Paris 12th-15th Nov 2008

The trip to Paris was a huge success and great fun, and although there wasn't much time for photographing this wonderful city there certainly was a lot of photography and art on display for us to enjoy. Highlights for me include my first visit to Paris Photo at the Louvre which was so vast that I didn't even see everything, talk about image overload but it was well worth it. James Casebere at the Galerie Daniel Templon was amazing and highly recommended as it is on until December 31st, and Shirana Shahbazi at the Centre Culturel Suisse was also very inspiring.

This is a handheld night time shot from my hotel window looking east across northern Paris, bumping up the ISO and setting the camera to 'anti-shake' mode helped me maintain a sharp image. I didn't take my digital SLR along with me for several reasons, this was shot on a Nikon P5100 compact camera. Notre Dame at night is also handheld and the camera handled it pretty well, there is a certain amount of noise due to the high ISO but considering I didn't have an SLR or a tripod I'm pretty pleased with these shots.

A really useful leaflet I found in one of the small galleries is called 'Galeries Mode D'Emploi' and lists dozens of small independent galleries and exhibitions, the link to the website is www.fondation-entreprise-ricard.com or click here.

Photographing Paris & Eiffel Tower At Night

Well I'm off to Paris for a short break, although this time around I'm one of seven members of staff accompanying a group of sixty four students which should be fun. I have visited Paris three times before and absolutely loved it, and on previous visits I have taken many photographs of this fantastic city, though this time I'm not sure I'll have that much time to myself to snap away.

One of the most photographed landmarks in the world, the Eiffel Tower, dominates the skyline from most parts of the city and is a huge tourist attraction, so it can be difficult to find a good spot to photograph it without people walking across in front of the camera, particularly at night. I persevered when I took these night photographs back in 2007 and managed to successfully take three or four long exposures and here are some of the results. In the first image I wanted to include the tower but make it a small part of the scene in which I have tried to capture a small slice of the hustle and bustle that surrounds this attraction even at night, and I like how the fountains soften the harsh street lighting with the blurring that has occurred due to the long exposure.

With the second image I wanted to try and do something a little different and so I chose to include one of the magnificent sculptures in the foreground, and this one of a bulls head grabbed my attention. Once again the running water appears soft against the imposing lit tower that contrasts greatly against the dark blue sky.