Did you miss me? I have for a few weeks, or months abandoned my social networks because of technical computer failure, then there was the 2018 world cup, a very sunny summer, the birth of a wonderful niece... All these pretexts were good to keep my eyes away from my computer in order to focus on more pleasant activities like... walking in the streets of Paris, to concentrate on photography and especially in overcoming my shyness / discomfort / malaise when strangers surprise me taking their portraits without prior consent.
Very introverted by nature, these photography exercises are quite brutal for my sensitivity. However, Paris is a very touristy city. Here, it is not unusual to see a camera glued on the face of an Asian dude. Generally, people do not care about being snapped shot. Most of the time, they do not even notice, their attention being dragged to the screen of their smartphones. Otherwise, a smile is often enough to show them that I have no bad intentions.
I was saying that I spent a lot of time walking the streets of Paris. I really enjoyed rediscovering a city that I had never really known. Like a tourist, amazed by small details that may seem trivial for locals, I spent my walks to annoy Parisians in a hurry running around. Me, the nose pointing to the sky, admiring the different architectural styles of the city, strolling at an average speed of an octogenarian with a hip prosthesis, untimely freezing in the middle of the street to admire the beauty of what was in front of my eyes, unintentionally annoying local people in their frantic races.
Such a tourist, I climbed the hill of Montmartre to enjoy this sweet atmosphere that intoxicates the cobbled streets around the Sacred Heart, made my way through human waves standing from Trocadero to the foot of the Eiffel Tower, took advantage of the relative calm of the Tuileries Garden to, finally, thanks to a magnificent summer, I rinsed the eye on the different docks along the Seine or around the basin of La Villette.
Moreover, it is often said that Paris is empty in the summer, Parisians being stuck somewhere on a highway or in an airport. But it's completely wrong. Indeed, the streets seem empty, but it's because people are fleeing the asphalt looking for shadows under the tree in parks and gardens or under the umbrellas of coffee's terraces.
Do you know what I have enjoyed the most for the present in Paris? “Enjoyed” is perhaps not the right word, but rather attracted my eyes: all the spaces of freedom where artists have been able and can express their art and in particular the art of dressing the walls of the capital with a little painting, a lot of talent and imagination. Some people can see this art as vandalism. For me, when I walk on the side of the 13th district in the midst of gigantic mural frescoes, I find it difficult to take my eyes off these works that I find wonderful. When I imagine the Docks of the Oise and the Docks de la Marne without graffiti, I see a neighborhood that has lost its charm, its identity, but most importantly, its warmth. I am also sensitive to all sorts of collages, aggregation of drawings, isolated graphic manifestations or anarchic collaboration forming a whole, which are mainly expressed on the walls. These walls with ephemeral clothes tickle and catch my eye in this jungle of advertisements that abound in the panorama of our modern cities. More than that, some works denounce and reflect issues of our societies, behaviors, causes that are addressed only by a minority of voices.
You can have a glimpse of the works which impressed me the most, moved, amazed within the gallery which I entitled: « the color of walls ». This is not an exhaustive list and some works may already have been replaced by others.
Thank you for taking some time to read my writings, and I'll see you on the next one. In addition, I will try to regularly update the website and published more on the blog. My next gallery will focus on the "lights of the city". Have a wonderful week my friends :D
KITOFOTO