Paris | This is Now

Little details

17th September 2009 by Violette

A few days ago, Ana celebrated Henri Cartier-Bresson in her blog post as one of the masters of ‘now’ in photography. Willy Ronis was also one of them.

I went to see a retrospective of his work a few years ago in Paris. The exhibition was extremely busy and very dense due to the amount of documents presented. However some of his pictures changed my vision of photography. The way they could look both so ancient and alive at the same time was fantastic. I especially remember Summer Holiday and Quai Malaquais and of course some of his famous Parisian pictures, most notably the ones he took of the North-East districts where I come from.

Most of these pictures, especially the ones with children conjure up a sense of enjoyment and mischievousness despite the circumstances that I found very touching.

tagged children henri cartier-bresson paris Willy Ronis

Driving home

7th September 2009 by Violette

I fell in love with this picture straight away a few weeks ago. Little did I know that it would be chosen to be the header of the This is Now Flickr group.

It reminds me of driving through rainy Paris on a Sunday evening in November, listening to a good cd and getting ready for the week ahead. I tried to take similar pictures last week from the bus on my way home in London. The rain made it really hard to take good pictures and it didn’t look at all like this one. Although sometimes a “missed” picture can prove really good as Melina pointed out a few months ago.

tagged paris Rain Sunday evening

Fashion never fades

2nd September 2009 by Violette

A few days ago I went to see the movie Coco Before Chanel which depicts how Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, an orphan turned cabaret singer found the inspiration to become the international designer she was known to be.

The most memorable moment of the movie for me was the catwalk show at the end of the movie in the infamous staircase of the historical Chanel shop of rue Cambon in Paris. The audience is left to guess the date of this event as the collection could be from any decade, from yesterday as well as from the middle of the century. It reflects how influential Chanel has been to 20th Century fashion as well as the impact it continues to have.

A definite must-see!

tagged Coco before Chanel coco chanel fashion paris

Celebrate!

14th July 2009 by Violette

It might sound a bit corny but I love going to see fireworks with friends and family. Not only because most of fireworks display happen in the summer and are usually preceded with some sort of celebration but because they have the wonderful ability to make me feel like I’m right there in the middle of things. A bit like when I go to concerts or when I listen to specific songs like the now famous Arcade Fire: Wake up.

I’ve tried to take many pictures of fireworks over the years and I know how difficult it is to get them just right so I was really glad to see how many great pictures of them were uploaded onto the This is Now Flickr group: have a look here they’re splendid!

tagged Bastille day fireworks London paris

This is shanolyno Now

30th January 2009 by shanolyno

shanolyno is based in Paris from where he regularly updates an online photography journal . His work is driven by a fascination with the everyday quirkiness of city life. Whether it be unusual architecture, wide angle portraits or street work, provoking a sense of alienation and loneliness through images of urban desolation is central to his work.

The following three images are samples of his recent work, this is shanolyno now:

For more shanolyno output click here

tagged alienation city paris photoblog shanolyno urban

Subject and Object as One

11th November 2008 by tikichris

Here’s another shot by yours truly that made the cut and has been included in the This is Now Flickr pool. The photo, of a young woman seemingly immersed in Monet’s Water Lilies (also known as Nympheas) was taken at l’Orangerie in Paris during my summer 2008 visit.

What caught my eye when I took the shot was the contrast between the woman in the foreground and the painting in the background. I like how she forms a warm and distinct vertical to the painting’s cool broad horizontal field. Still it’s pretty neat how, despite the difference, she appears to have melded with the painting as if to suggest a singular image. That line of gold trim at the bottom of the painting does a lot for this image as well, neatly dividing the elements while unifying them. Oh and did you notice the way the woman’s left leg is slightly askew? I think that’s what really makes this picture a winner.

tagged art l'orangerie monet nympheas paris Photography tikichris water lilies