"I ran with my baguette and the gentleman took his pictures"

[MattKing]

Perhaps Cartier-Bresson was referencing Eau de vie ("water of life")
Courtesy of Wikipedia:
"An eau de vie[A] (French for spirit,[1] lit. 'water of life') is a clear, colourless fruit brandy that is produced by means of fermentation and double distillation. The fruit flavor is typically very light."

 

[Don_ih]

Perhaps Cartier-Bresson was referencing Eau de vie ("water of life")
Courtesy of Wikipedia:
"An eau de vie[A] (French for spirit,[1] lit. 'water of life') is a clear, colourless fruit brandy that is produced by means of fermentation and double distillation. The fruit flavor is typically very light."

On the blog page I linked, there's a photo of the print with Bresson's annotation, but you can't see what the words are (the photo isn't good enough). So that's also a possibility.

There's also another print of a child with a wine bottle (annotated to say that it contains wine) in the same photo, but that photo seems to be by Joan Colom (although the page says "of" him - which seems unlikely).

 

[Steven Lee]

Try approaching a 5 year old on the street and ask them posing for a photo in 2023. See what happens.

 

[Ballinderry-Michael]

Joan is a masculine given name in Catalan (e.g. Joan Miró).

 

[Don_ih]

Joan is a masculine given name in Catalan (e.g. Joan Miró).

I know he's male - I was referring to the blog saying the photo was "of" him when it was probably "by" him. Joan Colom was a photographer from Barcelona.

 

[Ballinderry-Michael]

Ah, my apologies.

 

[snusmumriken]

I know he's male - I was referring to the blog saying the photo was "of" him when it was probably "by" him. Joan Colom was a photographer from Barcelona.

I think it’s just a lapse of English. I read it to mean that the other photo was taken by Colom. It’s consistent with his style and subject matter, and would explain why the comment about it was in Catalan.

 

[snusmumriken]

On the blog page I linked, there's a photo of the print with Bresson's annotation, but you can't see what the words are (the photo isn't good enough). So that's also a possibility.

My French is terrible, but I think the writing does say ‘ces bouteilles contiennent de l'eau de pluie’. You can just make out the shape of the words.

Edit: you have to click on the image first to see this much detail.

 

[markjwyatt]

It is a cute shot, but not fair to compare to HCB, as he was a street photographer and photographed candid, and this is a staged shot (granted it is on "the street"). In a sense it is apples to oranges.

 

[Don_ih]

as he was a street photographer and photographed candid

As was Willy Ronis, though.

 

[Daniela]

Daniela, have you ever read Ce jour-là? I just ordered a copy — would be curious to hear your thoughts.

I have not! Will be getting it soon, though. It looks very interesting. Thanks!

Thank you, Rolleiflexible. I have one coming now (loads of copies on abebooks). Hope it won't be too beat-up.

Back on the subject of the Nu Provençal, I looked at my copy of Ronis's Derrière l'objectif and found this interesting double-page spread with his account of it. I'm sorry that I can't scan the book - the rather poor photo will have to do as it simply can't lie flat. View attachment 344646

Beautiful. The third and fourth shots are wonderful too.

 

[Daniela]

Try approaching a 5 year old on the street and ask them posing for a photo in 2023. See what happens.

This was discussed ad nauseam in another thread I take candid pictures of little kids but do it from afar, in touristic areas and well, it helps that I'm a woman. I wouldn't try it in the US though.

 

[Don_ih]

I think it’s just a lapse of English

It is. The blog was by Paco Elvira, who was a Spanish photographer. Prepositions can be confusing.

 

[warden]

Try approaching a 5 year old on the street and ask them posing for a photo in 2023. See what happens.

5 year olds haven’t changed at all. You’ll get the shot.

 

[eli griggs]

Yes - it's from a webpage that didn't reference where it came from

As for the wine - that completely makes sense. When my mother was young, everything went to the store in barrels and you brought your own container. Yet Bresson annotated the photo with the caption that the bottles contained water. But maybe he was being as @snusmumriken suggested.

Let's stop fooling each other, the bottles were topped of with French Wine in a Box, no some traditional cask or jug.

