Category Archives: Photographs: France

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: France

Musée d’Orsay, Interior

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Musée d'Orsay, Interior
The main interior area of the Musée d’Orsay, Paris

Musée d’Orsay, Interior. Paris, France. August 12, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The main interior area of the Musée d’Orsay, Paris

Even though we had almost a week in Paris this past summer, there was simply too much to see — not that this was a surprise! We knew that there were certain things that we simply had to see, and we knew that we wanted to visit several museums, some small and some large. We visit a small photography museum one day, and we visited a portion of the Louvre on another, but there were other things to see and do as well.

All of this is to explain our unfortunately brief visit to Musée d’Orsay, which we only managed to get to near the end of our trip, and then on an afternoon when the place was only going to be open a few more hours. We went in and rushed to see at least a few things that we knew we did not want to miss, and I found time to make just a few photographs, including this one of the airy interior of the building just before it closed.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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Photographs: France, Photographs: Urban/Street

Along the Seine

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Along the Seine
A man sits at the top of steps along the Seine River, Paris

Along the Seine. Paris, France. August 9, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A man sits at the top of steps along the Seine River, Paris

Most of our time in Paris this past August was spent walking, and there are certainly plenty of great places to walk in this city! But Paris is big enough that sometimes it is useful to get around in other ways: train, bus, subway… and boat. So, after a few days of looking around on foot we decided to catch one of the river tours up and down the Seine through the city. We’ve done this in other cities and discovered that the boats often provide a very different view of things than what we see from the streets.

I quickly figured out that much of my photography from the river would best be done with a longer lens, so I put a telephoto zoom that I had brought along on my little Fujifilm XPro2 camera. Photographic subjects, when seen from a boat, often pass very quickly and there would be little time for lens changes. I photographed almost continuously — architecture, bridges, people along the banks of the river, and more. Here I saw a fellow relaxing against a wall at the top of a stairway leading down to a walkway along the river.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: France, Photographs: Urban/Street

Intersection, Montmartre, Dusk

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Intersection, Montmartre, Dusk
An intersection of narrow streets at dusk, Montmartre, Paris

Intersection, Montmartre, Dusk. Paris, France. August 8, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A deserted Montmartre intersection in the evening “blue hour,” Paris

This past August we stayed in Montemartre during our weeklong visit to Paris. We went to many places in Paris, often on foot, but we obviously ended up spending quite of bit of time in Montmartre near our hotel — going out on walks, looking for restaurants, returning from other adventures. This area is more hilly that other parts of Paris, so here the narrow and twisting streets also wind up and down hills in many places.

I’m not certain at the moment where we were headed on this evening, though there is a pretty good chance that it involved food! It might have been on our first night in Paris, when we didn’t yet know our way around the local area and we went out for what amounted to a random walk. I made the photograph during that brief interval between night and day, the “blue hour,” when all areas in shadow are lit by the blue wash of light from the sky. At the moment I made this photograph the light was dimming, just enough that the brightest street lights were beginning to create pools of warmer light.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: France

Dumbed Down By Foreign Actors

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Dumbed Down By Foreign Actors
Graffiti on a wall along a Paris sidewalk

Dumbed Down By Foreign Actors. Paris, France. August 8, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Graffiti on a wall along a Paris sidewalk

When traveling it pretty quickly becomes apparent that graffiti is a pretty universal thing. The amount may vary, but is probably as much a function of how quickly it is cleaned up as it is of the amount of it that is produced. (In some cities, both in the US and Europe, it is pretty clear that no one has bothered to remove it for a long time.) Broadly speaking, it comes in several types. The personal scrawls, or “tags,” seem pretty similar just about everywhere, and I rarely share them. (They also seem like the lowest form of graffiti, basically just a “look at me” or “see what I can get away with” kind of thing.) A second sort is more art/icon oriented and not particularly about text. (My “Je suis bleu” photograph from Le Marias includes such material.) It may or may not be political. A third type includes text messages — though some of the “art” graffiti may fit here, too — seems more overtly political and delivers some message, though the meaning may not always be clear.

I saw these “Dumbed Down By Foreign Actors” scrawls in quite few places in Paris. This one is in Montmartre. I’m not certain what it means, and a quick search didn’t provide any clear answers: is it literally about actors from foreign countries, or is it about (e.g. political) “actors,” or something else? I photographed this example as much for the surroundings as for the text itself. The old wall, painted (and partially re-painted) pink, the barred square area (not actually a window), and the interruption of the power box all are visually interesting to me.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.