Bonjour good people I hope you are well on this rainy Saturday, I'm sure many of you are feeling festive af - surprisingly I'm feeling it too this year but we are yet to decorate, when we do I shall bless you with some Christmas photography. For now though I still have much more Paris to share with you and this is most of it, so go get yourself a hot beverage, be it tea or mulled wine and read on...
As this trip was a fair few weeks ago now, it is unfortunately fading from memory as everything does - aw shucks - so I'll be honest with you I have no idea what the heck this building is but I think it was the source of the chiming as we walked past, perhaps a church. I love the trees in this shot, there wasn't much evidence of autumn in Paris but here you can see the colourful leaves which pleases my soul.
I have edited this photo, as looking back if it had a shallower depth of field it would have been truly stunning, so I attempted some blur myself. Nevertheless I still love this shot, there were bicycles scattered all over Paris which gave it some character I feel. Many of these daytime shots were a quick snap as I - or other people - walked on by, so taking photos was an incredibly fast paced affair when you don't want to be left abandoned in a city you don't know!
These "Boris Bikes" were by the metro "Saint Michel Notre Dame", and when I showed my dad he said "you do like taking photos through the cutouts of bikes" because of one photo I took years ago of some Vespers lined up. We were always so tempted to get one and ride around to save our poor feet!
I loved the metro signs because they were so authentic and traditional looking, while in London they're big round and simple - although I have an odd desire to always get a shot of metro/underground signs, I'm not even sure why. Perhaps it's because I remember following my parents onto them (both in London and Paris) like my life depended on it as they were the ones who knew what was going on (even now I still don't have a clue).
One time, in London I believe, we were all getting off the tube when me and my dad turned around and the other two had disappeared off the face of the earth! Difficult reuniting when there is no phone signal underground but we soon re-grouped and still to this day I haven't the foggiest how were were huddled together one second and they'd vanished the next.
While in Paris I braved pointing my camera at strangers, even when they looked right at me with the face of "what do you think you're doing" as this man did before this shot. I was keen to capture the people in Paris, both fashion wise and capturing their behaviour. This hotel employee was waving down a taxi for a customer at the end of her stay.
There was plenty of interesting street art in Paris too, including a big "Kraken" on a wall and candy skull drawings, and a fair few of these mosaic designs which reminded me of minecraft. They really brightened the place up a bit.
Not a clue where this was, but again some more street art which was often in really high up places, leaving me to question how they got up so high to add colour to the city of Paris.
When I first went to Paris in my childhood I remember we found a street cafe a bit like this, with a waiter who memorised our orders without a notepad, and got everything spot on, even down to who ordered what, handing it to the four of us without needing to ask who's drink or plate was theirs. My mom fell in love with that place and we have canvas in the lounge that resembles it, so I was obsessed with capturing them whenever I saw one, this being my best shot, and as simple as it may be, it has sentimental value to myself for sure.
I never thought too technically about my images while on the trip, other than everything was well exposed of course, but looking back I'm so thankful the shutter speed was high for all my quick snaps so they came out crisp it certainly helped when photographing the people in Paris.
The background is very bleached out but my focus here were the (I assume) mother and daughter to the right. As we headed in their direction Miss Pink Coat was standing on the concrete blocks taking a photo while Mrs Blue Coat held her by the waist, a moment I thought was very sweet and reminded me of myself and my mom as I'm sure she's done the same with me as I stood on something. as they began to cross the road and hold one another's hand I sped up and took the shot to capture a connection that made me think of my own mom - and I liked it for a happy reminder of her.
Having had a cheeky google, these few shots were taken at Place de la Concorde, across the road from where the big ferris wheel stands. As one of our little group of three had a phone call I enjoyed standing around taking some snaps of people, capturing their behaviours and clothes...
And this colossal mess that made us all realise, Paris really isn't all that, and is generally a bit rough, rude and rank.
Moving swifly on, I "people watched" these girls try to get the best selfie angle until they stood at the right angle for me to take a photo of them from where I was standing.
