The Grand Arch is just that... Grand. I first saw it from the top of the Arc de Triomphe, appropriately. The Grand Arch was built to be a modern-day equivalent to the historic Arc de Triomphe, though it was intended to celebrate humanity as opposed to military victories as Napolean's arch. Though it seems the opening of the Grand Arch was celebrated with a military parade nonetheless. The Grand Arch also anchors the Axe historique which runs from here to the Louvre, through the heart of Paris, with the Arc de Triomphe at its center. (It also sits on a line with the two tallest buildings in Paris - the Eiffel Tower and the Tour Montparnasse).
Anyhow, this was a chance find, though it would be hard to miss this arch even if one tried. Still, I had not really heard much about it before glimpsing it from the AdT and that was enough to spark my curiosity, so we bagged a trip to Les Puces (the giant fleamarket at the edge of Paris) and instead caught the Metro to La Défense. And what a change it was. You step from the historic straight into modern times (while at the same time crossing over the tunnel where Princess Di was killed). The contrast between the two parts of Paris is quite strong, if not startlingly so. But it was a nice change, and good to see a different aspect of the city. It was also much quieter out here and in its own way, peaceful.
Walking through the Arch is a trip too. The structure you see inside the arch itself is meant to help alleviate the wind tunnel effect the structure generates, and it does make quite a bit of wind, pretty cool I thought.
The two sides of the Arch serve as office buildings while the top once held a museum and a restaurant that have since closed. A shame, I would have loved to have seen the view from the top. Not that the view from below was too shabby as me and my pinhole found out.
Tags: Paris France La Défense The Grand Arch city urban square film pinhole Zero Image Zero Image 2000 blue skies wind tesseract Blue Moon Camera
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Standing under the Grand Arch looking back toward Paris proper, with the Arc de Triomphe just visible along the Axe Historique. Funny how none of the buildings in La Défense are incredibly tall, at least none approaching the Eiffel Tower, but the space in between them makes them all seem that much taller.
The construction happening in the foreground is the building of the Christmas village, hence the title. ;-)
Tags: Paris France city urban Christmas village modern film square color Hasselblad Europe Blue Moon Camera
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I have to get up early tomorrow to go give a talk to a high school class on pinhole photography. Then I am off to work a full day. As soon as I get off work I am jetting out of town for the five hour drive to Palouse Falls where I'll be camping the weekend and teaching an Exposure Northwest workshop with Aaron Reed. So this will likely be the last post you see from me til early next week. It is a giant thumb in Paris, near the Grand Arch. Why a giant thumb? Why not. :-) So I pinholed it. Naturellement.
I have to give a big congratulations to Larissa, a proud, new owner of a Zero Image 2000 pinhole camera (just a little over a month old) which she picked up today at Blue Moon. Am very happy and excited for her. Go have fun, Larissa!
Tags: Paris France thumb sculpture city urban pinhole Zero Image Zero Image 2000 square film I love not having instant gratification Or maybe I should call it 'instant anticipation' Blue Moon Camera
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One last look at the Grand Arch, seen through a Hasselblad. Not my Hasselblad, but a Hasselblad. I have since acquired my own and had to "settle" for honeymooning with it in the UK. But that is a story for another day.
As for today... I just finished a three day and 1250 mile trip to and from the Palouse to teach an Exposure Northwest workshop. I arrived back in Portland just in time to see the day dim and a partial eclipse of the sun. Quite a sight indeed. Makes me wonder what it must have been like to see such an event 800 years ago.
And so a dim photo seemed appropriate for a dim moment.
Tags: Paris France square film b&w Hasselblad dark dim playing with ways to make photos that look less real Blue Moon Camera
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A pinhole image I made of the Grand Arch. I made a Hasselbad and a Holga WPC image here as well. I do that sometimes, but try not to do it too often. It is a conflict between a photographer should be moderately deliberate and decisive or rather a photographer shouldn't rely on their equipment to show or prove the image to them, and the notion that film is cheap so might as well make an extra image or three. ;-) Of course, then a photographer has to develop some good editing skills on the back end. The ability to edit one's work is an incredibly underrated skill in photography.
On a tangentially related note, this past trip to Scotland and London I noticed that all the images I made were either square (Holga, Hasselblad or Zero 2000) or they were the product of two squares (Holga Pan 6x12 and Holga WPC 6x12). Squares within squares indeed.
Tags: Paris France square film pinhole Zero Image 2000 Zero 2000 city urban architecture La Défense Blue Moon Camera
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