Raymond Depardon
[Photographer and filmmaker, b. 1942, Villefranche-sur-Saône, France, lives in Paris.]
I don’t regret the numerous pictures of Brigitte Bardot, but I’d rather have a good photograph of my father.
The photographer is filled with doubt. Nothing will soothe him.
I’m coming from journalism, but at the same time I’m tempted by poetry, politics, and maybe the idea of being a witness, a belief that you can still change things with the image.
When the American documentary filmmaker Donn Alan Pennebaker wanted to do a film on Dylan, Dylan asked him what he’d already done, and Pennebaker answered, “Nothing except shots in the street.” Dylan asked to see them, and he agreed to let him do the film.
I like to be on my own when I look at my contact sheets, because I’m often disappointed... But as years go by we become proud of our old contact sheets. They are a tool that allows us to fight against time.
The subject isn’t always a help to the photographer, it’s like handcuffs.
