Paris, France —These are mesmerizing photographs. Black and white long-exposure photographs taken with black and white film placed into the back of a large-format Mamiya camera, one of the finest of the high-end cameras. These are the amazingly detailed pictures of the 35 bridges of Paris taken by Gary Zuercher who beginning in 2008 and over the next five years pursued this project of photographing the bridges that cross the Seine in Paris. He has managed to give each of those bridges their very own unique soul, taking the pictures in the dead of night usually in winter with its sharp clear skies. He developed the film in his darkroom in Paris and then developed the prints in his darkroom in Washington D.C. He would also spend another year researching and documenting the story, always fascinating, of each of those bridges. 

Gary Zuercher’s photographs make it obvious that the bridges of Paris are black and white. And these photographs also make us wonder why we have lapsed into what is by and large flat and often insipid digital photography, especially those smart phone shots that are taking up high energy-consuming space on air conditioned data storage centers around the world. These are pictures that can be held in the hand, whose volume speaks volumes about the impact of the medium of real film.  The photographs have been brought together in an award-winning book, The Glow of Paris: The Bridges of Paris at Night.  His Paris bridges work is currently held in the permanent collections of the Library of Congress and Georgetown University and has been the object of several solo exhibitions. 

Which brings us to his current show in Paris, on the outdoor gates of the Paris City Hall all along the rue de Rivoli, where Parisians and visitors alike can have a free look at 24 of these spectacular photographs and see the bridges of Paris as they have never seen them before. Today 35 bridges cross the Seine in Paris. The first was the Pont-Neuf inaugurated by Henry IV, the good king, in 1607. The most recent was inaugurated in 2006, the Simone de Beauvoir Walkway, the only bridge named for a woman. Gary Zuercher’s groundbreaking work is being exhibited at the Paris City Hall until November 30th and it is also on show at the Galerie GADCOLLECTION, which represents the artist, until November 26th  just steps away from the town hall and the Seine and where you can purchase limited edition prints of the works. 

And what does the artist, Gary Zuercher, have to say about those cold winter nights on the often blustery Seine River, « After an evening dinner and one glass of French wine, it can be difficult to leave the warm environment to go into the nighttime winter cold to take photographs. Once underway, however, the warmth and comfort of home is quickly forgotten. Winter is an enchanting time to be alone along the Seine. It is a time of serenity and emotion. It has been a moving experience to spend cold winter nights alone communicating with the river and the bridges.”  

Hôtel de Ville (City Hall), 29 rue de Rivoi, 75004 Paris. Galerie GADCOLLECTION, 4 rue du Pont Louis Philippe, 75004, Paris. Tel: + 33 (0)1 43 70 72 59.  https://www.gadcollection.com/fr/129-gary-zuercher ©Trish Valicenti for The Gourmet Gazette