has to seize the moment; there is a moment when the photographer has to see the picture. He shows a series from which the photo has been drawn as an evidence that one minute too soon or too late, it would have been missed.] You have to earn it. You have to anticipate it, to hope it is happening, and eventually it is actually happening … or not (...)

2. Sometimes, you are not happy with the reportage one proposes you to make. But you may accept it only because you have to earn your crust [the interviewer asks: that was the reason for the job you made for Vogue magazine?] No, the job for Vogue was funny, I was having fun (…)

3. [I can’t understand the question of the interviewer; she seems to ask him whether he considers himself as a “committed photographer” or maybe a “human photographer”] … yes, we can say that, it is an adequate designation. We are interested in the situation of our fellow creatures, people who look like us and whom we look like, people we meet in the streets, ordinary people … these are the people we are interested in. Everyday life is our favourite ground … those moments when you can feel you are in harmony with the context. This does not mean that I photograph only the happy moments, indeed I have also photographed sad things, even hard moments since I have made social [that is worker’s] photographs. I considered myself as committed photographer. I shared, throughout my own life, men’s struggle for their dignity, for a better life … I felt this quest deep inside.

The last part is probably the most important one for us, as Ronis evoques HCB.
To be continued ....
Bests,
Marc

 

[Beniliam]

Marc, thank you very much for your effort for translate the interview. Its very interesting the points talked in the interview. THANK YOU!

 

[hoot]

Thank you for this thoughtful translation, Marc. In a way, it's like a good photograph, slicing the essence out of the chaotic whole.

 

[Marc-A.]

You're welcome 😉 when I have a minute, I translate the forth part.
Take care,
Marc

 

[Bertram2]

I considered myself as committed photographer. I shared, throughout my own life, men’s struggle for their dignity, for a better life … I felt this quest deep inside. [/I]

Marc

Confirms that my understanding of his intentions was correct. Marc, thanks a lot for going the extra mile for this translation, my spoken French est trop pauvre .
I'll be in Paris in June for a week, we will live close to Blvd Clichy there. Would be a pleasure for me to invite you for a beer? 🙂

Regards,
Bertram

 

[John Robertson]

I must join you on a trip to Paris next year Bertram, M & I can go shopping while we photograph!!

 

[Bertram2]

I must join you on a trip to Paris next year Bertram, M & I can go shopping while we photograph!!

Brilliant idea, everybody would be happy, or, as the stuffed shirts say nowadays, a true win-win situation !! 😀 😀

Bertram

 

[Alec]

I am glad to see that Willy Ronis is turning into the French equivalent of a national treasure. The other night he was interviewed on France Inter, the largest public radio:
http://www.podemus.com/feed/9aa45f5a1f4641369e454e669867f9b4/

More work for you translators 😉

 

[Beniliam]

Alec, thanks again for other link.

For me its almost equal of important know how an author feels the photography that how are their photos...and always with the foundation of Willy Ronis.

 

[Marc-A.]

I'll be in Paris in June for a week, we will live close to Blvd Clichy there. Would be a pleasure for me to invite you for a beer? 🙂
Bertram

With pleasure Bertram! 🙂
John, we'll see you next year!
I'm off Paris from the 1st to the 10th of June (I'm in the South for a rest week). Not available on 16-17 and 22-23 June (conferences) ... humm, not many possibilities 🙁
Maybe we can set something in PM, ok? Just a question though: are you avoiding Germany during the Worldcup? 😉

Thanks for the link Alec! I'll see what I can do, although I'm not a translator (and don't have much time ...). Maybe you or Vincent can help me 🙄

Take care,

Marc

 

[Bertram2]

With pleasure Bertram! 🙂
John, we'll see you next year!
I'm off Paris from the 1st to the 10th of June (I'm in the South for a rest week). Not available on 16-17 and 22-23 June (conferences) ... humm, not many possibilities 🙁
Maybe we can set something in PM, ok? Just a question though: are you avoiding Germany during the Worldcup? 😉
Marc

No, not because of le foot, just because since a while I am in Paris every year in June, my birthday present, you see ? I'll PM you !

