Robert DoisneauBy Makenzie Fightmaster

Background/Subject Matter

Born on April 14, 1912 in Gentilly, France he lived in the suburbs near Paris. Doisneau died on April 1, 1994 in Montrouge, France.

Robert Doisneau got inspiration from capturing photos of everyday life in black and white. He liked few effects and making his photos as real and simplistic as he could get.

Impact: His photos were showed before and after World War 2 when he stopped all his projects but still took photographs to make people smile. His photography captured the light and love in Paris and showed the people happier times through his lens.

From a young age he enjoyed designing labels in school. But, shortly after he worked as a camera assistant for a studio. After four years of working at an advertising department he was fired and decided to become an independent photographer. Doisneau’s techniques were capturing people in a setting that couldn’t be set up but in the moment and for them to be able to tell a story from a single photograph.

Best Known Photos

Reference

• http://www.robert-doisneau.com/en/robert-doisneau/

• https://www.photographersgallery.com/by_artist.asp?id=201

• http://www.staleywise.com/collection/doisneau/doisneau.html

Close to the right answer

Towing

Dog on wheels

Les tabliers de la rue de Rivoli, Paris

Personal Reflection

When handed this assignment I immediately looked for a good landscape photographer. I wanted something simple and easy that would also be fun because I tend to like landscape photographs more. As people were typing in names to look up photographers I decided to look at the one with the challenging name. It just so happens I stumbled upon Robert Doisneau, who was a french photographer. What caught my eye was the random photographs of everyday life in France. I love that he made pictures of people doing everyday things look so neat with the soft black and white layer. Each one of his subjects was different and unique, I think that is what made his photography so special.

Portrait of Anne Marie Edvina By Robert Doisneau