Spirit of Paris - Photos of Paris

Posts filed under 'Lifestyle'

Tooth brushing on Blancs Manteaux

Walking along, I found this man posting bills on a street art exhibit center. After the last november events in Paris suburb, the young guys decided to show an other face of them, less hard, less aggressive and much more communicative. The result is a bunch of photos exposed in this art center.

2 comments May 14th, 2006

The stairs of the Opera Garnier

These stairs are a monument in the monument, an other scene in the theater. Built for some happy few to climb the steps to celebrity. Nowadays, the same is happening at Cannes, every year, when stars climb the red carpet of the movie festival, in front of the crowd.

From a photographic point of view, this picture was made with a few photos. It was imposible to shoot these stairs without anybody on. So a dozen of photo were taken with a tripod and every uncrowdy place was stitched on the original, just like a puzzle.

5 comments May 7th, 2006

Lily of the valley on the first of may

The 1st of May is the Labour Day in France. No one work except the lily of the valley sellers in the streets. Traditionnaly, people give a twig of lily to their relatives to bring some luck.

9 comments April 30th, 2006

Old Peugeot 301 in Mouffetard

Peugot built this model, the 301 between 1932 and 1937. About 65.000 301 have been sold. The maximum speed was 100 km/h, 70 Mph.

The plate on this car shows a modern scheme with three letters. The original plates, at least before the 40s, had only one or two letters.
The last two numbers show the departement (french district) where the car is coming from. There are 96 districts in metropolitan France. These numbers give endless possibilities of games for the kids on the backseat.

3 comments April 30th, 2006

Los Angeles Exhibition at Georges POMPIDOU Center

“The many-sided history of a peculiar scene, from its emergence at the beginning of the 1960s up until 1985. Over sixty artists, on a path which deals with topics such as the search involved in the art of assemblage, Pop art, Californian minimalism, conceptual art, performance, installations, video and experimental film”.

An amazing experience.

2 comments April 22nd, 2006

Shhh ! said Anita

Anita Ekberg is a swedish actress. She became famous for her role in the Dolce Vita by Federico Fellini in 1960. In this film she took a night bath in the fountain of Trevi in Roma, leaving me without voice for a few moment. Bob Hope joked that her parents had received the Nobel Prize for architecture.

I met her one more time on a poscard, in front of this book shop, Galerie Vivienne. She seemed to say to me “Don’t tell anyone about us”.

You can learn a lot about her here.

3 comments April 1st, 2006

Boulevard Saint Michel

Spring is two month fast this year in Paris. Demonstrations usually grows in May, not in March.
The Boulevard Saint-Michel is the main street of the Quartier Latin de Paris, the students area in Paris. Since may 1968 it has been the favorite place for them to demonstrate. Just in front of the Sorbonne, the student met the police forces, both decided not to move.

If you turn this picture in black and white, it will remind you of 1968. Same place, same humming in the street, same odour of lacrymal gases, same people with a generation leap and same atmosphere.

6 comments March 19th, 2006

Sous le ciel de Paris

Sometime a photo can be inspired by a music or a song. This is it. It’s typically french, we call this kind of music “musette”.

There is an old song, from the early fifties called “Sous le ciel de Paris” (under the sky of Paris). When I saw this view from the Pont de la Tournelle, over the Seine, I thought about it.

Here are the lyrics :

Paroles: Jean Dréjac. Musique: Hubert Giraud 1951 ? 1951 Editions Chaudens

Sous le ciel de Paris
S’envole une chanson
Hum Hum
Elle est née d’aujourd’hui
Dans le cœur d’un garçon
Sous le ciel de Paris
Marchent des amoureux
Hum Hum
Leur bonheur se construit
Sur un air fait pour eux

Sous le pont de Bercy
Un philosophe assis
Deux musiciens quelques badauds
Puis les gens par milliers
Sous le ciel de Paris
Jusqu’au soir vont chanter
Hum Hum
L’hymne d’un peuple épris
De sa vieille cité

Près de Notre Dame
Parfois couve un drame
Oui mais à Paname
Tout peut s’arranger
Quelques rayons
Du ciel d’été
L’accordéon
D’un marinier
L’espoir fleurit
Au ciel de Paris

Sous le ciel de Paris
Coule un fleuve joyeux
Hum Hum
Il endort dans la nuit
Les clochards et les gueux
Sous le ciel de Paris
Les oiseaux du Bon Dieu
Hum Hum
Viennent du monde entier
Pour bavarder entre eux

Et le ciel de Paris
A son secret pour lui
Depuis vingt siècles il est épris
De notre Ile Saint Louis
Quand elle lui sourit
Il met son habit bleu
Hum Hum
Quand il pleut sur Paris
C’est qu’il est malheureux
Quand il est trop jaloux
De ses millions d’amants
Hum Hum
Il fait gronder sur nous
Son tonnerr’ éclatant
Mais le ciel de Paris
N’est pas longtemps cruel
Hum Hum
Pour se fair’ pardonner
Il offre un arc en ciel

4 comments March 12th, 2006

Bon anniversaire Paris Daily Photo

Bon anniversaire Paris Daily Photo.

Eric, keep on photographing the most beautiful city in the world !!!

1 comment March 11th, 2006

Arts et metiers

In 1994 this metro station has been fully decorated by François Schuiten as a huge machine made of copper. The side plates are riveted together just like an large submarine diving beteath Paris. Portholes, on the wall are showcases for different models of machines.

Just beside this station there is the Arts et métiers museum, devoted to technics and science from the revolution period. The first cars, machines, planes and trains are shown in this museum.

3 comments February 19th, 2006

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