Parisian Triptychs: Storytelling on the City Streets

The Paris Vignettes series features the inspired work of street photographer William “Bill” O’Such in themed installments

Triggered by the “duotych” that I shared in the Doisneau vignette a few weeks ago, I started looking for a series of images that tries to tell a story through a sequence of movements. An early trial (“rencontre avant un resto”) was an attempt to capture the daily approach of people on the street who may or may not meet. One wonders, what happens in the next frame?

Near the BnF, while building a theme around the size mismatch between people and the giant “open books”, a woman was magically practicing handstands (“faire le poirier”) as if she knew my triptych adventure or was I suddenly more aware of movement stories? A few days later, wandering around the point on Ile Saint Louis, someone was practicing stylish dance moves to music. Serendipity was moving my way! That same day while walking back to the Bastille another person was also practicing dance moves (“danse pres de la bastille”).

A few days later while waiting for the metro on line 1, I noticed that there are regular transitions of passengers filling in the seats while waiting for the metro (“metro franklin Roosevelt”). Deciding to miss my metro, I sat there capturing the next movement story. That evening, returning from dinner from the Derriere in Le Marais, a stylish couple started dancing away (“pas de danse de soirée”) while their friends cheered them on.

However, the final serendipity sequence occurred while walking along the Marne with two good friends. Suddenly two boats approached each other. Long sticks appeared and the individuals standing up attempted to push each other off their boat (“la joute sur marne”). Soon we found out it wasn’t a random event but part of a special spring celebration and the “jousting” was apparently part of the local tradition.