London rainy night two

Here we are again in London… I don't know if I would want to enter this church. It used to be that a church was a refuge for any person in danger. The priest would have welcomed you and hidden you from  whoever was pursuing you, even the police ! Things have changed, and now, when I see such a building in London, I cannot avoid to think about Ambrose Chapel where Hitchcock sent James Stewart and Doris Day in The Man Who Knew Too Much. What would happen in this place if I rang the bell at night to try to hide from… let's say the rain. Probably nothing. I would have to blame myself for not having taken an umbrella. Now why did I take this picture ? I was walking fast to my hotel and It suddenly struck me that I was not in a movie set. It was real, although it gave me this impression of not being in my own life, but somewhere in between a movie script and a fuzzy feeling of emptiness. The kind of situation where the mind is drifting from one thing to another and you end up losing the sense of reality. I took my camera to get back where I was, in a London street, just out of the train from Paris. 

London rainy night

Yes it is different from the last rainy night shot. Street lights, pavement, architecture. This is definitely not Paris. Here we are expecting the Werewolf anytime. No more smog in London, but it is almost missing here. This has a Sherlock Holmes atmosphere. A crime has been committed somewhere… Why do I have this feeling ? Maybe there is a coat of literature above what is after all a very uncharacteristic street bend. What gives an identity to a picture ? Probably what we want it to be. Our imagination and our accumulation of memories dictates an interpretation of what we see. The previous Paris night picture was for me very plain. It was home. The neighborhood, the streets around my place. Here, in London, there is some kind of excitement of not being home. I have known this city for a very long time, but it remains exotic to me. It may even affect the way I take the picture. Maybe I positioned myself to have this heavy atmosphere of a London that doesn't exist any more. I probably chose the focal length to enhance the emptiness of this passage. 

Paris rainy night

This is my metro station in Paris. As you probably can see, it could not be in any other city. You can appreciate the typical stone apartment buildings, the street lighting, the type of trees, even the pavement… But there is one special mark that is missing : the very special Paris sky. This is strange. Every city has its own type of sky. The clouds are different, the softness of the sun changes the architecture. Even in an old painting, you can identify the light of Paris. Of course, at night, the game is different. But still, the identity of the city is always strong. Maybe I should go to some other places, just to prove it. It is time to broaden the subject. There will still be pictures of Paris in this blog, but I might venture to some other towns…

Paris Montparnasse

This is not the Gare Montparnasse that everybody uses to go to the West of France. No passengers here. I have to admit that even I could not get in the depths of this part of the station. What does happen there, I don't know. Probably nothing special… But I find this ramp quite inspiring. It gives the impression that it is a reserved way for important people, one that would by-pass the crowd, the noise of the station hall, one that would give you access to a highly exclusive luxury car, with thick carpets, lampshades on the tables lining the windows, a sort of Orient-Express for the West. Great Bordeaux wines would be served, since the trains to this city start from Montparnasse. It would bring me back to the times of the Hitchcock trains, full of weird characters running along the corridors. Unless it was the Hitchcock Railway sung by Joe Cocker. I have never understood the connection there… 

Paris tomorrow

Worst than the vision of Jacques Tati in his wonderful films of the 60's. This is a "newly" developed area of the "city of light". Thanks to plastic bags, there are a few sparks of color in this welcoming and happy environment. The green trash bags look like giant used condoms. Who knows, what is left inside might be the seeds of a bright future ? Everybody in Paris is well aware that these remnants of happy moments are in fact here to protect the population from fear. There was a time when what was left in the trashcans of the city could not be seen and it might have resulted in tragic situations. Today, everything in our societies must be transparent. Maybe this is why we have more and more glass buildings. There is one at the right end of the picture. The funny thing about these so called modern constructions is that they are not see-through, they act in fact like mirrors, reflecting what is left of free space in the streets and obstructing the important things occurring inside. Sometimes, there is an empty space, like the one being crossed by the busy man with the colored plastic bags, probably containing processed food for his TV dinner…

