Posts filed under 'Europe'
We did eventually make our way inside Paris’s most famous museum, and while we were there, of course, we had to stop by and see the most famous painting in the building – da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. As you would expect, the room was packed with people, snapping photos of the strange looking lady hanging on the wall, their failing flashes reflecting off of the glass security case (when will people learn to turn the flash off?!).
To be honest, I was a little underwhelmed by Leo’s painting. Nothing against it or him, but I had to wonder what all the fuss was about, especially when I turned around and saw the gigantic painting filling the entirety of the opposite wall. Now, I’ll be the first to point out that size shouldn’t matter, be it art or otherwise, but it was difficult not to be impressed with this thing. Not only did it absolutely dwarf da Vinci’s half-smiling chick, it was also incredibly detailed and just an overall amazing work of art. Yet, no one in the room was even bothering to look at it.
And that’s what I remember most about the Mona Lisa.
October 23rd, 2009
“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.”
- Ernest Hemingway
October 22nd, 2009
While we were out walking around Paris that first night, we managed to stumble upon the Louvre. It was such an unexpected to surprise to find the courtyard surrounding the museum’s pryamid almost completely empty that night. It was almost eerie that there were so few people at such a tourist destination. And it was kind of amazing. We sat on the bench next to the still fountains for some time and just soaked it in…
To this day, I still can’t believe the above photo came out so great. This is one of those pics from back in the ol’ days of film where I just crossed my fingers and pushed the button. Because I didn’t think it would probably come out and not wanting to waste the film, I only took one frame at a shutter speed so slow that I had to balance the camera on the ledge to keep from blurring. So you can just imagine my surprise when I got the film developed and found this shot amongst my prints.
I ended up having the photo blown up and framed, and it was one of my first gifts to Kim. It now hangs proudly over the dresser in our bedroom, reminding us daily of that beautiful night in Paris.
October 21st, 2009
Our first night in Paris (second night of traveling together – the first was in London) we spent walking around the city. After taking the Chunnel over earlier and having spent a decent portion of the day finding a vacant hotel room for the night, there wasn’t much time to go “see” anything, so why not just take a walk. Neither of us had been there before, and we were both obviously anxious to see the most iconic of Parisian images – La Tour Eiffel.
So as we approached the Seine at twilight, I vividly remember us squinting along the horizon to see if we could spot the tower, which was apparently lit up at night. We started to cross a bridge over the river, the street lamps reflected in it’s wake, and we thought we saw something that might be it in the distance. But then we walked out from behind the branches of the trees lining the waterway, and there it was. In plain sight. Everything you’d imagine it to be.
We both just stood there for at least a minute. Saying nothing. And then Kim asked, “What do you think they’re doing in Champaign right now?” And I knew then that I was in trouble…
October 20th, 2009
October 19th, 2009
Ah, Paris…
Such a special place in my heart. It was in the City of Light afterall where I first kissed my future wife. Man, I can’t believe it’s been just over ten years from that trip to France. A decade and then some!
All this week, I’ll be taking a trip down nostalgia lane and posting pics from that most memorable of trips, so stay tuned for plenty more shots of the Eiffel Tower, like the one above.
October 18th, 2009
I was thrilled to recently learn that I’ve been accepted to show some of my work at this year’s Hard Working Class Heroes festival in Dublin. The HWCH is an annual, independent showcase of Irish bands & musicians, with a hundred acts performing over a long weekend in October. The fest also has a photography exhibition, and fortunately for me, they opened up the competition to photographers beyond the Emerald Isle. So for this week, I thought I’d post the five photos I’m submitting to the exhibit.
The theme we’ve been given for this year’s exhibition is RE:ACTION – ie. our reaction to music, others reactions to music, crowds reactions to musicians and/or musicians reactions to crowds. And one of my favorite “reaction” shots is the above sequence that I took of Duke Special last summer at the Splendour Festival in Nottingham. I was following Duke for over a month, filming the documentary of the making-of his latest record, and in the midst of his recording sessions in London, he took some time to play a few gigs in England.
For anyone who’s ever had the privillege of seeing Duke Special play live, you know that he puts on special show indeed. Regardless of the venue or the size of the crowd, the guy really gives it his all, and the above concert was no exception. Having a backstage pass and being able to literally be on the stage while Duke and co. performed, certainly offered me the opportunity to get some angles not often afforded to concert photographers. So when the band finished their set in an absolute frenzy, I was able to quickly snap off these shots of Duke flipping over his piano and then crashing down upon it.
September 21st, 2009
The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.
- Oscar Wilde
(Pictured above – the Giant’s Causeway)
August 31st, 2009
And then we headed North. All the way to the coast of Northern Ireland, where we stayed a couple of fantastic nights at our friends’ caravan in Portballintrae. From this quaint costal spot, we were a short walk from the town of Bushmills, featuring the oldest distillery on the island. And we were also a volcanic stone’s throw away from the legendary Giant’s Causeway, which is just around the corner to the right of the pic above (stay tuned tomorrow for a shot of its incredible volcanic columns).
August 29th, 2009
Our trip to Ireland was more of a working vacation, and the work part of the equation was my filming a music video for Duke Special’s “Sweet Sweet Kisses.” I thought it would be fun for the video to feature loads and loads of people kissing, so we commissioned a kissing booth to be built, and we set it up in the lobby of Dublin’s National Concert Hall for Duke Special’s gig with the RTÉ Orchestra. I could be wrong, but I’m fairly certain it’s the first time the National Concert Hall had ever had a kissing booth on the premises.
Anyway, the concert was absolutely amazing, and afterwards, we had over a hundred thirty Irish folks come through the booth and kiss on camera. It was a quite a scene. We had this incredible line of people waiting to participate, with Kim and our friend Angela running around trying to get everyone to sign release forms. And it being the end of the night, more than a few of the volunteers were well on their merry way, so there was a lot of showboating and some pretty hard core making-out sessions in the booth. Probably the strangest “shoot” I’ve ever been a part of, but it was a lot of fun nonetheless.
August 28th, 2009
Next Posts
Previous Posts
