Two women with phones, Heliography Unique

The Story Behind “Two women with phones”

The image was captured in May 2018 on Rue Saint-Dominique in Paris, caught by the passing Google camera in the bright midday light of spring. A fleeting moment of urban poetry: two young women—here absent, in order to be elsewhere.
In September 2024, I rephotographed this detail and created an internegative. Using it, the aluminum plate was exposed for six hours on a sunny day. The 10 × 15 cm plate had previously been coated with asphalt emulsion. The heliograph was produced according to the process of Joseph Nicéphore Niépce from the years 1822/1827.
This work belongs to the edition of the Heliographie Project 1827–2027. The project collects the last true photographs in a world after photography – traces of reality before it vanishes completely into simulation.

What you receive:

Original heliograph: unique piece, created following the process of Joseph Nicéphore Niépce (1822/1827)
Intermediate negative: from the development process – exposed once on a sunny day in September 2024
Street View print of the original location with the selected image section marked
Handmade A5 storage box

Dimensions: Heliograph approx. 9 × 13.5 cm, mounted on passe-partout board (14 × 19 cm)
Materials: Aluminum plate, Bitumen of Judea, lavender oil
Edition: Unique piece, signed and dated. Entry-level photography edition for collectors.