Paris. City of lights and dreams. City of love and poetry. City of Jazz and majesty. The city that made my favorite artists better artists because of the alchemy that runs through its core and turns every moment into gold.

I left my hometown of Paris in 1987, but Paris has never left me. The essence of the city permeates every facet of my perspective and sensibilities. The images I’ve captured over the decades all evoke sounds in my mind. I hear a blues-like soundtrack separated into day and night, the A-side and the B-side of a vinyl record. The opera of monochrome. The crescendo of colors. The worlds hidden in the absence of light. A Requiem for fleeting scenes forever embodied in silver gelatin and strings.

I’ve had the privilege of traveling all over the world with a Leica in hand. At every opportunity, I return to Paris for connection and inspiration. Paris Blues documents my most precious stolen moments. I find my way back to my roots — from the flea markets of my childhood and clandestine twilights of Rock
& Roll and fashion undergrounds to the passion of Parisian lovers and the grandeur of elusive legends.

This series of photos plays as a symphony of my own existence — often lost, though never off course — and always in search of Melody.

-Mathieu Bitton