Magnum Editions: Paris, France, 1968

“During May 1968 I was on constant alert,” wrote Bruno Barbey of his time shooting the Paris riots. “In those days there were practically no movie cameras. I remember only William Klein filming, and some foreign television crews; French television was on strike. So the fixed image ruled the day. Photography had a role to play, and a central importance.”

Barbey’s image shows students hurling projectiles at the police on Boulevard Saint Germain in the 6th arrondissement during that eventful spring. The photographer said he was “on constant alert” during the riots, only finding time to take his film to the agency to be developed when the protestors slept. “The contact sheets weren’t usually that great,” he said. “It was only on the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of May ‘68 that we took time to re-edit because we were preparing two books and various exhibitions. We found a lot of photos I’d never really laid eyes on before.”