Photographers whose work I like - No 2 / Stephan Zaubitzer

Stephan Zaubitzer is a French photographer based in Paris. For a number of years he has been making photographs of cinemas as far afield as Texas, Morocco, Romania, Cuba, Burkina Faso and London. His pictures transcend the mere documentary and enter a world of mutation and the bizarre.

Here are four pictures Stephan made in London. He has this to say about them:

"A frenzy of cinema construction seized the English capital after the First World War, gigantic atmospheric rooms with spangled ceilings, enormous buildings of art déco, gothic and medieval inspiration. In the Sixties, each London street, each district had its cinema able to accommodate several thousands of spectators.
With the arrival of the multiplex, real estate speculation, and finally the low profitability of the large cinema with the single screen, many of these temples struggled to survive. This ground swell took place in all across Europe. Thus, the Gaumont De luxe at the Place de Clichy in Paris, the big room of the world with 6000 seats, became a hotel and a Castorama. In France, and more particularly in Paris, most of the big mono-screens became supermarkets or garages.
London, however with more of a nod to liberal ideology, made a better job than the French of safeguarding these entertainment anachronisms. Many buildings were classified by English Heritage even if they were no longer cinemas. These rooms became evangelic churches, mosques, bingo halls, bowling alleys, nightclubs or dance halls and are obliged to preserve the original architectural elements."

You can see more of Stephan's work of at http://www.stephanzaubitzer.com/