Eugene Atget

Jean-Eugène-Auguste Atget was born on the 12th February 1857 in Lisbourne, near Bordeaux, therefore his nationality is French. In his early days, he worked as a sailor before he quit to become an actor. At the age of 40, he quit acting and became a photographer after experimenting with painting. even at a young age, he was always interested in painting. Eugene was a quiet photographer, he didn't put his work out there, he kept it to himself. He mainly focused on architecture and the streets of Paris. It wasn't until he died 30 years later that most of his work was shown to the public.

He took pictures of buildings, trees, lakes, people and everyday natural things that we see on a daily basis. However, it was very rare for him to take pictures of people as he would normally take them of small, reserved places that lacked in people and was quiet. His pictures have taught me 6 things about him and about myself:

To be self-driven
To make your photos benefit society
To focus on "reality unadorned"
To avoid famous landmarks
To avoid publicity
To avoid artistic pretentiousness

His work is mostly black and white and vintage which worked well back in 1897 as colour wasn't popular then and would of possibly been expensive. Eugene mainly focused on rule of thirds, leading lines and symmetry to give his images an added edge. It was very rare for people to be in his pictures which links to his work of "avoiding publicity"

I think Eugene wanted to express his feelings of emptiness within his images and an escape from reality and to just be calm and not have a care in the world apart from himself and his thoughts.

Some examples of his work:

These below are some of my Eugene inspired edits that are my favourite. However, mine have a more yellow tinge to them whereas Eugene's are more black and white and brown.

Review of Eugene Atget:

The purpose of the Bury & Castlefield shoots were to look at the environment and the world in Eugene's perspective, how he saw the streets around him and how he documented them.

Eugene mainly focused on the architecture and the street scenes happening around him, mainly capturing images of buildings, bridges, lakes and the emptiness of the streets. He tends to keep his images straight and not at an angle. Eugene avoided the city lifestyle by venturing out into the deserted parts of towns and cities and sometimes going to the middle of no-where to take his images. It was very rare for people to be seen in his images, and this often gives the impression of loneliness and possibly being neglected as a child so he doesn't show his emotions as much as we would.