Paris by Bike – A Journey in Black and White Film Photography
Toby Vandenack’s photographs of Paris are recognized around the world through art prints and posters published and sold in over eighty countries. As a budding photographer in 1978, Toby visited Paris for the first time at age nineteen on a student excursion. Influenced by that experience, he was destined to return.
Paris by Bike chronicles cycling trips in Paris from 1995 to 2002. Backpack loaded with medium format cameras, film and baguettes, I have biked hundreds of kilometers in and around Paris including all twenty arrondissements. Paris was not as bicycle-friendly then as it is today. I swear, autobus and taxi drivers and hasty motorists had a daily quota on cyclists!
It’s been nearly twenty-five years since I last visited Paris, but I can vividly recall the feel and sound of that bike clattering over the cobblestones of Montmartre and Avenue des Champs-Élysées. I’m not the only photographer to be captivated by photographing Paris, but I may have had the most fun doing it!
Keep on biking, stay safe my friends.
Museum Quality Gelatin Silver Prints
Works purchased through this website are original silver gelatin prints handcrafted to museum-quality standards, signed certificate of authenticity included.
The gelatin silver photographic process dates back to the 1880’s. Most modern (non digital) black and white photographs are gelatin silver prints, which refers to light-sensitive silver halide particles suspended in a gelatin layer on high-quality paper. The light-sensitive paper is exposed to light passing through a negative. The latent image is then “developed out” by a chemical process consisting of developer, stop bath, and fixer. A fourth chemical step, selenium toning, is completed for enhanced appearance and archival permanence of the final photograph.
