The old part of the Metropolitain subway system in the city center of Paris is famous for the art nouveau railings and signs at the station entrances. I know I put a couple of photos in an earlier post about Transportation, but these three are specifically about the entrance railings and signs.
Art Nouveau Rail, Cité Metro
The railings LOOK to be bronze, from the patina, but I would suspect that they’re iron that has been painted. Bronze would make them extremely expensive, but then again, when you look at how lavish the French were in their public buildings in the late 19th century, it’s not inconceivable.
The entrance to the Ile De La Cité metro stop. This is where you get off the train to go see Notre Dame and Sainte Chapelle. Immediately across from it is a little open-air market which has flowers and pet supplies. I have two pictures from the market of two little dogs staring each other down and goldfish in a tank from the market, going into another post.
Cité Metro Entrance
The most famous sight of all – the Metropolitain sign. There is a replica of one of these in the sculpture garden on the National Mall between the National Gallery of Art and the Natural History Museum here in Washington DC.
Here are four loose assorted images. I forgot I had the Eiffel Tower shot when I was posting the Eiffel Tower images because it was on a different roll. The Musee D’Orsay shots don’t have enough of a group to make a complete post of their own because technically you’re not supposed to take photos inside the museum in the first place, and it’s very crowded so it’s hard to take good photos of the building without lots of out-of-focus heads in the lower foreground. The Academie Francais building was a one-off, taken on my walk back to the apartment from the Musee D’Orsay. It was late enough in the day, and my feet were tired enough, that I couldn’t be bothered to try and see if the Academie was open and if they had any exhibits to visit. But it was lovely light and the building needed photographing.
All shots taken with my Rolleiflex 2.8E using Kodak Ektar 100. I include this little tidbit because people (read: photographers) want to know what gear was used, and what film. I don’t include aperture/shutter combinations as I A: don’t usually remember them, and B: that’s getting to geeky level of detail – most of the time if you want to re-create something you’ve seen of someone else’s, you don’t need that information unless there’s a special effect (very blurred motion or completely frozen, or extremely shallow depth-of-field). In any case as I’ve matured as a photographer, I care far more about the image itself and less about the mechanics of how it was made. You see photographers all the time geeking out about lenses and cameras, this film vs. that film vs. digital, CMOS vs CCD, but if DaVinci and Michelangelo ever had a debate about which paintbrush was better, it has not been recorded (or art historians aren’t publishing it!).
Does the Eiffel Tower really need any text description? The one really cool thing I can think of about it you probably don’t know is that when it was built, it generated polarizing opinions among Parisians – they either loved it or loathed it. One famous French writer was known to detest it as an eyesore, yet he would go there to have lunch every day in the restaurant. When asked why he would do such a thing since he hated it so much, he remarked, “because it is the one place in Paris I can be where I can’t SEE it”. I’ll leave it to you to judge its beauty, but it has endured for over 120 years despite the fact it was only originally intended to last for 20 and has become an internationally recognized and beloved symbol of the city of Paris.
Eiffel Tower SilhouetteEiffel Tower, Blue Sky
Riding up to the 2nd tier in the elevator, you can see the giant wheels that run the cables to raise and lower the elevators that ride in the leg piers. The elevators themselves are double-deckers, and halfway up the transit from the ground to the second tier, they actually change angle of ascent as the leg angle changes.
Elevator WheelsElevator Wheels, Looking Up
The view to the east from the second deck includes the Seine river, the Louvre (just beginning to intrude into the frame at the far right middle ground), and in the distant far left background is the Sacre Coeur church on top of Montmartre.
East View, 2nd Tier
Looking south, the view encompasses the Champ De Mars and the French Military Academy, and in the distant background, the Tour Montparnasse. I did not ascend the Tour Montparnasse even though it has an observation deck some 50 stories up, but I did pass below it through the Gare Montparnasse on my trip to Versailles.
