Shooting Paris
A friend of mine recently took a trip to Paris for the sole purpose of taking pictures. This most fortunate soul finds himself in a place in life where he has the means and time to pursue whatever interests him. I say that knowing full well that this last statement potentially describes any and all of us. We just have to see it that way.
At any rate, having been to the City of Lights several times, I decided to offer a bunch of unsolicited opinions which he was kind enough to respond to. Following are my comments and his (edited slightly). If you're not interested in photography, speed past the technical details. The rest of it is a fun read.
Hey there
Been thinking about your upcoming Paris trip. I’m sure you’ll be overwhelmed
with suggestions, go here go there, do this, do that, etc. At the risk of
adding to the noise, some thoughts from someone who’s done a fair amount of
urban/travel shooting.
Sorry I didn't get back to you on this email before I headed off to Paris. It was crazy trying to get ready. So here's my trip report, based on your suggestions.
I'm just getting into processing the film. I shot 35 rolls of black and white while there. Mostly with the Leica, although I did schlepp a big-ass Nikon with an 85-400 zoom around. Not to mention the beefy Manfrotto tripod which I only used one night. I needed a damned camera Sherpa.
1) Pack all your film in the see through containers that Fuji uses and put them all in a big zip lock. You can still request hand inspection in the US, though no chance in Paris. I pull the film bag out and put it through the X-ray separately.
Did that. Worked OK. I packed all the 400 speed film in one baggie, and the 3200 speed in another. Requested hand checks every time, but they only would do the 3200 speed. Ended up running my 400 rolls through 3 separate x-rays. Next time I'm going to pack the film in the baggies, but gonna buy a couple of those lead-lined film bags, stuff the baggie in film bag, then stuff that film bag in another film bag. Then hand-carry and run 'em through the x-ray machine. If they have a problem, then they can do the hand inspection on their own.
2) If you’ve never seen any of Brassai’s photography, do so before you got. http://www.masters-of-photography.com/B/brassai/brassai.html. He is best known for his night photography of Paris. You should absolutely plan on shooting Paris at night. For ISO 100 film, I put my camera on a tripod, shoot at f11 with the hyper focal distance set with f11 on infinity, and manually expose for 10 to 15 seconds. Usually I’ll do one at 10 to 12 and another at 15 to 18. Doesn’t need to be super precise. If I’m shooting one frame, it’s 12 seconds. Works like a charm for anything that’s lit with streetlights, store fronts, etc. Passing cars come out with nice streaky headlights and people are blurs. I like both effects so I make no attempt to avoid them.
Spent one night doing shots. Shot at f16, with exposures varying from 2 to 4 minutes with the 3200 speed film which I tested before I went and rated at 400.. Worked pretty well. The negs came out looking a little dense and flat, but we'll see how they print. One thing which I knew would happen but which was startling nonetheless is that all the people disappeared - the long exposure etc. Did take some low-light shots of some in-line skaters doing some pretty snazzy footwork in front of Notre Dame at exposures of 1/8 and 1/15. Came out nicely blurred and funky. Can't wait to print 'em.
3) I would strongly encourage you to go downtown to Pike Market or someplace like that and experiment a bit so you have a sense of how much exposure you want and so you can set up quickly and easily. Small flashlight helps as well.
Didn't get to do this, but things worked out ok in Paris. Just wandered around carrying the camera attached to the tripod and put 'er down when I saw something to shoot. One thing I DIDN'T have was a watch. Got tired of counting out several minutes at a time. A little stopwatch would be very nice.
4) The other alternative to night shooting is ISO 3200 (Delta 3200 is what I use) in which case you can usually shoot at f2 and 1/30 or so (assuming you’re using your 35mm) in which case you can hand hold that M6. The problem here is that ISO 3200 starts to bump up to the limits of what the X-ray films will not fog. You could try it. Alternatively, you might find a photo lab before you go that can process your negs while you’re there. There are a bunch of Paris shooters on the LUG, so you could ask.
Did this, but tested the film before I went and rated it with an exposure index of 400. (in other words, I set the camera to shoot it at 400). The problem with processing in Paris is that I tested the films I took for both exposure index and processing time/temp/chemical. See the attached spreadsheet for my EI's and processing regimes for various lighting conditions. Hard to get a lab in Paris to do this kind of custom processing. I spent so much fucking time doing the tests, I wasn't about to hand the film over to a lab tech.
5) You’re six foot tall which means your camera is shooting at about that height. 99% of the pictures taken in the world, and indeed in Paris, are shot at that height. If you want to take good pictures of Paris, get up, get down, but get an angle. Don’t shoot everything just standing there.
