Moustache. Traveller 16. Under Picasso’s shadow.
Protection. Travellers 17. La Défense.
“Have I turned the gas off?” Traveller 18. Line 1.
“Have suitcase. Will travel.”
I found those stuck to a wall in the Marais, after a disappointing Cartier-Bresson expo. Placed high on the wall and protected by glass from morons and taggers. (Hence the angle to avoid reflection) I thought: the day I can do photographs like these, maybe I can start calling myself a photographer. Or an apprentice? 🙂 Here’s an edited version:
Love this young couple who should be donning coats and scarves in the Paris winter. But no. Paris deserves elegance.
Nothing is happening. Absolutely nothing. Travellers 19. Line 12.
“I am late, said the rabbit”. Traveller 20. Cour du commerce Saint-André-des-arts.
“I swear!” Traveller 21. Parc Georges-Brassens.
Pocahontas. (Look closely at the tat) Traveller 22. Gardens of the Louvre.
“Are you taking my picture? Seriously?” Traveller 23, Café Procope. I was having lunch next to a portrait of Robespierre. I felt the shadow of the guillotine looming over my trout with almonds and glass of Meursault.
Back to the street again. Spectacular.
Shangaï, c.1930, in The adventures of Harry Dickson by Pascal J. Zanon. A great Belgian Comic artist who recently left us. Sadly. I’ve seen streets like this in Singapore and Georgetown, Penang.
Misha the bear, having a honey beer on the Boulevard Saint-Michel. Traveller 24.
“That street is steeper every year!” A village in the mountain, Corsica, mid 30’s. The original belongs to a series of glass plates by a dear friend’s father. (c)ourtesy Vannina & Pascal.
“Scotty! Beam us up! Now!” Rue Saint-André-des-Arts. Travellers 25.
“I saw you!” Traveller 26, Rue des Archives, North of the Marais. In fact I didn’t realize I’d been spotted until the evening when I checked my photos. Amazing how only a few people catch on. I still have to develop a better routine. 😉
I actually had a Paris post almost ready, just needed to complement with a few of my “travellers”. And as often happens, another post creeped on me. Thanks for travelling with us.
“Backtothestreet?” Couldn’t help researching. The artist is Jean-Baptiste Pellerin. He has more than 500 photographs on the walls of Paris. This interview and great selection of his work will also lead you to his own site:
Equinoxio 
Absolutely wonderful and a lot of fun. Can’t get enough. 🙂 Applause.
Thank you Gigi. (Bowing) 😉
More to come. 🙂
Take care
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Marvelous, Brian.
I love your ”Street”. How do you manage to get such great candid shots?
Oh, and traveler 21? Her legs made me go weak at the knees! Gorgeous.
Thank you. Glad you liked it. As you may know, I’ve abandoned Cameras years ago. Too heavy and conspicuous. I only use my Iphone. Steps: turn to mute. You don’t want the “shutter” to click. Press photo put your phone at a 60º angle and pretend to text. Do not look at the subject. keep texting. Turn the phone ever so slightly to vertical. Snap a couple of shots. Back to 60º and pretend to text. Voilà.
#21? Indeed. You definitely are a connaisseur. 😉
Le métro est un lieu de relations décalées et forcées bien intéressant. Il n’y a rien à voir dehors, sauf dans les stations. Entre, les fenêtres sont des miroirs. Où est-ce que je regarde ? Puis-je regarder ? Me faut-il m’isoler en lisant ou en contemplant mon téléphone malin ? Quelle est ma relation avec les autres ? Aucune relation ?
Merci pour le voyage, Brieuc.
Tout-à-fait ça. Ajoutons que l’espace est “encombré”. Les gens trop près les uns des autres. En plus certains prennent des photos. (Mais que fait la police?)
Pas de quoi Gilles. Bonne semaine.
Thank you for making us travel again 🙂
My pleasure “ma grande”. Which was not too far. Juste Paris. 😉 (Et un bout de Shanghaï)
Bz
I can just see the pink in your cheeks after getting caught. I love the Corsica photo too.
Haha!
The Corsica photo is part of a series of glass plates taken by one of my oldest friend’s father back in the 30’s. The family was Corsican going back centuries. And that was the old village. My friend’s husband has started digitizing the glass plates, blowing them up and framing. I found that one incredible. That old lady was probably born around 1860.
How wonderful
Yeah. I’d seen the plates last year, and the digitized blown up version is fantastic. They framed it and put it on the wall.
Have you enlarged, printed and framed some of your pictures to hang them on your walls?
I have. I go through fits and starts where I do that. I haven’t done any new ones since Colin. I am very critical of my own work so only a few make the cut. I have been feeling like a refresh lately for lots of reasons. New trips, new photos, baby is getting larger, need to put up a photo of Amelia. It’s daunting to choose prints and a printer. I feel like I need to take a day off just to do that and I probably should. I have been wanting to put up some Paris café photos in the kitchen for a while. And I have been wanting to make a wall of prints kind of like a workshop but haven’t gotten excited about the vision yet. Not to mention the expense…
True. It is expensive. And it’s good to be critical of one’s own work. But then… if you don’t indulge yourself, who will? Follow your heart.
Excellent points.
So interesting –
I am Going to check out the #back to The street link now.
A few of these photos I really poured over.
The beam is up Scotty had great glow effects and love the sneakers with the dress.
And the “I see you” one and the mustache guy…
You are brave to get the shots you get….
Brave or unconscious? That was a new experience this summer. I will work on “better” routines. People are so fascinating.
