Robert Doisneau is one of Frances most famous photographers , he was born in Gentilly France in 1912. In his childhood he was brought up by his Aunt as his father died during the first world war and his mother died when he was seven. At the age of thirteen he studied at a craft school where he passed with diplomas in engraving and lithography. At the age of sixteen his early interest in photography began as a hobby, taking images of still life then moving onto taking pictures of children and people in a street life scene. This went onto become his passion in life and most famous for. At the end of the 1920's he took a job as a draughtsmen working in the advertising industry for Ulnann Studio , it was here that a opportunity came his way to be a camera assistant and then a staff photographer. In 1932 he left the Ullnann studio to work for a modernist photographer where he sold his first pictures. In 1934 he moved to work for Renault as a industrial advertising photographer but after 5 years was asked to leave because of his poor time keeping . To make a living he was opted to enter into the world of freelance work , here he worked with engraving and postcard photography, this was a shrewd move as at the time France's postcard industry was the largest in Europe. In 1939 he went onto be hired by Charles Rado to travel through France in search of the French people in street scenes. This is when he took his first professional street photographs.
" The marvels of daily life are so exciting ; no movie director can arrange the unexpected that you find in the street "Robert Doisneau.
Below we see two images, to the left a scene shot in a class room . This picture shows a glimpse of the children's life at school time in France in perhaps the 1930's . The little boy in the for front deep in thought is perhaps thinking of what to write on his slate or maybe what his tea will be for later then to his right we see another boy who is seen trying to read from the first boys slate. In my pictue although my daughter is not in the class room enviroment she is still seen to be gazing and in thought about something that only she knows about. Doisneau work in showing life as it is and making us think about how the people in the pictures lived is excellent. He draws me into his pictures in a way that really makes me think about the lives these people led and in turn make me want to be able to capture my town's people to try and get a glimsp of thier lives and share the pictures with others.
I partically like the above picture , to have been able to capture this image with such great exposure and detail to me is outstanding, in that the equipment he would have used would have made it so difficult. Fixed lens no built in light sensor to help him
