Paris: Eye of the Flaneur

For 31 years William Albert Allard has returned again and again to the City of Light in the true spirit of the flaneur, to wander the streets aimlessly, yet ever alert to moments he might capture in his camera. With superb colour perception, this masterful portraitist and long-time contributor to National Geographic magazine has returned from his strolls with images ranging from fashion models backstage, to a beautiful young cafe patron lost in thought, to bikini-clad sunbathers in a grassy park in the Marais or lying on the sand of man-made beaches along the Seine. As does a flaneur, Allard has often walked about Paris in pursuit of nothing specific but everything in general. He is known for his meticulous framing of the moment, all the many pieces of a visual puzzle falling gracefully into place. Allard claims he misses far more than he gets, but those he does capture are truly memorable pictures one can cherish, from a city that never stops offering more. Text in English, French, and German. See more