What is So Special about Paris?
Both Tina and I love traveling, but we don’t always share the same tastes. I tend to go for the colder, wilder spots (Iceland being my ideal) whilst Tina wants to visit hotter, busier spots (the Greek islands being her ideal). To solve this potential problem, we have turns picking our destinations.
I’ve learned to travel to Tina destinations with an open mind. I’ve always been pleasantly surprised by her choices.
Her latest choice proved to be a bit more of a challenge. Paris. Why would anyone living in London want to visit Paris. What is so special about Paris that so many people are mesmerized by it. I had seven days to find out.
A Brief Report
Paris was overrun with tourists and therefore ridiculously expensive. It was full of begging immigrants with the same one liners. The Paris metro was dirty and didn’t inspire a feeling of safety. We were constantly harassed by buskers and hawkers and the locals were not at all impressed with our limited grasp of the French language.
I loved every minute of it!
What makes Paris so special? In a sentence, Paris is the optimal of the beauty man can create. Geographically, there is nothing inspiring about Paris. It is a flat piece of land with a river running through it. What is so impressive about Paris are the man made creations. Whether it be architecture, street planning, art, fashion, food, drink or entertainment, Paris offers the best of all.
London is the cultural mixing pot of the English speaking world, Paris seems to be the French speaking equivalent. Cultures from all over the world are well represented in Paris, all speaking perfect French. With the different cultures, different art forms have been imported and added to Paris’s already impressive collection.
It is a city with a contagious atmosphere. I can’t imagine anyone coming to Paris and not being inspired to eat, drink and create art. It seems to also be the capital of romance, which can’t hurt when your on a romantic getaway.
Needless to say, Tina once again made an excellent choice.
Photographing Paris
Paris is a difficult city to photograph. I should probably clarify: it is easy to take a great looking picture of Paris, but you’ll know from the three tripod holes in the ground that it has been taken thousands of times before. What is difficult is capturing the emotion, art and atmosphere of Paris in an original way.
The trip to Paris was also more of a getaway than a photographic excursion. Our main concern was having fun rather than making photos. That said, being photographers we could hardly let the opportunity to shoot Paris pass us by without taking a few photos. It turns out we took 15 gigs with of pictures!
Our routine for each day was basically the same. We woke up late, took our time eating breakfast, then set out to see the city. When we saw a photo opp, we took it, without any planning or pre-visualization. The only photo related decision we made was were to spend the sunset. Ironically, our favourite images aren’t the vistas we shot under perfect lighting conditions, but rather the everyday life scenes we experienced throughout the day.
I spent one of the days lugging a tripod around and ended up not using it. I figured that any images I took in Paris that I would be happy with, wouldn’t be made with a tripod.
Let me explain…
A tripod is an essential tool for landscape work. It enables you use long exposures and helps to place graduated filters. Whilst I knew I could be shooting decent looking landscapes (cityscapes), I knew they would have been done many times before under better conditions with better equipment. Why, because commercial photographers have been paid (and given special access) to get the best possible images for marketing purposes.
I knew beforehand that the images I was hoping to make would be serendipitous, grab shots, hardly the shots you would get with a tripod.
There were times that I wished I had a tripod. My camera bag became a makeshift tripod, but it meant all my long exposures were taken from the ground. For dark scenes where we needed a quick shutterspeed, we just cranked the ISO. Luckily both of our camera’s hold up quite well at high ISO levels.
Recommendations
Some Paris cliches everyone should experience:
- Nutella filled Crepes
- Galeries Lafayette hot chocolate
- The photo gallery along the Sein
- The busker entertainment on Montmartre Hill, especially during sunset
- Sunset view from the Montparnasse Tower
- Contrast the classic architecture of central Paris to the modern architecture of La Défense
- Drink beer from a plastic cup at Mcdonalds!?
and also, go see all the famous landmarks, which despite the crowds are still breathtaking.
Great report and pics
I love the matchy Asians!!
[...] of my all time favorite photographer and he is best known for his street photography of Paris. On a recent trip to Paris, inspired by old Henri, I made an effort to do some street photography [...]
Ok – I’ll be first. My favorite destination is the ridge between the Lot and the Dordogne river valleys. Stay in the countryside in a comfortable Gite with all of the sites within a 40 minute drive in any direction. In fact, if the volcano doesn’t smoke too much, I am going back again this fall (and I can’t wait). Why? Because it is so beautiful around there – and all of it is steeped in history…and they all speak French (and tolerate my efforts at it). I don’t think any place of historical standing calls to me quite so strongly. It is like living in a novel or better.