I came across old negatives of my parents’ honeymoon in Paris in August 1967. After digitally scanning them, I was surprised to discover a beautiful collection of images – not only of the city, but also of my young, newlywed parents passing through it at the beginning of their life together. My father, always drawn to art, was the man behind the camera. He wasn’t simply snapping private moments for a scrapbook – his eye was framing Paris, its light, movement, and my mother within it. What did he see? What stories do these photographs reveal? I curated a selection here as a small exhibition for my website in search of an answer. Just as my father once wrote reflections on my artwork, I now offer a brief commentary on his. In these photographs, I sense something universal and I hope they speak to you too!
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A young couple walks the city of Paris on their honeymoon – she before the camera, he behind it. Eleven months earlier, their paths had crossed in Florence. Irene was a Canadian studying Italian literature abroad. Egidio, a Florentine lawyer.
Now, Paris is their passage. Streets become paths, bridges are crossings and squares invite encounters. After this, they journey to Canada. The lawyer becomes a professor, and ultimately an artist. The student becomes a teacher.
These photographs – souvenirs of a honeymoon – become more than just mementos. They tell the story of the human journey: a literal journey of movement in a city – trains, cars, footsteps, boats. But also the existential journey of life – from youth to adulthood, solitude to marriage, highlighting the playfulness, struggles, and hopes in life and beyond.
My father is the young man carrying the camera. His images are in the cinematographic style of French New Wave cinema – reminiscent of an Agnès Varda film – with natural light capturing the ebb and flow of everyday life, telling a story with authenticity and immediacy. My mother is the young bride wandering in front of him in Paris.
Today, almost 60 years later, these photographs still speak. They speak of Paris as cinema itself, of two lives in motion, passing through a city. They are also a testament to love: my father’s love of photography, his love for my mother, their love of Paris, and their shared love of life and adventure. They are a tender dialogue between a photographer and a city, a husband and a wife, of memories and our ever-moving passage through time.
(For a closer look, please click on each image below.)
