The atmosphere at the Paris train stations has changed significantly over time. For example, security requirements at the stations have been tightened: these days you can no longer enter a platform without a ticket. And in the metro stations, automatic doors prevent access to the tracks. The railway stations themselves resemble large shopping malls and at the railway stations Gare St. Lazare and Gare de Lyon you can play a publicly available piano today …

In 1989, when these pictures were taken, it was still possible to access the platform and take some snap shots of arriving and departing passengers. In this series I am showing unknown faces and portraits of passers-by who suddenly come to the forefront, only to disappear into anonymity of the crowd. It’s the way of things, that such pictures can no longer be made so easily today …