Fashion icon Karl Lagerfeld opened the first American exhibition of his photographs at Pace/MacGill Gallery last week, with a beaming Mariah Carey in tow for the private reception.

A series of mostly black-and-white views of Paris at dusk, “Farewell to Daylight” shows a lesser-known side of the designer, who along with crafting renowned collections for Chanel and Fendi has published several volumes of photography and his own diet book. Yet Mr. Lagerfeld, now in his late 60s, sees it all just as work.” I don’t see my life as a career because that means you want to achieve something,” the designer said. “I don’t want to achieve anything, I only want to do.”

Mr. Lagerfeld added that the photographs in the show were simply a “more private sphere” of his body of work. Ms. Carey, whom Mr. Lagerfeld recently photographed for the cover of V magazine, had ample praise for the show. “The photographs are just fabulous,” she said. “What’s amazing about him is he’s such a legend, but also such a down-to-earth person, and so wonderful to work with.”

Mr. Lagerfeld, a dedicated photographer since the late 1980s, has shot several ad campaigns for Chanel, as well as dozens of editorial shoots for Vogue and other fashion magazines. But he sees the photographs in “Farewell to Daylight” as uniquely personal.

“What I consider my best personal work has to do with landscape and with architecture,” he said. “So when Peter MacGill [the president of Pace/MacGill] said he wanted to do a show with me, I told him I didn’t want to do fashion photos or portraits.”

When asked what he would like to photograph, Mr. Lagerfeld said, “Paris at the end of the day.”

The result are more than twenty silver gelatin prints – all untitled and dated from this year – that capture such iconic Parisian landmarks as the Boulevard St. Germain (near where Mr. Lagerfeld lives), the Tuileries Garden, and the obelisk at the Place de la Concorde – in a Romantic atmosphere reminiscent of Brassai’s images of the city from the 1930s.

“These are all the images we know of Paris, but Karl captures them in that perfect moment just before sunset,” Vogue creative director Grace Coddington said. “He’s so multifaceted, and these photographs are just another side of him – one he’s so incredible at.”

Mr. MacGill, who sees Mr. Lagerfeld’s sensibility as a perfect fit with his blue-chip roster, said he agrees. “We’ve always tried to show interesting photography, and artists who approach the medium with a kind of intelligence and passion,” he said, adding that Mr. Lagerfeld’s photographs “fit clearly into that category.”

Mr. MacGill’s gallery shows the work of such modern masters as Robert Frank, Irving Penn, and Walker Evans, and important contemporary photographers such as Philip-Lorca diCorcia.

Filmmaker Patrick Morell, who has known Mr. Lagerfeld for years, sees the designer’s choice of subject as deeply personal.

“I see him all the time in St. Germain, but I can’t remember ever seeing him with a camera,” Mr. Morell said. “So you realize that when he takes these pictures, he’s alone.”

“He’s out at times when the city is almost totally empty,” Mr. Morrell added. “It’s very lonely.”

For Mr. Lagerfeld, this loneliness is both a welcomed source of inspiration and a respite from the strains of his celebrity status.

“I live in a world where one is always overcrowded with people,” he said. “If you live with so many people around all the time, you need moments when you are alone, or you cannot work.”

Mr. Lagerfeld spoke from a quiet corner of the gallery, where the crowd consisted mostly of friends and peers. These included Vogue’s Andre Leon Talley, architect Peter Marino, Interview’s Ingrid Sischy, and socialite Veronica Hearst, along with a host of stylists, editors, and photographers.

“On those days when I am alone I can clear my desk, clear my head, and sketch or photograph, and not look at my watch,” Mr. Lagerfeld added.

The photographs, which he takes during solitary walks around Paris, reflect that. “These photographs, I do with no assistants, with nobody around,” he said. “I have just my bodyguard there to change the film, because I’m very brutal. I’ll break the camera easily myself.

“I don’t know why, but I can sketch, and do all these things, but when it comes to the camera, I have no patience – that is why I’m very bad with computers, too,” Mr. Lagerfeld said.

Yet patience is exactly what he shows by capturing Paris in fleeting daylight. “These photographs are very difficult to take,” Mr. Lagerfeld said. “The strength of this kind of light is less than five to 10 minutes a day.”

A representative for Pace/MacGill Gallery would not disclose if it plans to represent Mr. Lagerfeld. The majority of the photographs in the show are still available, with prices ranging from $1,500 to $5,000 (the majority of the works sell at around $3,000). Mr. Lagerfeld makes only three prints of each work: one for himself, one for his archive, and one for sale.

But the noted art and furniture collector, who has upcoming exhibitions of his work in Switzerland and Germany, is quick to note that selling the photographs is not the point.

“I’m in a situation in life where I don’t have to sell photography,” Mr. Lagerfeld said, when asked if he plans to continue to show his work commercially. “I don’t want to be overexposed. In fashion, and in life, I’m already overexposed.”

Until June 17 (Pace/MacGill Gallery, 32 E. 57th Street, between Madison and Fifth Avenues, 212-759-7999).