Paris: Recent Favorites
Some shots from a recent trip to Paris that spoke to me. These are not your quintessential Paris shots, but ones that, perhaps, reflect something beneath the touristy surface (aside from this Moulin Rouge shot 😁).
Nighttime is the right time for the Moulin Rouge. The 1.6-second exposure caught the windmill's motion perfectly.
Père Lachaise Cemetery
Strolling through the Père Lachaise cemetery. I love the contrasts in this shot.
Even the cemeteries are beautiful in Paris. I like the contrasts in this shot—the orange and green, but also the mood of that flowy dress to the somberness and heavy feelings of the cemetery.
La Défense
Let’s begin with Paris’s unfamiliar and unloved skyline. Yes, Paris has a skyline. It’s a business district called La Défense. I found myself up on a roof around sunset and thought it looked beautiful in the hazy, orange sky. It stands at a distance from Paris’s heart, each with an air of superiority over one another.
The unfamiliar, unloved skyline of Paris's La Défense business district.
Versailles via Reflection
A reflection at Versailles.
The Palace at Versailles is magnificent—and I’m not too much of a palace person. I liked this reflection shot of the Grand Trianon château, built for Louis XIV as a place to meet with his mistress. The reflection of the peristyle’s decorative floor made for a good shot, I thought.
Bastille Day
Bastille Day Revelers in the Parc de Belleville. The park occupies a hill that overlooks the heart of Paris, but from a distance. This is a real neighborhood, not a tourist area. I took a lot of random shots here, seeking satisfying motion shots. This one came closest to the vision in my head.
Partying on Bastille Day, atop a hill overlooking Paris.
Notre Dame
Notre Dame's columns and vaulted ceiling. I love the lines in cathedrals.
A “lines” shot inside the cathedral. It’s not as sharp as I’d like it to be, and my symmetric brain wants the main arching line in the center to be perfectly vertical. I suppose I could distort the shot in Photoshop, but I just never took it that far.
Day’s End
The setting sun cuts paths of light through the Tuileries Garden, in no small part due to the perfectly shaven trees that form vertical walls of tree.
Long shadows from a comfy chair in the Tuileries Gardens.
Late Afternoon
The late afternoon sky in Paris. The camera caught quite a lot of shadowing from the clouds.
Sunset at the airport as we boarded our plane. One of my favorites from the trip, and taken with my phone.
In a cruel irony, the shot of the sky with rays of light eminating in all directions was one of my favorite shots, and I took it with my phone through a window on the gangway as we were walking on the plane.
Amused?
I like one of these shots, and the other rankles me a bit. Can you guess which one bothers me?
Amused? Here's an alternative way to see Paris from the sky that isn't Eiffel.
Carousels are everywhere in Paris, even beside the Eiffel Tower. This is a shot that misses the mark for me, mainly in the composition. A lot of photos serve as examples for what to do next time.
The one of the carousel bothers me to no end. I screwed up the composition—every time I look at it, I want the Eiffel Tower to be to the right of the carousel. There were some things in the way, but I suppose it wouldn’t have bene impossible. Next time… 🤨