LES HALLES: The Great Market Place of France
A new exhibition from the Walt Girdner archive opens this Holiday Season through Spring of 2022. LES HALLES: The Great Market Place of France brings images of a busy night market of Paris in 1948. From moody night scenes of vendors selling produce to butcher shops displaying their meats, Walt captured these images of the market to tell a story of life in post World War II France. Within the story of the market, Walt befriended and followed a group of Clochards and dicumented their way of life.
With his Rollieflex camera and a tripod, Walt waited for the right moment to take these night time photos. Night time street photography were not very common back in the days. Walt's keen photographic eye and the understanding of the limitations from the film and the camera he used, made for some beautiful night photos.
A fire to keep warm, vendors sells his produce to customers in the early morning at Les Halles Market.
A series of images from the Cloachards story. Top left photo shows Walt sharing a meal and cigarettes with his new found friends.
A night photo of a butcher shop with meat hanging on display.
