Human Trajectories, street photography series by Hugo Chazot-Ranquet

Hugo Chazot Ranquet

Early work

Human Trajectories

Human Trajectories is a street photography archive spanning ten years of analog film and travel. Candid encounters captured across multiple countries, exploring the space between chance and intention, between the moment and the frame.

Street photography requires patience and movement. You travel, you immerse yourself in changing environments, and you allow serendipity to guide the encounter. It is about being present. The image emerges from context, from the texture of a place and the unexpected gestures of strangers who briefly share your gaze.

Using analog processes, each photograph carries the weight of the material: the grain of the film, the chemistry of development. This archive documents the origin of looking: how attention forms, how the eye learns to see.

Hugo Chazot-Ranquet standing with arms crossed beside a large framed black and white street photograph of three men playing chess in a weathered alleyway
Three men sit on a patterned rug in a stone doorway playing chess on a board set between them, one watching the camera while the others study the pieces
An elderly man with a moustache sits cross-legged on a wooden porch, framed by timber beams and railings, looking toward the camera with a hand resting on the rail
A street barber cuts a seated customer's hair at an open-air stall while a boy waits in a chair behind him, city traffic and shopfronts filling the background
A bullock with long curved horns pulls a cart down a narrow street tangled with overhead wires, a bearded man sitting in the cart behind it
A man lies on a mat on stone steps, reading a folded newspaper held above his face, one bare foot resting against the worn stone
A young girl looks directly at the camera from atop a man's shoulders, rising above a dense crowd in a city street lined with ornate buildings and a tall tower
A man stands beside a cow draped in a blanket at the water's edge, a boy watching from the side and another figure wading in the shallow river, boats lined up behind them
A man sits alone on a station bench at night, legs pulled up, watching passengers walk along a wet, lamplit platform beside parked trains
Two boys in chef hats and uniforms sort greens and vegetables on a stone ledge beside a large metal cooking drum and a hanging scale, on a busy street
A person wearing a woven conical hat sits in the open doorway of a train carriage, one arm braced against the frame, motion-blurred landscape rushing past outside
Two water buffalo walk down a paved road past a smiling man riding a scooter, with more scooters and pedestrians following behind on a tree-lined mountain road
A bird flies above the weathered stone towers of a hillside fort, with hazy mountains and more fortress walls visible in the distance
A man walks through a corridor of wooden torii gates densely inscribed with Japanese text, dappled light falling through the structure
A shirtless man wades in a lake holding a long pole and a net gathered in a large basin, houses and palm trees reflected in the still water behind him
A woman wrapped in a shawl holds a young child close to her chest, the child looking off to the side, against a plain plastered wall
A child runs through breaking waves at the shore with a dog leaping beside them, silhouetted against the bright sea, a piece of driftwood in the foreground
A young woman in a plaid skirt and knitted shawl leads a pale horse by its rope, standing on a barren mountainside beneath a large cloud
A man stands smiling atop a coal tender behind a labeled steam locomotive reading Queen of the Hills, steam rising around him
An elderly woman in a headscarf leans on a wooden railing laughing, hands clasped together, standing under a corrugated metal roof
Close portrait of an elderly man with wind-blown white hair and deep wrinkles, smoking a hand-rolled cigarette, wearing a worn jacket in front of a tree trunk
An elderly woman sits cross-legged at the edge of a wooden dock beside a stone pillar, looking toward the camera with a wide expanse of still water behind her
An elderly woman in a hat sits beside a table piled with bananas and fruit, election posters covering the wall behind her stall
A shirtless man leans out of an open bus window, resting against the frame beside a cracked side mirror, looking down toward the camera
A young child peers around a wooden porch post on a mountain cabin, framed by railings and beams with a forested hillside in the background
A shirtless man bends over an outdoor tap to wash cloth, wearing a beaded necklace, beneath a hand-painted sign reading Doctor Alone, Lake View Restaurant, Hotel Lotus, Gurjar Ghat
A man in a suit walks down a narrow paved alley lined with shops and hanging signs, past a small outdoor food stall where two people sit at a counter
A man carries an enormous bundle strapped to his back and forehead with a rope, glancing at the camera while walking down a street past a shuttered storefront
A man in a peaked cap sits on a bench reading a folded newspaper, glancing toward the camera, with wrought iron railings and a quiet street behind him
A shaft of light falls through a patterned window grille into a dark, textured stone interior, casting a striped shadow across the wall and floor
Rows of elderly men play board games at small tables lining a narrow indoor hall lit by fluorescent lights

This street work is where the eye began. The research it led to continues in The Grain Project and the series Mackie Lines.