Paris movie set

Is it a real street or a movie set ? I imagine everything behind the camera. A huge team of very competent persons waiting for the word : Action ! And all this in real rain. They planned fake rain, but everything had to be changed at the last moment since it was really pouring. The actors are waiting under a tent, last touch of preparation by the stylist. The director is so worried that he wanders around, drenched because he has no umbrella. The sound team had to wrap the microphones with special protection and they already know a lot of post-production will be necessary to correct this. Everybody is hungry. The catering has not been organized for a rainy set, so it will be a problem. The actress is getting cold and starts coughing. But the location is unique, far better than a studio set. It is not really in Paris, just in a near suburb, but that will do for this period film. Well it is a good thing I was imagining all this agitation, because walking through this street alone at night was a bit scary and I had yet another twenty minutes before getting to the metro station. I'll remember this street for a scene in my next shooting…

Paris staircase again

This is the third time I show the way to the entrails of Paris. I am not obsessed by going underground. But this one is really deep. We are Porte des Lilas and I don't recommend running down those stairs. It's a question of rhythm. You miss a beat and off you roll…maybe not in one piece once you reach the bottom. There are not many stations that deep in this city. Not like Washington DC or London. The interesting thing here is that there is no "wide angle" distorsion. I used a standard 50mm lens, which gives a better idea of the depth. Where are we going when we take this way ? At the beginning, it is quite frightening and gives all sorts of odd feelings. But in the end you are in a very standard Paris subway station. It could be anyone of the 302 stops of the city métropolitain network. We are in the standardized city belly, dating from the early 20th Century. White bezeled tiles all over. And I like it. It has become so familiar that in fact the fear is reversed. What are we going to find above ? An unknown Quartier ? A broken down familiar area that is changing so fast it has become a foreign place ? Or my usual streets that I don't even see anymore, blinded by habit ? This is the kind of apprehension I have when I step out of a métro station in Paris.

Paris outside the ring

Inside or out ? What does it mean nowadays ? The périphérique, the freeway that runs all around Paris, has been for years some kind of a border. Here we are outside. In Aubervilliers, actually just a few hundred meters from what we call Paris intramuros. Suburbs as would any Parisian say. Does it make it an entirely different territory ? It looks like it, but this is where a lot of of television studios are situated. So this is where a lot of really parisian events happen… In such a centralized country as France, everything is supposed to originate from the capital. But as you can see, this is not true. The powerful media are operating from outside the city limits ! What I like here is the completely desolate space, empty of life, with some kind of outside bowels, just like the architects from the Pompidou Center - right in the center of the town - have tried to replicate. But here, it is not an artefact producing an effect, it is purely functional. And you have to imagine the bustling activity inside one of those constructions, VIPs being cuddled, video technicians running around, journalists preparing naughty questions, lots of light, lots of heat inside, when it is freezing outside…  

Paris métro

Why did I pick this boring view of Paris ? Maybe it has everything a modern city should have. Maybe it is an exemple of urbanistic bliss. First, no traffic ! You would dream of a city so quiet…except it seems dead. Probably a Sunday morning, the boring day of the week. And it has a red traffic light, just to show that city dwellers don't like cars. Don't forget the bicycle track, a new accessory for people who love to hyperventilate in the pollution. And, on top of that, you can see that we are just under the elevated metro line ! We do have public transport in this town. Efficient when it is not on strike, as clean as the kitchen of a gastronomic restaurant. So yes, this is indeed a modern Paris, the one we all want, the one that makes you feel happy. Oh, I forgot the chimney. It should have been photoshoped out. This is definitely not a good sign. Well, at least, we have a blue hazy sky with a few clouds to cheer us up.

