TITLE: Blues Line

In Paris (France), the blue line refers to the subway line 2, which counts 25 stops from PORTE DAUPHINE to NATION. It connects the west to the east of the city, passing by the northern districts. It takes 35 minutes from an end to another. It is approximately 12.5 km long.
Like a solitary walker, in transit in the city, I followed the route of the blue line.
The song Hard Time Killing Floor Blues, written by Skip James in 1931, has been a great source of inspiration in order to create the atmosphere of the series.
Being close to people but staying invisible, staring discreetly to capture, in an instant, the inner world of those surrounding me. Elements of the urban scene and actors of the city, the individuals I observe are often turned toward themselves. Falling within hard economical and social times, people sometimes seem to be wandering off. In big cities, the forced proximity pushes individuals to isolate themselves in their own thoughts. “Suspended” moments of intimate solitude within the crowds, states of floating in the landscape, this is what I tried to capture.
I started this series in 2017. It contains more than fifty photographs and is still in progress.

AUTHOR: Raphaël Behar (France)

It is during an exhibition of Diane Arbus' work, that I started to develop a true interest for photography.
I flew to Australia a few months later with a point and shoot camera and a couple of books on photography for beginners. During this trip, I gained a certain view of the world surrounding me. Back to the french capital in 2013, I wanted to develop further that view and continue on learning. So I enrolled at Speos Photographic Institute.
The best part was to discover a lot of artists who became, for some of them, true influences : Saul Leiter, André Kertesz, Ernst Haas, Joel Sternfeld, Dave Heath, Daido Moriyama and many more. After graduating with a specialization in Photojournalism, I decided to travel around the world (Brazil, USA, India, Europe...) before settling in Paris in 2016.
I dedicate most of my time to the production of personals projects and series.
Contemplative by nature, at ease in urban environments, within the crowds, I observe closely the faces and their expressions among the elements that composed a city's landscape. I have always liked being close to people and to their reality. I also like escaping through more conceptual series, in which I leave my imagination talk.