TONY MANIATY

Australian photojournalist and author Tony Maniaty found himself in Paris as the city was locked down in 2020 to counter the Covid-19 pandemic. Parisians coming to terms with the restrictions provided a unique opportunity to document the near-deserted city in the style of famous French street photographers of the last century.

Paris, transformed by the restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, provided photojournalist Tony Maniaty with a once-in-alifetime opportunity to recapture the spirit of the golden era of

French ‘humanist’ photography and its focus on people “getting through”.

There’s no question that the Covid-19 pandemic has been, at best, disruptive for millions of people and, at worst, tragically disastrous for millions too. However, no matter how dark the clouds, there have been silver linings… for example, unexpected commercial opportunities, enforced changes of career that have proved to be fortuitous, and a return to more locally-focused activities with a range of benefits for these economies and communities. The picture for photographers too, has been about light and shade – some sectors grinding to a complete halt as a result of lockdowns, but new possibilities emerging from the many unusual situations that have become part of the Covid ‘experience’.

For the documentary photographer, there have been many Covid-19 stories to tell as both individuals and whole societies have been forced to adapt to changes in lifestyle far greater than any have experienced before. And stay-at-home lockdowns transformed towns and cities around world, turning bustling locations such as shopping malls, railway stations and airports into eerily deserted scenes, reminiscent of dystopian movie sets.

For the street photographer, these were opportunities not to be missed.

For Australian journalist and photographer Tony Maniaty, there was the added appeal of finding himself in a city perhaps best known for its intimate interactions with its citizens and visitors, making its suddenly much-quieter boulevards, parks and cafes look even more starkly surreal.

“Like many photographers, I’ve had a lifelong affair with Paris,” he explains. “The city is so textured, layered with energies and culture and life. And, of course, the French pretty much invented photography, starting with Niépce and Daguerre, so there’s a great love and appreciation of photography, with galleries everywhere. It’s photo heaven, really.

“I went to France for an extended stay in early 2020 and Covid followed me there. I quickly hit the streets, determined to capture the Parisians in this odd world of no tourists or traffic… very much like the Paris of the 1950s and the ‘golden era’ of French street photography when greats like Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Doisneau, and Willy Ronis were doing their best work. It wasn’t only this retro-façade of

Paris, but equally the mood… not unlike the post-war spirit of coming together to help rebuild France. They were determined to keep going and not to be defeated by Covid. You could see it in their faces, even behind the masks. I felt they were defying not only the pandemic, but the homogenised nature of modern life where everything starts to look the same. I tried to capture both the individualism and the sense of a common humanity, and – given the city was less frenetic than normal, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity – also to pay homage to that post-war French ‘humanist’ photographic tradition.

“While the media generally focused on the worsening crisis, my intention was to photograph Parisians reclaiming the boulevards and backstreets – in this historic moment of calm – as their own. I wanted to capture fragments of life – less about loss than discovery, and less about gloom than optimism. Day after day, I felt quite privileged to be there. In a way the project ended up being a love poem to Paris, the ‘City Of Light’ and still one of the most beautiful places on earth. As Bogart says in Casablanca, ‘ We’ll always have Paris...’.”

Capturing Humanity

Tony’s love affair with photography started when he was a teenager and he purchased his first camera, a Pentax 35mm SLR, when he was 16. This was funded from working at the local newsagency, where he discovered the British photography magazine

Creative Camera, which introduced him to classic monochrome photographs by Cartier-Bresson, Bill Brandt and other masters, igniting his passion for street photography… although he prefers to call it “human photography”, which he defines as “the ability to capture humanity where we find it”.

“I started the photography club at my high school near Brisbane and, a couple of years later, I scored a journalism cadetship with ABC News, working in radio and television. But my passion for photography remained. I bought my first Leica, an M3 with an Elmar 50mm, for $150. Back then, Nikon and Canon were the latest things, so you could pick up Leicas for a song.

“The next major step came in 1977 at the Australian Centre For Photography in Sydney, where I met my mentor, the American photographer Ed Douglas. He introduced me to the gritty street work of Gary Winogrand, Lee Friedlander and, importantly, Robert Frank. When I saw Frank’s work in The Americans – still regarded as the greatest photography book ever – I knew that was the style and form I had to follow. I’d found my photo-god, so to speak.

“My ABC News sub-editing shift ended at 1.30pm and afterwards I’d roam inner Sydney, capturing what was, back then,