parisian gothic

I took many many photos of Notre Dame. It took walking around the cathedral for me to realize that it means "Our Lady." French isn't my first language, in case you were wondering.

(ISO 100, f/8.0, 1/25s)

even better

I liked this one much better.

(ISO 100, f/11.0, 1/800s)

lonely tower

It is awfully hard to get a shot of the Eiffel Tower and nothing more. I succeeded a few times. If you look close enough, I'm sure you can see the hordes who waited for hours in line to take the elevator to the top.

(ISO 200, f/3.5, 1/800s)

arc de triomphe du carrousel

We never made it to the more well-known Arc on the Champs Elysees. We did see this one near the Louvre more often. We went to inspect a Ferris wheel and carnival that was set up near the Louvre on the other side of the Seine. I couldn't resist this shot.

(ISO 100, f/16.0, 20.0s)

motion

One of the skills that I never perfected in high school when shooting with film was panning to convey motion. It's easy to set up the tripod with a long exposure and let the subject's motion blur themselves; it's entirely another to shoot them clearly and blur the background. Within the span of 5 minutes, I was able to practice panning with this cyclist, a scooter, a SmartCar, and a Ferrari Testarossa without moving an inch.

(ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/40s)

au bon pain

Bread making is an art form in France. Bread came with everything in Paris. I'm not talking about Pillsbury canned rolls or warmed up dinner rolls. They were all light, chewy, crispy deliciousness. Most were sliced baguettes, but these were tiny morsels of golden perfection.
(ISO 400, f/8.0, 1/100s)

roadside beauty

At the beginning of June, these tiny flowers appeared in the median on my way to work. I'd never have noticed them were it not for the interminably long light. I wandered over with my prime and screw-in macro filters.
(ISO 100, f/8.0, 1/400s)

out-of-focus

I concocted the idea to be an Impressionist photographer while touring Claude Monet's home in Giverny. I came away with more than a few good shots. I hope you enjoy the slides as much as I enjoyed taking them!

Play it in full screen and in HD if your computer supports it.

the last supper

For our final meal, we debated going back to the site of our first dinner versus trying somewhere new. We knew with the former, we'd have a fabulous meal. In our more adventurous spirit, we chose the latter. The restaurant we chose has been in business since the late 17th Century. We sat on a second floor balcony overlooking the Latin Quarter and recapped our week's memories. We would've liked it to take less time, but it was a fitting end to a laissez-faire Parisian honeymoon.
(ISO 400, f/4.5, 1/80s)

framed

I took many framed shots this week. I don't mean framed in the sense of "I'm going to print this out and put it in a frame." Framing in photography is using something in the foreground to frame the main subject in the background. Another example would be my earlier shot from Sacre Couer. I often did it to add visual interest to subjects that have seen far too many shutterbugs capture them the same way. Here, I framed the Château de Fontainebleau as I took one parting glance at its magnificence. Too bad we planned poorly and couldn't go inside!

(ISO 100, f/9.0, 1/125s)

amour

Rather apropos that I should take a spectacular photograph of Cupid on our honeymoon, don't you think? This may be my favorite from the Louvre. Actually, I'd call it a toss-up between this and one other.
(ISO 800, f/5.0, 1/50s)

la sainte chapelle

This "chapel" was built for the royalty. Its stained glass windows are towering and awe-inspiring. More history from Wikipedia. I had quite a time trying to get properly exposed shots, handheld and in a crowd.
(ISO 400, f/6.3, 1/20s)

skulls and bones

We toured the Catacombs. Not the most romantic excursion in Paris for sure, but it was mighty interesting. The Catacombs used to be a gypsum & limestone mine. When the plague struck Paris, they dug up all the cemeteries and interred the corpses in the mine. In moving them, some of the skeletons came apart, and they had no way of keeping track of which bones belonged to which body. They stacked the bones, mortared them in place, and walked away.
(ISO 1600, f/1.8, 1/25s)

deux bateauxs

On Friday, we took a bike tour out to Giverny in the Normandy region. Oscar Claude Monet called it home, and he painted many of his most famous works on its grounds. In homage to his painting style, I shot out-of-focus for the day. I have a mixed-media idea for the best of these photos. Here's just one of them.
(ISO 400, f/6.3, 1/40s)

lyon

One of many photographs I took of statues and stone carvings throughout the week. This one was at Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris. This park was walking distance from our apartment, and we were able to walk around it twice during our visit. See more of the statues here.
(ISO 800, f/6.3, 1/1000s)

montmartre et basilique sacre couer

Our first big excursion was to the Montmartre neighborhood. It sits on a tall hill overlooking the city. Opportunists sell trinkets and play music for wide-eyed tourists. Fortunately, there was still peace in the church. Women at the door turned away men and women dressed inappropriately, and the sanctuary, though crowded, was not inundated by flashes going off indiscriminately. We climbed to the top of the towers, and I got my first view of le Tour Eiffel.
(ISO 100, f/9.0, 1/200s)

bienvenue a paris!

In the interest of keeping posts relevant and making it easier for me to find them in the future, I'm going to backdate a post a day for the honeymoon trip to Paris. Upon landing, we shed our luggage and took off for a walk. We wound up at a cafe called Le Bonaparte where we had a typically Parisian snack of cheese and bread with two cups of coffee.
(ISO 100, f/8.0, 1/40s)

backlog

So, with the busy weekend we had and the honeymoon to follow, I'm backdating this Fourth of July photo. I've got over 800 shots to go through from Paris. Happy belated birthday, America!
(ISO 100, f/10.0, 1.0s)

going to the gardens

...and we're gonna get married. I can't believe the big day is finally here.
(ISO 400, f/7.1, 1/4s, 4x macro filter)

shadow boxing

She'd just gotten home from work. We were talking in the kitchen and my adult-onset ADD kicked in. I don't know why I liked what I saw; perhaps you can explain it?
(ISO 100, f/9.0, 1/60s)