Every photo is the first frame of a movie

French maverick director Jean-Paul Godard once said: "Photography is truth. And cinema is truth twenty-four times a second." The relation between cinema and photography is quite obvious and there are several noteworthy examples of directors that have developed a serious interest in photography.

The title of this post is actually a quote from German film director Wim Wenders. He authored a couple of my all time favorite movies: "Paris, Texas" and "Wings of Desire." He is also a photographer, with a few books published (in case you're wondering: he uses a Leica M).

I particularly like one of his books, titled "Once". It is a book of memories, in the form of photos and text.

The photos were taken all over the world, from America to Japan, along several years. Some are of well known actors or directors, in unusually informal contexts. Some are of anonymous people and forgotten small towns. The accompanying texts (always short) are written as intimate recollections of scattered memories. This, combined with the almost "snapshot look" of many of the images, makes me feel as I'm going through a friend's album of travel photos while listening to his stories about each image.

Those photos are extraordinary because of what they have to tell.