The glow effect? Picked it up from Dora Maar. She used b&W negatives sometimes. So I invert a few colour shots and look at the result. 🙂
Thanks for the visit and comment.
And, the colour negative effect forces us to look at the image in a different way. And with digital it is so easy to do. The click of a command.
Just checked out the link for Pellerin’s #backtothestreet
Series
Amazing stuff and thanks for adding it here to your awesome post.
I wonder if Pellerin had folks dress up? If not – he is truly lucky
I think not. He just picks people on the street. It’s one thing I’ve noticed on Paris streets in the past 5-6 years: the incredible variety of dress style, colours, materials. Not one woman is dressed alike. (Men tend to dress like little boys, shorts, T-shirt, and sandals!)
Glad you liked Pellerin. I think he taught me a thing or two. Will put them in practice.
Take care.
A good mix of travelers this time, especially the woman who caught you at it. I have to ask: What’s the backstory with Misha the bear?
I normally don’t do people photos. Or not much. Until this summer when I tried a new “technique”.
Misha? Not sure there is a backstory. Misha (the bear in Russian) and Masha is a wonderful Russian cartoon I watch with my grandson. After 6PM. Rules are rules. 😉
I have seen several of those big Teddy bears in cafés in the Latin Quarter this summer. I guess it is a way to attract attention and business? I was a bit in a hurry otherwise I would have stopped for a drink and asked. 🙂 If the bears are still there next year I will. And tell you. 🙂
Oh, okay, a marketing gimmick! I get that!! 😀
It draws attention. 🙂
Great photos. I love Procope and Georges Brassens parc. So fun to see these pop up in your post. I take my photos with my phone so sometimes I just carry it as though I’m reading a text (so annoying I know) but that allows me to get some candid shots. This was a fun post.
Thank you. It was to compose. I see you use the same trick. 🙂
Procope and Brassens? Paris travellers are bound to cross path even if on different time slots. Brassens is close to where we sty in the summer. They also have an old book and papers “fair” every week-end. I’ve become quite a good customer. (Two suitcases of books this time. I must be crazy!)
A bientôt Alison.
I heard but did not see that the only vending machine that sells fresh baguettes is located in the 15th near that park. Check it out for the both of us next time, won’t you?
I will. Though near the place we rent for the summer, a few blocks away from Brassens, there are at least a dozen Boulangeries in a 200 yard radius. So I don’t know whether they would actually “allow” a vending machine. 😉
Refreshing my morning with this, “I swear” has a delightful tattoo 🙂
Indeed. A pretty girl too. (Oops. Woman!) 🙂
Lol, yes 🙂
A great set of ‘captures’, Brian.
Thank you Tish. It’s a new experiment. Looks promising.
Definitely.
Great photos!
Adore this & thank you!
Lots of great art and info here. Pascal J. Zanon’s piece is piquing.
Time to look him up!
Zanon was a good Belgian comics artist. Died relatively young. Sadly.
Interesting!
I love the random photos of strangers especially the black and white pic of the girl with the tattoo.
Glad you liked it. Fun to take, fun to compose. B&W girl w/ a tattoo? Do you mean Traveller 22? With a hat and a large tatto?
Yup!
Brilliant. I’m, too, practicing taking photos on the street and I can definitely say you’re not alone in being watched like that fella. Congrats on the menu choices, how is it that refined dishes like that trout don’t get past the Channel into London?
Haha! Don’t know. Maybe that explains Brexit? Don’t want no Continental food here?
(And trout with almonds is nothing complicated. Better than oxtail soup though)
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Loving Back to the Streets, not seen those around here yet. Maybe I’ll need a trip to Paris.
One always needs a trip to Paris. Long overdue. 😉
“Love this young couple who should be donning coats and scarves in the Paris winter. But no. Paris deserves elegance.” This quote of yours is the perfect descriptor of the post. A magical place as shown by your photos and comments ~ and it is always a bit funny to find a shot or two that you think were candid but the subject caught the shot 🙂 Continued happy trails, Brian, and wonder what the Night of the Dead will bring your way in a couple weeks. Cheers!
Thank you. I must say I enjoy how so many visitors to Paris, women and Asian in particular “dress up” for a day’s walk in Paris.
I will have to be even more careful for the candid shots. Parisians take their privacy very seriously.
And we’ll see what el Día de muertos brings. Probably good dancers, costumes, make-up.
Cheers back
Oh, and yes, do go back to the Louvre. Haven’t been in 2-3 years, I try to go every 5 years or so. (Want to “do” the National Gallery in London. Haven’t been in a while…)
😉
Your Travelers series can get you in trouble 🙂 Great series, you are the best!
Love the old lady on the steps. What a shot!
Thank you. I like the results. But you’re right, it could get me in trouble. I need to refine the strategy. The old lady in Corsica was taken by one of my best friend’s father, in the 30’s, when he was just a teen, in the village their family is from. Imagine glass plates! And that old lady must have been born around 1860.
A very neat shot. Timeless.
Indeed
Brianji, like I promised, I am back. Enjoyed the saunter through your cache of travellers. The one with the glares is the most amusing. Withering alright. And I love the last of them the most. She’s sassy.
Agreed. 🙂
The funniest thing is I didn’t realize the last one had seen me until in the evening when I looked at the day’s pictures. 🙂
Welcome back Arundhatiji. Good to “see” you. Fir milenge and all that. 😉
Thank you Brianji! Fir milenge. 🙂 Have a good week ahead!
Working on it. 😉