Well, dear readers, the time has come for me to post the last batch of photos I took in Paris. These are some of my favorites from the whole trip, and while I feel like I've said that about every photo I've posted, these ones feel a bit different. It's the intimacy of them; like the "sunshine at the louvre" post from last week, I stole a bit from these people when I captured them on film (well, memory card). None of them knew I was taking their picture, and that fact both thrills me and makes me feel a little guilty, a little dirty.
And I just realized why: in taking these photos, I was a voyeur, a photographic peeping Tom. Rather than stare into people's windows at night, I look at their faces on my computer. Less creepy (thank god) but still a bit disconcerting knowing the person on whose face I'm adjusting levels and saturation has no idea what I'm up to. And somewhat exhilarating, too, to know I have a connection with someone far away, someone whose name I don't know. It makes the world bigger (more after the jump).
I'm not calling this post "street style" because I think that cheapens it. These photos are not about what people are wearing or what they look like. They're about the spirits of the people that caught me and moved me to snap the shutter. They're about moments and the intersection of these lives with mine.
While being in a new place, Paris, made taking pictures easier--everything was fresh, everything was new, I could see everything for the first time--it has also made me appreciate the places I know well. There's a different joy in taking pictures of familiar places, because it involves figuring out how to see something differently, something you don't think you can see differently. I'm going up to Maine tomorrow until Sunday, and I can't wait to look at the most dear, most known place in the world to me and photograph it in ways I haven't before. It will be a challenge, but mostly it will be bliss.
And now, the rest of the Paris people pictures.
A school group in a park on the left bank.
A woman looking at an antique jewelry shop.
If this isn't what love looks like, I don't know what is.
I know I said this wasn't about what people were wearing, but this woman had on the best outfit I saw when I was in France. The black and tan, the sneakers, the attitude...it was all so, so good.
