Weiss took her first photograph when she was 12 years old. Since then her camera has enabled her to keep an authentic visual record of life and the people around her.

“I didn’t like studying at school – perhaps I was lazy – and was interested only in photography. When I was 17 years old I made up my mind to become a photographer,” she says.

Weiss studied photography in Geneva and, after moving to Paris back in the late 1940s, worked as an assistant to a famous fashion photographer, Willy Maywald, for three years. She was later engaged by one of the oldest photo agencies in the world, the Rapho, where Weiss worked from 1952 until just recently, 2010.

“Things were so different back then,” she says. First and foremost, in terms of the equipment. Weiss recollects she was once sent on assignment to Spain as a photojournalist but was stopped by customs officers asking her why she was carrying so much lighting with her. The photographer explained she had to change lighting each time she used a flash, so she always had to carry tons of extra lights with her.

Paris, porte de Vanves. 1952 © Sabine Weiss/Rapho

Nowadays it sounds ridiculous. Professional photographers have an opportunity to use all sorts of state-of-the-art technology and devices, and Weiss says she is happy she does not have to carry plenty of heavy bags anymore. She also appears to be a fan of digital photography. However, Weiss adds, she does not like changing cameras and prefers to stick to her favorite Nikon.

Weiss’ approach to photography has been referred to as “humanist”. Her trademark, thought-provoking images feature a perpetual dialogue between Weiss and the subject of her attention. She says photography gave her happiness.

“It’s a chance to talk to anybody, to travel and meet different people. Photography opens so many doors!”

It seems that she has photographed people of almost all ages, religions and nationalities, and says she especially loves taking pictures of children. “It’s a fusion of beauty and spontaneity, but babies are actually quite hard to capture.”

People happy, tired, lost, lonely, rich, poor, in love, in pain; artists, writers, musicians, ordinary people… Weiss says each photo is different and deserves special attention and approach. “Sometimes the most important thing is the composition of the picture, sometimes the face, sometimes the background.”

Gestures, facial expressions, body language, and oftentimes even hidden thoughts – it seems that nothing can escape from the panoptic eye of the omniscient photographer.

Her camera is akin to a fairy’s magic wand which enabled Weiss to suspend time and freeze any particular moment she wants to capture.

“I want my pictures to be simple, easy to read and understand,” says the photographer, whose images indeed speak for themselves.

Her style is a synergy of spontaneity, sensibility and informality, backed up by the photographer’s intuition. But, Weiss says, finding her signature style was never a problem. “In fact I've never searched for it!”

Valeria Paikova, RT