Champ De Mars, 2nd Tier View
I know I posted this image before as a bit of a one-off, but I’ll re-include it here because it belongs as part of this grouping. While waiting in line for the elevator, I looked at the security glass in the partition that controlled the line and saw the shadow of the tower under the reflection of the clouds on the other side. I had to chance the photo, even though the coating on the safety glass can cause strange color casts in the image. I think it paid off – what do you think?
Eiffel Tower Shadow, Clouds
Not really apropos of anything other than geographic proximity: across the street from the Eiffel Tower, at the foot of the bridge that spans the Seine and leads to the old Trocadero Palace, there is a charming double-decker carousel.
Double Deck CarouselDouble Deck Carousel
What can I say, I like carousels. We have two very nice ones here in DC – one at Glen Echo where I teach and another one on the National Mall in front of the Smithsonian Castle. I’ve photographed both of them in very different ways- Glen Echo I’ve shot in color numerous times, and the Smithsonian one I’ve shot with my 5×12 in black-and-white and printed in palladium. Some day soon I’ll get up to New York and photograph the one at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn. I think I sense a new project coming on!
Sainte Chapelle is the royal chapel on the Ile de la Cité built in the 13th century as part of the then-royal palace. It was conceived and designed to house King Louis’ collection of Christian relics, including the purported spear of Longinus and the Crown of Thorns. Over the centuries, especially during the French Revolution, it suffered depredations, including the destruction and/or removal for sale of chunks of its stained-glass windows. In the later 19th century, the windows were restored. Today, a major, 10-year project to clean, stabilize and protect the windows is nearing completion. You can see some of the scaffolding in the chapel in my photos.
Today, you enter the chapel through the lower level, which houses a few video exhibits and the gift shop. Even on the lower level, the stained glass windows are beautiful:
Window, Lower Level, Ste. Chapelle
To enter the main chapel on the second level, you ascend a dark, narrow spiral stair, and then emerge into a room bursting with light and color. Directly above and behind you is the rose window.
Rose Window, Ste. Chapelle
To your front is the main altar:
Altar, Ste. Chapelle
Another view of the windows and vault above the altar:
Windows, Ceiling Vaults, Ste. Chapelle Altar
On the side walls there are statues of saints:
Saint Statue, Ste. Chapelle
I realize I’ve got two pictures of the same saint statue. I was trying to capture the different looks of the statue as the light changes when you move around him. Can you imagine the effect of seeing a place like this in the 13th century, when even today to our glitz-and-glamour-jaded points of view it is breathtaking? This would have outshone the contemporary Saint Peter’s in Rome! (today’s Saint Peter’s Basilica of course makes this look paltry, but that is a Renaissance/Baroque confection re-imagined by some of the greatest artists and architects the world has ever seen. This is a late-Medieval Gothic chapel).
Saint Statue, Ste. Chapelle
Looking up at the ceiling vaults and the side windows presents this view:
Side Windows, Ste. Chapelle
Again, all these were taken with my trusty Rolleiflex, and hand-held. The film is Kodak Portra 800 – until I tried some of this recent version of Portra 800, I never would have thought an 800 speed film would be this sharp and grainless, or the colors so vivid. In the past, films above 400 speed, even in medium format, had obvious grain and lacked the same contrast, sharpness and vivid color of their slower speed counterparts. Kodak has banished these shortcomings in Portra 800. Even though it’s pricey (about $10/roll), this is one of the reasons I hope Kodak manages to stay in the color film manufacturing business for many years to come.
Some street scenes from my neighborhood. In reflection, I wish I had taken an afternoon and just photographed up and down the street. There were so many charming little restaurants and shops along the Rue St. Louis en L’Ile, you could easily make a photo study of just that one street.
Sorza Restaurant, Ile St. Louis
The Cure Gourmande candy shop was ALWAYS busy. Probably as much to do with the bright, cheery interior as it does with the candies and biscuits they sell. Who wouldn’t want to go in and browse, and maybe try a sample or two?