I did this alot. Sometimes lying down. Got some strange looks, but also think I got a great shot while lying down shooting up one of the avenues at the Champs Elysee.
6) Paris has been shot a billion times, but never by you. Remember, the key is to capture the essence of the place, your vision of the place, and not to simply take pictures of Notre Dame, the big tower, etc. For me, that means to things. Looking for interesting details and looking for interesting juxtaposition by carefully choosing what I put in the foreground, mid ground, and background. With that in mind, I would strongly urge you to take a wide angle lens (like 21mm or so).
I had a 24mm on the Nikon. Want to get one for the Leica for sure. My themes were: 1) street musicians. shot just about everyone I passed. Including one that I think is gonna be great of a broken down old guy in a beret with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth playing the accordion up on Montmartre... 2) Asses. Parisian women have great bodies. Although I didn't really shoot 'em a lot, I could definitely go back and do a theme called Les Derrieres de Paris
7) Paris is meant to be shot in black and white. Don’t even think about shooting slides.
Only shot B&W.
8) I don’t know what gear you’re going to take, but my experience doing a lot of urban shooting, particularly with the m6, is 90mm, 35mm or 50mm, and 21mm or 24mm is the ticket. In other words, three lenses. You really don’t need more than that and that means you can travel really light which I like. This also means you can take a very small Gitzo or even the little Leica table top tripod. Just a thought. Truly, though, you won’t need anything longer than 180mm, and maybe 135mm unless you plan on playing super spy or spending your entire time on the second deck of the Eiffel tower shooting down.
See comments above. Could definitely live with the Leica and a 24mm, 35mm, and a 135mm. Only caveat is that I definitely like the look of compression sometimes, hence the utility of the 400mm occasionally. For example, there are these old mooring rings hanging from the walls of the river walks down by the Seine. I wanted to squash 'em together to magnify their effect.
9) Pick a theme for part of your shooting. Doors, door knobs, tables, chairs, something. It makes for more interesting viewing when you decide to do an exhibit.
See comments above.
10) Pray for rain at least one day. Puddles make great foreground.
Had light rain several days. Took a great shot of the head of the statue of Pan playing his flute near one of the entrances to the Luxembourg Gardens. Water was dripping off the pipe he was playing. I think it's gonna be good.
11) Take good shoes. You’re going to do a ton of walking.
No kidding. And I took good shoes. We walked 4 to 6 hours a day. Almost every day.
12) The D’Orsey is magnificent. Go. So is the Picasso museum and the Rodin museum. I’ve been to Le Louvre several times and it doesn’t do much for me. The other three are miles better. You should also go to the Holocaust monument on Ille de la Cite, the island Notre Dame is on. Left bank is all it’s cracked up to be: great place to wonder. Montparnasse is another great place to shoot. There are some outdoor café’s across from the Pompidou center that are fun to sit at and shoot from. Actually just about any sidewalk café is.
The only museum I went to was the Musee d' Orsay. And it WAS magnificent. I walked out of there thinking I'd like to re-create photographically some of the female nudes I saw in sculpture. Interesting idea, no?
Took some interesting shots around the Holocaust monument. Also took probably too many shots while sitting at several cafes. They're great. Just set the camera on the table, setup the angle and wait. Felt like a deer hunter in a tree stand.
13) At least one night eat dinner just wondering around. The crepes that the street vendors sell or good. Order one. Walk. Find another guy. Get another. Get an ice cream. Stop in at a little shop and get something. That sort of thing. There’s a lot of good eating in Paris. The places that tourists go don’t necessarily qualify, so get some local guidance.
Found the best ice cream on the Ille St. Louis. The best cafe lunch down in the Jewish section of town, followed closely by a cafe in the Place d' Vosges, my favorite place in Paris. What a sterling example of urban design and planning. Have you been there? It's a renaissance-era square. Big park in the middle. Surrounded on 4 sides by 4 story buildings, with the ground level an open air arcade with shops. Check it out. http://www.paris.org/Monuments/Vosges/
14) Follow your nose and don’t pay too much attention to what people like me have to say. It’s your trip, it’s your bliss, and it’s your vision.
Just wandered around each day. Didn't do the tourist thing. Didn't go to the Eiffel Tour or the Louvre. The woman who teaches the class is a photographer who lived in Paris for several years. She definitely did a great job taking us into funky little neighborhoods that don't see many tourists.
15) Parisians have a reputation for being snotty. I’ve never experienced that except with the occasional waiter. Mostly people are nice and helpful if you’re not obnoxious. If for some reason they are, just remember one thing. If it weren’t for us, they’d all be speaking German.
Everyone was quite nice. Didn't run into any snotty folks. Which was different from the stereotype I went over with.
Have fun
I did
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Last modified:
05/03/06