Three Seconds of Eternity

by Robert Doisneau

"My photographs are completely subjective. They show the world as I would like it to be at all times. And, for me, this world exists ... because I create photographic proof of it." Robert Doisneau became France’s most popular photographer. Most people are familiar with his most famous the lovers kissing in the town square, or Picasso with croissants for fingers, or the couple looking at an antique dealer’s shopwindow. In his shots of everyday scenes Doisneau pays affectionate homage to life in the small towns and suburbs of France. Three Seconds of Eternity, first published in 1979, remains the classic Doisneau book, now available again. The photographer himself not only selected the pictures, but also wrote a celebrated essay that is a vivid, amusing account of his career as a photographer, his encounter with novelist Blaise Cendrars, and the "average folk" he portrayed with gentle humor and compassion.

Genres: France

144 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1997

About the author

He was a French photographer. In the 1930s he used a Leica on the streets of Paris. He and Henri Cartier-Bresson were pioneers of photojournalism. He is renowned for his 1950 image Le baiser de l'hôtel de ville (Kiss by the Town Hall), a photograph of a couple kissing in the busy streets of Paris. Doisneau was appointed a Chevalier (Knight) of the Legion of Honour in 1984.