Cure Gorumande sweet shop, Rue St. Louis en L’Ile
Please give me your feedback on these two – which do you like better? I’m on the fence as to which one works best. Patrick Allain Florist, Rue St. Louis en L’Ile
Patrick Allain Florist
This was one of the few opportunities I had to break out my Rolleinar close-up filter sets and take a picture of something small. Given the size and weight of them, even though I only used them maybe twice on the whole trip, I don’t regret bringing them, especially when you compare them to a dedicated macro lens for an SLR system. I was drawn to the different textures and colors of the wood of the door, the rusty iron of the lion head, and the painted metal of the snake. And believe it or not, this was hand-held!
Door Knocker, Ile St. Louis
In closing, here’s another restaurant/wine bar in the neighborhood, this one on the Quai de Bourbon, facing the Pont Marie. It really shows the age of the building, as nothing on it is really square or level.
Here are some photos I took of the apartment where we stayed. The apartment was at Number 6, Rue St. Louis en L’Ile. This was an outstanding choice of location and of apartment. It had charm, convenience, and comfort. The bedrooms were a touch petite, but it was never a problem. I would stay there again in a heartbeat. Our landlady, Francoise, was super charming and met us the day we arrived with a bottle of wine and a plate of cheeses she bought down the street at the fromagerie.
I was utterly charmed by the arrangement of this little velvet-covered chair in the dining room, next to the Chinese style sideboard.
Chair, Dining Room Window
The living room featured a chaise lounge by Le Corbusier. I suspect it is an original, based on the wear on the cowhide cover.
Le Corbusier Chaise, Living Room
Looking out the living room window, this is the view when you look straight out.
Window, Number 6, Rue St Louis en L’Ile
Looking up the street on a sunny day:
Rue St. Louis in the Sun
And on a rainy day:
Rue St. Louis in the Rain
The Rue St. Louis is very busy with pedestrians all day, although it may not look as such down at my end of the street. A block further up is where the shops, art galleries, restaurants and food sellers begin.
This archway was directly across the street from our apartment, where the Rue St. Louis took a right turn to go out to the quay.
Archway, Rue St. Louis
Even though it was raining, I stepped out on the balcony and looked down, to see this scene of the woman with red pants crossing the street:
Woman Crossing Rue St. Louis in the Rain
Here is the Eglise St. Louis en L’Ile with its clock, up close, which you can see in the background of the sunny and rainy shots of the Rue St. Louis:
Eglise St Louis En L’Ile
The église St. Louis has a gorgeous baroque interior replete with dark wood paneling, stained glass, and surprisingly enough magnificent altarpieces that somehow managed to survive the upheaval of the French Revolution. They regularly have concerts there as well as services, and it is well worth popping in if you’re passing by.
The Ilot Vache restaurant is on the corner of the Rue St.Louis en l’Ile and the Rue des Deux Ponts, which more or less bisects the Ile St. Louis into east and west halves. The Ile St. Louis was once actually two separate islands, one of which was the Ilot Vache (little cow island) because it was used as pastureland for Parisian cows. With the rapid growth of the city’s population in the 15th century, there was such a demand for more prime real estate that the two islands were merged into one and developed as residential space. Thus the name of the restaurant. The Rue des Deux Ponts roughly demarcates where the two islands were split. My dad and I ate dinner at L’Ilot Vache one night, and the food was quite good, even if the dining room was a bit crowded.
L’Ilot Vache Restaurant
I managed to catch a pair of diners in the window of the restaurant.
Diners, L’Ilot Vache, Night
This is one case where I broke my normal rule of shooting night photos with Portra 160 – these two were done on Ektar 100. I suspect that I had just a couple frames left on the roll of Ektar that was loaded in the camera when I set out to do my night shots, so I finished them off and then switched over to Portra for the rest of the evening.
