From April 8 to May 28, 2016, Galerie du Forez presents a series of images by the French photographer Emmanuel Peterson. The portfolio (entitled "Paris, Midnight") is comprised of 27 photographs in black and white.

Because the images are centered on young people and are taken at night in well known locations in the city and because the characters who inhabit the photographs have this Parisian "je ne sais quoi" that defines them, the series of images forms a whole that tells us a story, the story of the youth of today's Paris.

Emmanuel Peterson's photographs have a cinematic quality and an air of nostalgia about them. Indeed, the young people who are at the center of these photographs are obviously of our time (Peterson is mainly interested in the people that he photographs), but the atmosphere of the photos reminds one of the feel of 1970's cinema, in "day-for-night" style. At the same time, this cinematic feel, this "staging" which gives Peterson's photographs their specificity, is achieved with the means of digital photography, without artifice: the artist pays special attention to immediacy and authenticity in his photographs. In order to obtain a rich range of greys, he utilizes an up-to-date, sophisticated printing technique.

The photographer tells us about his portfolio of images: "The "Paris, Midnight" series is composed of portraits of people encountered at night on the banks of the Seine and in the streets of Paris. The photos are presented with a label indicating where and when they were taken. Lovers enbracing on a bench, groups of friends walking in the streets, couples returning home on foot after the Metro has stopped running, improvised parties in city squares... these images reflect the diversity of atmospheres, of looks and of personalities that one comes across at night in Paris."