The French wine industry wholely embraced the cardboard box, and, de Gaulle, post war Europa and, the Marshall Plan's first new built factory for France produced them all, with the bags made in Portugal, but retailers were sworn to secrecy and the myth of the bottle continued into the 1980's.

H.B.C., had himself, was the first to use the boxes/plastic bags, for mixing and dispensing Dektol, fixer, ect.l and I'm sure there's a photo or two, of him at the DR sink, repurposed wine boxes on a shelf over head and a jelly glass of Mountain Dew in hand as he printed famous negatives.

Chances are the boy with the wine bottles was happily running home, after being allowed to hold the pouring tube on n some back storage room, where only special people were invited!

 

[snusmumriken]

I think I regret comparing these two photos.

But have you noticed that in the HCB photo, the girl in the background appears to be taking a photo herself, with a smartphone? In the 1950s. Spooky.

 

[Daniela]

Also about the Bresson photo, apparently the bottles contained rainwater - which would explain why the bottles have been recorked.

View attachment 344644

Another source that states the same.

 

[Don_ih]

Another source that states the same.

But I think they got it from where I got it....

Let's stop fooling each other, the bottles were topped of with French Wine in a Box, no some traditional cask or jug.

Um, sure?

 

[Ballinderry-Michael]

I don't see how we're "fooling each other", as we hadn't begun to consider how wine was stored in retail outlets - and we probably aren't going to either.

Jonathan, I think your introduction of HCB brought extra interest to this thread.

 

[Daniela]

In 1983, Willy Ronis donated his fund to the State, which he confirmed with a second donation in 1989 and then with a testamentary bequest. The Heritage and Photography Media Library holds the six annotated albums given by Ronis to the Ministry of Culture in 1985 and 2006, 108,000 negatives and associated contact sheets, 19,000 prints, 9,000 color slides, as well as its archives and library.

Some of the negatives, prints and slides are offered on the Memory database, accessible through the Open Heritage Platform (POP).

Source: https://mediatheque-patrimoine.culture.gouv.fr/collection/objet/willy-ronis-1910-2009

Follow POP link only if you have time on your hands!
What a treasure. I'll make it a point of visiting and seeing the actual prints after the summer.

 

[Don_ih]

Follow POP link only if you have time on your hands!

Worth it even if you only see this photo. The bulbs on the floor....

 

[markjwyatt]

Perhaps Cartier-Bresson was referencing Eau de vie ("water of life")
Courtesy of Wikipedia:
"An eau de vie[A] (French for spirit,[1] lit. 'water of life') is a clear, colourless fruit brandy that is produced by means of fermentation and double distillation. The fruit flavor is typically very light."

Real eau de vie is a premium product, and I doubt they refilled bottles of it in Paris (It is generally made in Loraine and Alsace) or anywhere. The higher end ones are often made from a fruit called mirabelle. Lot of the craft is in highly controlled, small batch distillation processes. There are more common fruit based liquors that could be called eau de vie, and maybe this could be what is referred to as eau de vie (but only maybe in common language, as the French are pretty strict about what you can call things).

 

[GregY]

Real eau de vie is a premium product, and I doubt they refilled bottles of it in Paris (It is generally made in Loraine and Alsace) or anywhere. The higher end ones are often made from a fruit called mirabelle. Lot of the craft is in highly controlled, small batch distillation processes. There are more common fruit based liquors that could be called eau de vie, and maybe this could be what is referred to as eau de vie (but only maybe in common language, as the French are pretty strict about what you can call things).

Thank you Mark.... & 2 litres of eau-de-vie would be prohibitively expensive compared with vin de table then as now..

 

[snusmumriken]

View attachment 344755

Worth it even if you only see this photo. The bulbs on the floor....

Thanks so much for the POP link, @Daniela. I have already found several Ronis photos that I didn’t know. Of those I did know, I especially love the one of a worker lighting his cigarette in a machine workshop when all the machines were idle during a strike. The light, the distance, and the contrast of shapes and textures are so satisfying.

 

[MattKing]

the French are pretty strict about what you can call things

As strict as some of the members here on Photrio?!!?