
There
are moments and there are moments. This was a MOMENT.
Public displays of affection are more common in Paris
that in Cincinnati... And the world is better for it.
Vive la France!
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I
like the flow of this picture. My eye (I won't speculate
on yours) goes first to the girl gazing at the sculpture
(Rodin's The Hand of God) and then to the mirror image
of the piece, then to the man walking and only then
to the actual (slightly out of focus) sculpture. It's
the opposite of 'normal left to right scansion.'
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A
sanctified fellow clutches his staff and gazes down
toward the spikes (of Hell?) and, in turn, finds himself
gazed upon from above by demons. Is there a meaning?
Whatever..., I liked the angle, hopefully you will too.
This all takes place at Notre Dame Cathedral.
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A
photo of a photo of one of my heroes, Rene Magritte
(who was from Belgium, not France). I took this pic
at the Museum of Photography in Paris and only cleaned
it up minimally - I even left a bit of reflection from
the glass. Anyway, I think this is a really funny picture.
If you don't quite see the joke, I'll give you a clue.
I called the photo, 'Magritte's Quiche.' You may email
me if you still need another clue.... But, trust me,
this guy is really funny!
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Unfortunately,
I'm not quite as funny as Magritte, but I think this
photo, which I titled, '2 Drunks in Motion,' is precisely
what the title says; a photo of two humorous, harmless
drunks who were wandering up the street from the Wine
Store across the way. But they only made it to the film
(and yes, I used film for all these photos!) as blurs.
But if you look REALLY carefully, you can see a pair
of generally stationary shoes standing on the ground
as our intoxicated friends blur just above them. I think
it's pretty slick myself!
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I
had to take this photo fast since it's really rare to
actually see Noreen sipping a bit of coffee (even her
favorite espresso!). We usually share one (or two, if
we're on a tare!) shot of espresso. I drink most and
Noreen has a sip which is enough (as long as it's decaf!).
I, on the other hand, have been known to request an
IV drip of espresso! Of course, those days are long
past, but the memory lingers!
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This
was a really slick street cat (or 'chat' if you prefer).
He posed for this picture before waving a paw and sauntering
off. I never even caught his name, but I believe he
said it was Jacques. One can never be sure about these
things.
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Chartres
Cathedral. I suppose this is the 1,453,278th picture
of Chartres (this year!), but dang it, the place really
is impressive and I think the dramatic angle works pretty
well. Anyway, I hope you like it.
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I
like this picture because it tells a story. But to get
the full story you have to go to Noreen's Rodin Museum
pictures. I titled this one, 'Thinking about Thinking
about the Thinker,' which makes a kind of sense when
you see Noreen's nice color picture of the girl, the
phone and the Thinker. By the way, did you recognize
that Noreen's back here?
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I
like this one! I call it 'Late Afternoon Sun.' If you
go to Noreen's 'Around Town' pictures, you will see
a color picture (mainly blue) where she also took a
picture of shadows, in her case, the shadow of the two
of us. But if you look at the upper left of her picture
you will see a grate. That is the very grate you see
pictured above. Another slick pic, I do believe.
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A
nice side view of Notre Dame de Paris, which is on the
island about 3 or 4 city blocks from our apartment,
where if I lean out of the window, I can see the big
tower in the distance. Another late afternoon shot with
good lighting. I had hopes of a few early morning pictures...
but it was vacation!
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I
call this one, 'View of Montmartre.' And, if you look
really carefully in the lower center of the picture
you can (maybe) see a couple of shadows pushing up from
the horizon. Well, yessir, that's it! You can trust
me of this one! Oh, and the statue on the right -- that's
on the top of the d'Orsay Museum. And you've GOT to
visit the d'Orsay when you go to Paris! At least, if
you like Impressionist painting.
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I'm
a bit proud of this pic. It's of the big pyramid of
the Louvre and I wanted to capture a second pyramid
arranging itself along the line of the folks sitting
on that small wall. The bottom of the picture and the
standing lady (we'll call her, oh, Jacqueline) create
the other two axis of the triangle. Nice clouds that
day...
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I
really like night shots. They make me think of all those
wonderful photos of Paris that seem to have emerged
during the 1960's, all smoky and romantic. I leaned
out of the window of our apartment and snapped this
shot just before going to bed -- hey, it was nearly
10 and I gotta get my beauty sleep.
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Another
picture with a story. This young couple, we'll call them
Jacques and Jacqueline (although they are neither the
cat not the lady from the Louvre), are students at the
Sorbonne (the wall of which you can see of the left).
Jacques is a Canadian pretending to be French. Jacqueline
is from Iowa, but pretending to be Canadian (or Australian
or English) pretending to be a French-Canadian, but fooling
no one.... Anyway, they just came from a view of Foucault's
Pendulum (which dangles from the dome of the Pantheon,
seen in the background of this picture), which makes sense
since Jackie is a Physics major and Jacques is an Architect-to-be.
Ten years from now they will live in different parts of
the world, but both will reach this web page and remember
this walk and wonder what the other is doing. That will
lead to.... well, we'll see....
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