Paris waterways

I wish I could live in the building on the right, a 360 ° view over the canal. Sometimes, there is a circus ont the left, it makes for some color. It used to be a desolate part of the city, but now, it has become fashionable to live by the water, next to the Cité des Sciences. Nowadays, people would rather live Quai de la Gironde than Quai d'Orsay, by the Seine, opposite the Grand Palais. The East of Paris has become the place to be. Well, I am not sure I agree, but let's talk about something else on this picture : color balance. Digital cameras have made it easier to chose what kind of ambiance the photographer wants to give to his shot. You can of course rely on the automation of the system. Sometimes, it will correct the yellow hue of the public lighting, sometimes not. If you trust your memory of the place, you open the space to total subjectivity. Maybe that is the last thing left in the digital technology. You make the city you want, just by moving the curser up or down on your imaging software… 

Paris temple

Paris is full of churches and other religious places. Some of them are beautiful, others are intimate. Most are among the oldest buildings in the city. Here is a new kind of shrine. The shrine of tourism and consumer goods. The modern type of religious expression. They are opened late, which is rarely the case for churches. They seem to attract a lot of people. And they look beautiful. They have to, because they are exposed to yet another modern phenomenon : competition. Here is a rather perfect exemple of these new temples, for a new universal religion. It has a striking appearance. You can even see offerings deposited on the ground, left of the shrine. Most of the believers seem to leave the same kind of offerings, probably a tribute to the great phallic symbol of Paris : tiny models of Eiffel Towers, some of them illuminated. I have to say it is difficult to resist to the attraction of these temples. Even if it is not your religion, you are tempted to approach the shrine, lured by the powerful smell of pop-corn, crêpes, and so many enticing signs of this new overwhelming faith, swirling the world like a huge, irresistible wave… 

Paris Opera

The Opera building at night is a tempting subject. A big rococo cake, all yellow, sitting in the middle of an orderly and spectacular perspective, a symbol of the old Paris. When I arrived there, it was raining, the streets were shining with colorful reflections, cars were passing by, leaving white or red stripes due to the long exposure. It was better than a postcard. For some reason I compulsively pressed the shutter button. The interesting thing is that every time I cross this place at night with a camera, I do it. And I get always the same fabulous postcard. I probably have a whole collection of these very imaginative photographs, taken at all times, thirty years ago, ten years ago, last year, a month ago, all of them done with different sorts of cameras. So this time I decided, for once, to turn my back on this landmark of our city. I got this heavy, ornate staircase ramp. One more staircase…   

Paris statue

I never thought this would fit in my blog. There are many statues in the streets of Paris. Why this one ? May be just for the stairs behind. After all, didn't I already put some stairs on this collection of random pictures ? In fact twice. But there are a few disturbing things here. I particularly like the board on the right. You would think it would be an explanation about the statue and why it is here. No ! It says : For One Person Relieved, How many Disgusted ? written over an explicit illustration. And then the second part of the sign : Urinate in the street is forbidden and … I cannot read the word because, as if this kind of incivility was not enough there is a tag covering the inscription, yet another breach of civility. Why is this wonderful sign sitting next to the statue of Vulpian, a famous doctor and scientist who discovered the adrenalin ? It would have been more appropriate if he had made discoveries about kidneys or the urinary system. But, there is another interesting thing on this scene, it is the green bush behind the statue. Maybe this is too tempting for people who want to relieve themselves. And that would be a logic explanation for this beautiful sign.

Paris or not Paris ?

Is this really Paris ? It could be anywhere, and that is what our architects seem not to want to understand. Soon, it will not be interesting to travel from one big city of the world to another. They will all be similar. Not that the volumes and the light enhancing them will not be interesting and reflect a clever use of space, but we will have lost all the singularities that make travelling so stimulating. Anyway, where are we, here, on this picture ? This is the outskirts of the Gare Montparnasse. I took pictures of this area forty years ago and I was trying to find where. Well, I could not find the spots. Everything has changed. In fact, I got almost lost in this new neighborhood of apartment buildings and office blocks. In my old pictures, this was a zone for stocking all sorts of things, beer barrels, crates, etc. But it did look like old Paris. Now we could be anywhere. 