Regards,
Bertram

 

[John Robertson]

Oh God!!!! I had forgotten about the f***ball, after all we in Scotland gave up playing it at this level a few years ago . We had to leave room for others 😉
You tend to find during this period, that the support up here is for anyone other than our nearest southerly neighbour!! 🙄

 

[Bertram2]

Oh God!!!! I had forgotten about the f***ball, after all we in Scotland gave up playing it at this level a few years ago . We had leave room for others 😉
You tend to find during this period, that the support up here is for anyone other than our nearest southerly neighbour!! 🙄

Ouhh, tough, as I see you are beggin' for a big bottle of "Haumichblau Essenz" from the Englishmen here on the list ? 😱 The German elephant cavalry must stay strictly neutral tho, I have friends on both sides. Good luck and have a nice time with all the super sexy nurses in your hospital !
😀 😀 😀

Bertram

For the non-German-speaking part:
Hau = hit
mich = me
blau = blue

 

[Alec]

More work for you translators 😉

Actually, as a true jack of all trades and master of none, I once earned a meager living by my even more meager translating skills.

Now I know better: it is a much too difficult art to practice for me - I prefer to stick to what I (apparently) do best, ie advise people on how to do their own work.

Marc, your rendition was excellent. Thanks for the community.

Bertram, if you allow me to drink something other than beer, maybe we can meet some place in June around rue Campagne Première or boulevard de Clichy :angel:

 

[Bertram2]

Bertram, if you allow me to drink something other than beer, maybe we can meet some place in June around rue Campagne Première or boulevard de Clichy :angel:

Good idea ! If you don't like beer,o.k., no reason to give up ! 🙂 Blvd Clichy would be convenient for me, my hotel is near Metro Blanche, Rue Campgane Premier is not bad either, good place for photogs, we could meet in this Cafe in the house of Aget ? 🙂)

Agets House

My E-Mail notification is still not working, and I am not sure if the PM work correctly, so please send me an E-Mail on bertrambiz@ bersac.de please, what would be your suggestions for day and time.
I'll be there from 19th to 24th of June.

 

[Marc-A.]

Ronis' interview

Ronis' interview

Hello y'all,
I've been too much busy this week to finish the translation of Ronis' interview I owe you. But I finally had a moment this morning, and did it.

Fourth part:
I knew exactly what I wanted to show, that is nothing artificial but slices of life in which anyone can see his own reflection ... anyone could say ‘oh well I’ve experienced this kind of situation’ or ‘I’ve seen sometimes things like that’ … but genuinely, I didn’t want to lie to myself, to make things ‘in the style of…’ [“à la manière de…”] even if I strongly admired some photographers who were working in the same period as me, or worked before me, and who impressed me. For instance, the most redoubtable one was probably HCB, because my approach had some similarities to HCB’s approach, except that I’ve travelled much less than him …he photographed everyday life too. But the way he was looking at things was very personal [“mais il avait un regard qui était bien à lui”: this is a nightmare for the translator; if anyone has a better solution, please don’t be shy], and in spite of my admiration for him, I didn’t try to copy him. What has preserved me from that, is that, as my calling was music and not photography at all (photography was just the outcome of circumstances, an accident, you may say a lucky accident but still just an accident), I’ve never been haunted by the ghost of any of my predecessors. I’ve admired them, I’ve valued them, but I’ve never let myself be influenced by them. I knew I had an aptitude for photography; I understood that very early, then I said to myself: “be honest with yourself; you have an artistic education, you know exactly what you want, you know a good image when you see it, you know when you’re completely wrong, you know all that; therefore, your self-criticism is all you need … which does not blind you for all that … you go to the exhibitions and see the works of your friends [“les copains”: it’s stronger than in English; something between friend and comrade] … but, you have your own way … that’s it.

Take care,

Marc