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Cause and effect: American rebels through the eyes of Jean-Pierre Laffont

New York in the 1960s, like much of the United States, is unrecognisable from the land many of us know today. French photographer Jean-Pierre Laffont captured all manner of daily life in the city, and beyond, in a stunning new book, "Rebels with a Cause".

READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2026/11/13/cause-and-effect-american-rebels-through-the-eyes-of-jean-pierre-laffont

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00:16I arrived to the United States in April 1964,
00:19in a moment when I first arrived, not to the United States,
00:22I arrived in New York, in the city of New York,
00:24and I didn't have money to go abroad.
00:27And I found myself in a city where everything was in ruins,
00:32where everything was dirty, where there were crimes everywhere.
00:36I lived in the West Side, it was dangerous to walk in the night.
00:40It was a city where I realized
00:43that if I was walking around with my equipment,
00:46I was at risk.
00:48It was a city that was at the end of the crash.
00:56Everything new is a subject to a visual emotion for a photographer.
01:01We see things, we notice them, we frame them, we frame them, we frame them.
01:10We frame them.
01:10They are easy to see and photographic.
01:14We frame them, we frame them, we frame them, we frame them,
01:25and we frame them, we frame them, we frame them,
01:26I realized that the young people who were in the street were not necessarily
01:30against the Vietnam War, which was not their war,
01:34which they didn't understand nothing.
01:36But in fact, it was the injustice with which they were mobilized.
01:43The American draft was a lotery at that time.
01:47Some could stay at their studies and continue their university.
01:52Others, on the contrary, were forced to leave,
01:55because unfortunately, they had been taken out of a bad sort.
01:59They were left.
02:03In more than two or three years later,
02:06in about 71 or 72,
02:09there were a lot of young American American people who left.
02:16They went to the factory,
02:19they were really in the combat units.
02:22And that was also an injustice that began to perceive.
02:30All these movements that started at New York
02:33started often at Washington, where I was also going.
02:38And these movements began spontaneously.
02:42One of the first movements that I remember very well having lived,
02:46because it happened in joy,
02:48it was a rebellion in joy.
02:50It was the first gay Pride,
02:53which was in June 70.
02:59They arrived at Central Park,
03:02and they got married,
03:05they got danced,
03:06they got danced,
03:07and it was a fantastic day for me.
03:11I didn't know that it was the first gay Pride.
03:15It was a homosexual party
03:17which was extraordinary,
03:18which was very beautiful,
03:20where there was a lot of joy
03:21from the women and girls,
03:23and it was totally extraordinary to photograph.
03:31I came back 10 years later
03:33for the 10th Gay Pride.
03:36But on the other hand,
03:37I went to the gay Pride.
03:39But on the other hand,
03:39I went to the important gay movement
03:40to San Francisco.
03:43There, there were a maire,
03:47there were doctors,
03:49there were garagists,
03:51there were restaurants,
03:53there were advocates,
03:54there were architects,
03:56there were homosexuals,
03:57for the homosexuals
03:58and who wanted to work
04:00with the homosexuals.
04:01It was a community
04:03very interesting,
04:05very intelligent.
04:07But finally,
04:08it was, at the end,
04:10it was rebels.
04:11It was not a revolution,
04:12it was a rebellion.
04:14It was against the system,
04:16in place,
04:18and San Francisco
04:19was extremely well achieved.
04:30I had 5 photos photos
04:31around me
04:32when I left out
04:33in some regions
04:33because there were
04:34these objectives.
04:35We didn't have the time
04:36to change.
04:37It's a great chance
04:38that the young photographers
04:39today have not
04:42recharged
04:42their photos.
04:44They have not
04:44thought,
04:45ah, that is,
04:46I have 36 views.
04:47They have not thought
04:48about their flash
04:49because the appareils
04:50can do photos
04:51even at night
04:51and without flash,
04:52today.
04:53Now,
04:55everything is done automatically.
04:56In addition to that,
04:58the appareil
04:58tells you where you have
04:59made the photo.
05:00When you have made
05:01the photo,
05:02you won't lose.
05:02You won't lose.
05:03I lost hundreds of thousands
05:05of photos
05:06that were given
05:07to my clients
05:08because my agency
05:09was like that.
05:10The first photos
05:11went to the best magazine
05:12and then we gave them
05:13the original ones
05:14that I've never seen,
05:16that I've never seen,
05:17that I've never seen,
05:17that I've never seen,
05:18that were lost,
05:19that were perhaps
05:22in the archives
05:23today
05:23of some great magazines,
05:25but in any case,
05:26they're no longer
05:26in the mine.
05:39I've never seen
05:41in the artificial intelligence
05:42I've never seen
05:43Many people
05:44see a huge threat
05:48on the bad photos,
05:49on the fake photos,
05:50on the fake photos
05:50and on the fake photos.
05:51I've never seen
05:52in the artificial intelligence.
05:53where it was not
05:56to be able to change
05:58their negative.
06:00I was a witness
06:01of my time
06:01and I've never seen
06:03a photo.
06:15A photo by photojournalisme
06:17has to be able to understand
06:19what happens when it happens
06:20is a accident,
06:23is a happy moment,
06:24is a demonstration
06:25on a need
06:27these pictures.
06:28A photo is always the more
06:30than a film,
06:31more than television.
06:33We remember more fixed image than mobile image.
06:37All the time.
06:38And we need that.
06:40We need to have witnesses all the time.

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