Sur L'autobus

I just loved getting on buses and watched images race by. So getting things sharp was a big problem, but I really didn’t care about that. I was never into being very technical with my photography. As long as it looked good then who cares what the quality is like.

As I traveled around on these buses, if I saw something interesting I’d jump off. These old buses are now replaced with low floor ones so that people with wheelchairs can get on. In the summer you could ride these buses which had an open part in the back.

The sound of running water in the morning in Paris is like an alarm clock. They have taps in the street and are usually opened up early in the morning. The sweepers brush all the trash into the water and collected somewhere else. I’d just loved the sound of street sweepers in the morning.

I really don’t remember taking this photograph at all. I wonder how long they new each other? I never ask people if I can take their picture and people have told me that they don’t like that attitude. I feel a photographer should never interfere with his subjects. You are not there to make friends, only pictures.

This was the student look in Paris during the early 90’s. They really didn’t care about how they looked and at the same they were very conscious about how they looked. Black was one of the main colours for students at that time, it probably still is. It’s not really sharp but I don’t really care.

I never try to work full time because I always thought that I needed time to take pictures. So I’d get odd jobs in bars and the like just to stop myself from starving. I really didn’t care about money and I still don’t care about it. Money was never a motive to take pictures. Photographers should let their art speak and if it makes money, fair play.

I just love taking pictures where things stick out. With this photo the pair of legs are sticking out of the map inside the bus shelter. As a photographer try and make things look weird. I love making people not look like people.

Just walking around with your camera and taking pictures of ordinary day life is such a joy. I’m never happier when I’ve some free time and I want to walk the streets with no real aim but just to watch people and see what they do.

If you are traveling round and shooting on a bus you might want to work with a high shutter speed. I think I usually shot around 125th/sec and 400 ASA. Everything was manual back then so you had to pick a spot and focus on it. With the buses there are lot of reflections which I like.

I know this photo has nothing to do with the bus routes but it is on the roll marked L’autobus. I’d change bus routes and I think this was probably on the way oing home, which was the 96 bus. For some reason I never really liked this square which was in front of Beaubourg as the locals use to call it.

I never really understood why I like photography. It has been always there over the last 30 years. Different cameras come and go but I’d like to think that I stick to the same type of photography. The street is great because I completely forget about myself and just get lost in trying to get an image.

When I came to Paris first this bridge was closed off for repairs. At the same time there was a film called the Les Amants du Pont Neuf and the film production had made a film set of the bridge in the south of France.

I remember I’d finish early from washing dishes in the school canteen. The fridge was always full of food the kids didn’t eat at lunch time. Then I just head out with my Nikon FM2 to shoot a roll or two on the buses. The previous night I made my own film. Happy days!

I shot this in 1994 and only really looked at it in 2022. I don’t know how these photos have survived but they have. Paris was a difficult place to be a photographer. Everything was difficult. I don’t really know why I stay for so long. My father was always asking me to come to live in Ireland. When I’d ring up he’d tell me how many cranes were up around Croke Park.

It was always a struggle to find photography work in Paris. There were photographers everywhere. Everybody was good. When I did finally get some work with magazines it didn’t last long because the digital age had arrived. I’m glad in a way that I didn’t get much work in Paris. It meant that I shot more on the streets.