“C’était Paris en 1970”

Abstract

In 1970, a new generation of municipal officials worked with the FNAC, a camera and electronics store that was also a major player on the French cultural scene, to organize an enormous amateur photo contest to document the French capital. Called “C’était Paris en 1970,” this competition asked participants to produce a comprehensive archive of Paris during the month of May. Their submissions provide remarkable access to how their makers understood older photographs as historical documents, how they imagined photography could picture the passage of time, and how, in turn, they imagined their own photos might one day be seen. These photos help take stock of how a century of photographic production, collection, and circulation had influenced the historical imagination.