Paris Photo Report

[David Watson]

Thanks to Edmund for doing this but I was really disappointed when I read the story.  No criticism of Edmund but I thought he was about to Preview the real Paris Photo show which launches tomorrow and carries on until the weekend.  Forget local galleries, forget museums, forget one-off shows about photography and get over to Paris where, in the Palais Royal, you will see the greatest concentration of photographic art, old and new, anywhere in Europe.

I am getting on the Eurostar in London on Saturday morning for a day in Paris - a good lunch followed by an afternoon looking at some great (and well some not so great) photographs.  See you there!

http://www.parisphoto.com

[ysengrain]

Without any doubt very interesting. But nowadays in Paris to enter a "show" in Grand Palais, even if you're an entrance ticket owner, you have to queue for about 45 minutes outside in rain and wind.

Not for me whatever is the great interest of this fair

[David Watson]

Without any doubt very interesting. But nowadays in Paris to enter a "show" in Grand Palais, even if you're an entrance ticket owner, you have to queue for about 45 minutes outside in rain and wind.

Not for me whatever is the great interest of this fair

Ah!  The trick is to ask an exhibitor for a VIP pass and this gets you in notwithstanding the queue!

[ysengrain]

I advise you to try your trick. And to forget to reply with the result Mr VIP ;•))

[David Watson]

Well I went to Paris on Saturday 16th for the day, picked up my VIP ticket, courtesy of Flowers Gallery in London.  I last went in 2011 and was fortunate enough to be there first thing on the first day.  There were relatively few people that early and there were a huge number of historic and contemporary photographs to see - it was indeed a feast for the eyes.  In fact we bought several including a large print by Christian Tagliavini and a more modest Simon Roberts print of Cliveden Pier.

This year we clearly went on the wrong day (Saturday).  There was a large and tacky Christmas fair outside and the show was absolutely packed with non-spending sightseeers complete with two children in their large  4x4 push chairs.  It was horrendous and really very difficult to see many of the exhibits.  The better stuff by Burtynsky et al was all printed at huge sizes (and prices to match) and was clearly aimed at the corporate or museum market.  Not many of us have the space to hang photographs which are 2m square or bigger.

We bought a nice print by Danish photographer Trine Sondergard from Martin Asbaek's gallery stand.

Link here:

www.martinasbaek.com
http://www.trinesondergaard.com

Good lunch in the Minipalais restaurant in the Grand Palais itself.  Supper in Terminus Nord before heading backing to London that evening.

Next year I will go the the preview on Wednesday.

[Eric Kellerman]

I went to Paris Photo on the Friday, and it was jam-packed. Fortunately I could get in immediately with my press card. But traipsing around the galleries was not much fun, so crowded was it (and indeed, the pushchairs were very much in evidence). Fotofever at the Caroussel du Louvre on the same day was much more manageable, and as my publisher had a stand there, I had both an anchor point and an enjoyable hour or two of chat.