Place Saint-Sulpice Possibly 1842 - 1965

This photograph of Place Saint-Sulpice was made by Hippolyte Bayard. It’s this really interesting silvery grey, almost like a pencil drawing, but more alive, with a sense of weather and air. I imagine Bayard setting up his camera, adjusting the focus, waiting for the light to be just right. It’s a real moment of looking, searching for the perfect composition. I think he must have been thinking about how to capture the monumentality of the architecture, the way the light hits the fountain, the feeling of being in this grand public space. Look how he’s framed the fountain against the backdrop of the church, how the lines of the architecture lead your eye around the picture plane. It’s about shapes, tones, and contrasts as much as it is about the scene itself. It reminds me of the way Eugène Atget photographed Paris, but with a more formal, classical sensibility. Bayard seems to be in conversation with the city itself. He is an architect of light and shadow, creating a space for us to wander and wonder.