Then I spotted this lady who for some reason I think is undeniably a Parisian. This is my favourite street photography shot, the fast shutter speed being a godsend for capturing the moment she walked by me pretty fast. I turned on my camera and held it up and waited for her to enter the frame, resulting in this beautifully candid shot.
Then it was time to go on the big wheel, which I loved! The views were beautiful and I'm glad we got to see a vast span of Paris in the day - since we got to the Eiffel Tower at night.
We went round once, slowly, stopping to load up the boxes with people, then went again simply to enjoy the view, which was nice. I swapped seats in between to get better shots of the Eiffel Tower on the other side.
Another interesting thing about the city was there were loads of these "I EXIST" stickers on the backs of road signs and posts - gets rather deep and meaningful when you begin to consider the message.
Another metro sign, one that features in Lana Moes' artwork - an artist I studied in school who dad reminded me of before I left, so it was interesting to see more than a watercolour painting of something so detailed.
While we were waiting for a metro train, I spotted these two musicians, who again, I bravely pointed my camera at and took photos, later they got on the same train as us and began banging out some killer tunes, which made us giggle because it was so unexpected. My friend Layla took a great photo [x/x] of the guy with the accordion, who we gave a couple coins to - they were just too good!
We spend so long walking around hunting down Notre Dame Cathedral - so when we finally realised this was it we sat down for a long while before heading in to regain some energy.
I really like this shot, we were waiting to cross the road when this guy stood in front of me and I noticed the back of his jacket was embroidered - that of course called for a photo!
The Saint Michel/Notre Dame area really showed Paris in it's best light, it was much more beautiful than the area where we were staying.
This macaroon filled chocolate piano spun round in a shop window, I think the reflections and shallow depth of field really makes a beautiful photo. I tried my first macaroon on the last day and it was surprisingly okay, vanilla flavoured I think from a friend who wasn't so keen on her box of new french treats.
I LOVE this photo, outside Notre Dame Cathedral a group of people were feeding pigeons and loving life. I don't know how being surrounded by pigeons could be so thrilling in my opinion but it certainly served for some great candid photos. This little boy later grabbed a pigeon and showed his parents his hand held prisoner with pride, it's the little things.
Another thing that was scattered around the Notre Dame area were patriotically coloured flowers, next to bronze plaques. Later when back in England the news informed that it had been a year since the attacks in Paris, which put a new perspective on being there so close to the anniversary - the same attacks that occurred while the university were there last year!
After a short while, a guy came along with two sticks tied together with string and a bucket of soapy water. Commence the bubble making!
Among the pigeons, the kids became over excited by the bubbles, racing about to pop them before someone else.
As we were leaving I noticed someone with a free hugs sign, of course a photo opportunity so I stopped and waited for the current hug to end and the hugging stranger held up their sign once again so I could get the snap.
Notre Dame as huge and so massively detailed in decoration and architecture, it was stunning to photograph.
We were brought to attention by the sound of bagpipes which confused us a lot - the last instrument you;d expect to hear in France! There was some sort of ceremony ending, I guess a remembrance service as many many people leaving the Cathedral were wearing poppies.
We went inside the Cathedral to tick off another thing off the top tourist places to see. It was breathtaking! The stained glass windows were impressive and took most of my interest and as I was standing in the middle taking in the large space (below) I turned around and noticed the grand organ up high, sitting in front of a large round stained glass window.
As I said, the stained glass windows impressed me most, their massive size, intense detail and beauty pulled me in, I couldn't stop photographing them in any way I could see...
It was truly stunning to see the reflection of the coloured window on the wall inside the cathedral, an unmissable photo. And with this beautiful light it leaves a good follow on to next week which will show all the lights of Paris, be excited!
I hope your brew hasn't gone cold by now, I congratulate you for getting this far and thank you for reading. Do let me know your favourite photos, places and people in this post, I hope you've enjoyed this long read ;)
Cheerio loved ones - Beky x
