The lion

The lion, originally uploaded by Tous les noms sont déjà pris... pfff....

It was cold. I was spending some time sitting and chatting with Guy. We were sitting on the pavement in a crowed street. A man, Guy's buddy, was sleeping near us on a card. Half an hour later he suddenly woke up, looked at my face and decided to adopt me as a friend. We shook hands and begin a very long conversation. When I asked to shoot him, he'd got a large smile and his eyes twinkled. So, during an hour, we talked and made pictures. He was such an actor !!! He took poses, played with his eyes, moved his hands. We made almost 25 pictures. This picture is one of the first. He wanted to begin with a classical smoking picture (like Boggart).

He explained me a lot of things about the street : the violence, the alcohol, the night, the friendship. He's said that he knows almost all the homeless in the heart of the town. He had learned to be respected with his fists and his words. Actually, he was very well educated and was a really good speaker. I imagine he was a playboy in his young years.

Now he's 57 and he looks not so bad despite the living in the street. His name his Gérard. He's a lion.

Photo by Rod, Paris - FRANCE>