Ok, it’s far from a comprehensive survey of the city by night, but whaddya want, I only had a single night for night shooting, so I confined myself to where I could walk to from my apartment.
One of the great things about where we (my father and I) stayed was the fact we were in walking distance of just about everything, from the subway to all the historical buildings and neighborhoods. Notre Dame was a stone’s throw away, across the bridge. Here is the rear view from the approach I took over the Pont St. Louis.
Notre Dame, Rear View, Night
The front facade is fully illuminated at night, and they have built a set of large risers in the plaza in front that if nothing else serve as a great camera platform for photographing the towers. The night I was out shooting was the night of the full moon, so I got lucky and was able to get this shot of the tower and the moon.
Notre Dame, Tower, Full Moon
Another view of the towers, from a side street. It had been raining that evening, so the streets were wet giving them that Hollywood movie look.
Notre Dame, Side Street, Night
Another shot of the full moon, over a grand Hotel (Hotel in the Parisian sense of grand city residence/townhouse as opposed to place-where-you-rent-a-room-by-the-night) on the Ile de la Cite.
Full Moon Over Hotel, Ile de la Cite
The Pont St. Louis, slick with rain. This is the bridge that connects the Ile St. Louis with the Ile de la Cite.
Pont St. Louis, Night
A view of the Hotel de Ville (Paris’ City Hall) from across the Seine. The white line at the river level is created by the lights of a passing river tour boat that has flood lights on the roof to illuminate the buildings on the quays as it passes. I don’t envy the people whose apartments face the river because of that, even if the boat tours do stop sometime between 9 and 10 pm.
Hotel de Ville, Seine, Night
Another view of the bridges across the Seine. In the background on the left you can see a rather castle-like building which is La Monnaie, the old French Mint where they used to make coins.
Seine Bridges, La Monnaie, Night
The last bridge of today’s program is the Pont Louis Phillippe, which connects the end of the Ile St. Louis to the north bank of the Seine. The bridge I used every day to get to and from the subway was the Pont Marie, which abuts the middle of the Ile St. Louis. I wanted to get a view of the bridges from water level, so I went down a set of steps on the quayside of the Ile de la Cite and set up my tripod at the very bottom – you can see from the facing set of steps they descend all the way into the water (I did not test how far down they go, as I had no desire to get wet, especially at this time of year).
Pont Louis Phillippe, Steps, Night
The St. Regis cafe has a view of the Pont St. Louis. Notre Dame itself is hidden by the buildings across the bridge. On my excursion, I saw people sitting outside the cafe all evening – I returned home at nearly midnight and there were people still outside the cafe as it was closing up.
St. Regis Cafe, Night
Here’s a look into the courtyard of one of the hotels on the Rue St. Louis en l’Ile, at number 51. I looked through the doorway, which had always been closed when I walked by in the daytime, and saw the light on in the library window on the second floor, and I just had to take that picture. I love libraries (I’m sitting in one as I type this, my modest personal library of 2000 or so books), so seeing in to one had a rather Proustian effect on me.
Hotel Courtyard, 51 Rue St. Louis en L’Ile, Night
I shot all these on Kodak Portra 160 because I like how it responds to nighttime color better than Ektar. It has a less contrasty look which is good for night because night scenes are inherently contrastier than daytime scenes, and it handles overexposure better than Ektar.
There is now a viewing platform in the square in front of Notre Dame which makes for a great venue to watch the fire spinners and other street performers, and a nice vantage point to view the facade, but it does present an unique challenge for photographing the entire building – you can’t get far enough back to get the whole facade including the towers in one frame without using an extreme wide-angle lens and introducing lots of distortion. So second-best option was this – shoot in two frames and line them up. It ALMOST worked, but you still get some keystoning from having to shoot up to get the towers.
Just a quick one-off of a very red, vibrant fire hydrant in Chalon-sur-Saone. It fits well within my series of ordinary objects, and it has a very sculptural quality to it.
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