Le Nouvel Observateur, Issue 3 ("Spécial Photo"), June 1978

Brion Gysin contributes “’Pas de photo, pas de photo!’,” a long essay with photographs by Harry Gruyaert, Irving Penn [twice], Walter Mayr, Paul Caponigro, Pierre Berdoy, Thomas Eakins, Robert Frank, Franco Fontana, and Bill Brandt, p. 32–41. This includes a quote by William S. Burroughs.

Published in Paris, France by Le Nouvel Observateur in June 1978.

Philip Heying, photographer and friend of William S. Burroughs, translated this text into English for the photographer Irving Penn, for inclusion in Penn's book A Notebook at Random (Bulfinch, 2004). According to Heying, Penn had mentioned to him that he had visited Tangier with his wife Lisa, met Brion Gysin, and "smoked marijuana" together.

The English version of this essay may also be found in Jason Weiss' anthology of Brion Gysin, Back in No Time: The Brion Gysin Reader.

Thanks to Philip Heying and Jim Pennington for additional context.

Contents:

• Charles Baudelaire: quote
• André Martin: cover photograph
• Pierre Boogaerts: "'Synthétisation' du ciel" (photocollage, 1974)
• Karl Blossfeldt: "Pavot original" (photograph)
• Eugen Wiskovsky: "Catastrophe" (photograph, 1940)
• Jean Thibaudeau and Jean-François Chevrier: "Une inquiétante étrangeté" (essay)
• Robert French: "The Motte, Ballymena, Ireland" (photograph, c. 1890)
• Théodor and Oskar Mofmeister: "Le cavalier solitaire" (photograph)
• Hippolyte Bayard: "Dessin photogéné" (photowork, c. 1839)
• Michel Tournier: "Les accidents, les niaiseries et le reste" (essay)
• Ernest Bloch: "La dame au champignon, Satigny, Switzerland" (photograph, 1912)
• Edouard Boubat: "La poule et l'arbre" (photograph, 1951)
• Otto: "Arbre" (photograph, 1910)
• Léonard Misonne: "Qui est-ce?" (photograph)
• Robert Demachy: "Jeune fille" (photograph)
• Josef Sudek: "La fenêtre de mon atelier" (photograph)
• Italo Calvino: "L'apprenti-photographe" (prose, translated by Danièle Sallenave)
• André Martin: "Bouton d'orchidée" (photograph, 1970)
• Imogen Cunningham: "Homme de la côte" (photograph, 1934)
• Marion Giacomelli: "Paysage" (photograph)
• W. A. Henry: photograph
• Ernst Haas: "Cônes volcaniques" (photograph, 1965)
• Sylvain Roumette: "Fausse histoire d'une vraie photo: l'effet Borges." (essay)
• Darius Kinsey: "Un cèdre géant" (photograph)
• Robert French: "La paquebot Hazel, Ramore Head, Portrush, Ireland" (photograph, c. 1910)
• Francis Firth: "Les pyramides de Sakkarha" (photograph, 1858)
• Danièle Sallenave: "La pyramide Sallenave" (essay)
• Werner Bischof: "Prêtres shintoïstes dans la cour du temple Meiji â Tokyo" (photograph)
• Georg Gerster: "Champs vus d'avion" (photograph)
• Henri Cartier-Bresson: "Ahmedabad, India" (photograph, 1965)
• Brion Gysin: "'Pas de photo, pas de photo!'" (essay)
• Harry Gruyaert: "Région d'Imilchil, Morocco" (photograph, 1972)
• Irving Penn: "Enfants de Cuzco, Peru" (photograph, 1948)
• Irving Penn: "Trois femmes, marche de Rissani, Moroc" (photograph, 1971)
• Walter Mayr: "Paysage dans le Negev, près de Massada, Israël" (photograph, 1968)
• Paul Caponigro: "Mur de Pierre, Nº 2, West Hartfort, Connecticut" (photograph, 1959)
• Pierre Berdoy: "Miroir en Baie de Seine" (photograph)
• Thomas Eakins: "Voiliers sur le fleuve Delaware" (photograph, c.1874)
• Robert Frank: "Mabou, Nouvelle Ecosse" (photograph)
• Franco Fontana: "Paysage" (photograph, 1974)
• Bill Brandt: "Barbury Castle, Marlborough Downs, Wiltshire" (photograph, 1948)
• Jean Thibaudeau: "Image de l'Iowa prise de Ohio" (essay)
• Alvin Langdon Coburn: "Planche 3 de la serie Le Nuage" (photograph, 1912)

External Links:

• Philip Heying: "Remarks on working for Irving Penn"