Paris stairs

It almost look like the page of an old medieval manuscript. Except I cannot understand what the text means. Is it a wise philosophical or religious legend common to these old books ? I strongly advise not to try to read this while going up the steps of this stairway to heaven. Actually heaven, here, is street level, pollution, dirt and all. This time it is not a black and white shot, but almost a monochrome picture. Why then using the black and white effect ? I actually prefer the pinkish hue produced by the badly corrected color balance of the fluorescent lighting. The dark curved line on top suggests, with the oblique lines of the stairway's perspective, some kind of a mushroom, a necessary psychotrope for travelling underground in Paris.   

Paris private

Usually access to this place is reserved to the visitors. This time the porte cochère was opened. But are we in Paris ? It looks vaguely like a spanish town, with the grilled window on the right. And the night sky is clear. There is even a star… Night photography is sometimes deceitful. But yes, we are in Paris, 11ème Arrondissement. Thirty years ago, this area was desolate. A depressing neighborhood. Today, it has become one of the fashionable districts, full of hipsters and trendy restaurants. Interesting to observe that shift in time. For years, many shops were closed, their rolling curtains down, now they are opening again as wine bars, bistrots, tea shops and all sorts of leisure places when it originally was a lower middle class resident's area. Cities are changing all over the world…to become  exactly the same from one part of the world to another. The only remaining "authentic" details of the past urban environment are being used as tourist attractions in each big city, just to keep their touch of originality in order to attract huge buses full of uninterested tourists..  

Paris 13h06

When I put 13h06 in the title, I induce the viewer to see the street art on the back wall in the picture. Was it the first thing I saw in the street that made push the button ? Yes and no. In fact I liked the corner shop window more than the yellow painting in the background. But what was for me the decisive point was the perspective. What happens round the corner ? What could happen ? Murder ? Car accident ? Lovers walking by ? A homeless looking for a quiet place to rest ? And this is where the absence of sound in a photograph creates mystery. One of the great assets of a still picture. One thing is sure though : whatever is bound to happen in there will not happen at 13:06.

Paris under…

After midnight, the Paris metro is still full of people on Line 6. But this is a stair coming from Line 3. The escalator is actually brand new. Just replaced a few weeks ago. It doesn't make any difference visually. As a kid, I would have been tempted to go down this tunnel, trying to beat the speed of the escalating steps. It makes me think of the open mouth of a snake ready to swallow anyone crazy enough to want to know what is inside. Well inside is frightening… Too many people, too many accidents, too many delays and as I recently learned, more particule pollution than at street level. Moving around using the metro is still quicker than anything else. I have not actually counted how many times I went down the steps of the Paris subway system in my life. In fact I don't want to know.

Paris la nuit

It is a heavy thing to use the name of Brassaï's famous book for a black and white picture of Paris taken at night… I know. But It doesn't look like an old picture of the Hungarian master, only because of the painted graphics and the white stone blocks meant to channel the traffic. Have we become so stupid in 80 years that we have lost the discipline to watch what is going on in the street and need to be directed by signs and constructions destroying the look of the city ? But this image is weird for another reason : size matters. The smaller it is seen, the more graphic it looks and this is not what I wanted when I took it. Because these strong lines seem to direct the eye nowhere. Probably the opposite effect of what the traffic planners had in mind !

Paris street corner

Every street corner in Paris should have eight blue enameled signs stating the names of the streets crossing one another…It is not always the case, and a weathered Paris inhabitant sometimes get confused. He expects these signs in order to find his way in an area he is not familiar with. The design of these signs has not changed for decades, at least since I was a kid. I actually get angry if the name of a street is not given where it should be. So let's say you have one of those signs, the base of a street lamp, a paved way - and these are getting rare, since most of them have been covered by a layer of tar to keep the demonstrators from using them against the police after the so-called 1968 revolution ! - So paved "chaussée", street lamp and street sign :  you are in a timeless Paris. At night, it will be even more of an illusion. It could almost be a movie set from the 1930's, maybe shot by Marcel Carné.