When I woke on Friday morning it was to thoughts of the coming weekend, the football and a long, relaxing Sunday spent, for the most part, in bed. I was also anticipating just exactly what form the birthday surprise my girlfriend had been promising me would take, however, no matter what I thought it might be, I was completely unprepared for what was to come. I knew the surprise had something to with photography as the night before Asia had asked me to make sure memory cards were empty and batteries charged. I did just that.
I received a text message from Asia around midday asking me to meet her at Glasgow Central station. "What has she done?" I wondered. We were clearly going somewhere, but where? When I arrived at Central Station Asia had my camera bag but more surprisingly she had a small suitcase which I later found out had a couple of days' change of clothes for us both. Within the hour we had boarded a train to Prestwick airport though I still had no idea where our final destination would be. Excited but feeling a little guilty that Asia may have spent far too much on my birthday surprise, I decided to make the surprise last for as long as it was possible. Asia had checked in online so avoiding the destination sign as we walked past check-in, I finally learned where we were going about 30 minutes before boarding the plane. For my 30th birthday, Asia was taking me to Paris.
After many gleeful cuddles, kisses and - for Asia spending so much money - the occasional scolding glance, our plane took off and we were bound for France. I spent much of the journey deciding where I'd like to go and what I'd like to photograph and when we arrived in the centre of Paris the only thing still to be decided was where to spend the night. A couple of phone-calls later and we had ourselves a room wherein, given that it was now late in the evening, we decided to get some sleep.
After finding Martine Franck's address on Rue de Rivoli, we continued through the beautiful Jardin des Tuileries until we reached the Egyptian obelisk at the bottom of the Champs-Élysées. Not content with this, we kept walking until we reached Arc de Triomphe pausing only for breath and for tickets before we climbed to the top to be greeted with the almost incomprehensible sight of Paris in its spralling entirety.
Already tired but loathed to stop, We took the metro to Montparnasse where we visited the sites of both Man Ray's studio and the Dingo Bar - where Hemmingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald first met in 1925. Our main destination in Montparnasse though, was 2 Impasse Lebouis and the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson.
We spent what was left of the evening walking around the Latin Quarter before taking a walk along the river then the metro to our hotel and to bed.
After our exertions walking around the city the day before, Asia and I both agreed to take it easier on Sunday. We lay in bed longer then it was off to the Eiffel Tower. A much colder and windy day, we agreed not to go up but it was eye-opening to realise the scale of it. The rest of our afternoon was spent walking around the vast expanse of the Louvre. The scale of this building and the artwork contained within really has to be seen to be believed. I imagine you could spend a full day in the Louvre and still have much you didn't see when you leave.
On Sunday night we took the bus back to Beauvais and then a flight back to Prestwick. After such a fun, busy, enjoyable and slightly fantastic weekend, it was a sobering thought to realise in just a few short hours, we would both be waking up to a Monday morning.
C'est la vie.
postscript: Thank you Asia - for everything.
I received a text message from Asia around midday asking me to meet her at Glasgow Central station. "What has she done?" I wondered. We were clearly going somewhere, but where? When I arrived at Central Station Asia had my camera bag but more surprisingly she had a small suitcase which I later found out had a couple of days' change of clothes for us both. Within the hour we had boarded a train to Prestwick airport though I still had no idea where our final destination would be. Excited but feeling a little guilty that Asia may have spent far too much on my birthday surprise, I decided to make the surprise last for as long as it was possible. Asia had checked in online so avoiding the destination sign as we walked past check-in, I finally learned where we were going about 30 minutes before boarding the plane. For my 30th birthday, Asia was taking me to Paris.
After many gleeful cuddles, kisses and - for Asia spending so much money - the occasional scolding glance, our plane took off and we were bound for France. I spent much of the journey deciding where I'd like to go and what I'd like to photograph and when we arrived in the centre of Paris the only thing still to be decided was where to spend the night. A couple of phone-calls later and we had ourselves a room wherein, given that it was now late in the evening, we decided to get some sleep.
I had expected a Saturday morning of cleaning the flat followed by an afternoon of football in Perth watching, what I was later to discover was, Airdrie being comfortably beaten 3 - 0 by St. Johnstone. Instead, Asia and I left our hotel at 8am and didn't return until late that night, the time inbetween spent exploring and photographing Parisien life. Our first destination was Rue de Rivoli in a bid to find where Henri Cartier-Bresson lived with Martine Franck.
Paris, by all accounts, is home to street photography. Robert Doisneau, William Klein and Henri Cartier-Bresson to name but a few have all treaded the streets looking for interesting moments to photograph. After my characteristic half hour or so of shyly "settling in", I realised I was full of confidence and photographed easily and without hesitation. Throughout the day I kept in mind Cartier Bresson's paraphrasing of Charles De Galle when he said the secret to his photography was to "aim well, shoot fast and scram" and heeded these words as often as I could.
We took a short detour from Rue de Rivoli onto the île de la Cité where we visited Notre Dame and afterwards I took a photo, a homage to Cartier Bresson that I had decided I would take on the plane the night before. One of Cartier-Bresson's most beautiful photographs is his 1952 picture of the île de la Cité taken on a particularly foggy day. Finding where he had made the photo isn't difficult, it was on the first bridge after point-neuf, the bridge seen in the photograph. As Saturday was a beautiful, bright, sunny day I decided an easy way to emulate the fog was to over-expose the photograph and thankfully it just about worked.
Paris, by all accounts, is home to street photography. Robert Doisneau, William Klein and Henri Cartier-Bresson to name but a few have all treaded the streets looking for interesting moments to photograph. After my characteristic half hour or so of shyly "settling in", I realised I was full of confidence and photographed easily and without hesitation. Throughout the day I kept in mind Cartier Bresson's paraphrasing of Charles De Galle when he said the secret to his photography was to "aim well, shoot fast and scram" and heeded these words as often as I could.
We took a short detour from Rue de Rivoli onto the île de la Cité where we visited Notre Dame and afterwards I took a photo, a homage to Cartier Bresson that I had decided I would take on the plane the night before. One of Cartier-Bresson's most beautiful photographs is his 1952 picture of the île de la Cité taken on a particularly foggy day. Finding where he had made the photo isn't difficult, it was on the first bridge after point-neuf, the bridge seen in the photograph. As Saturday was a beautiful, bright, sunny day I decided an easy way to emulate the fog was to over-expose the photograph and thankfully it just about worked.
After finding Martine Franck's address on Rue de Rivoli, we continued through the beautiful Jardin des Tuileries until we reached the Egyptian obelisk at the bottom of the Champs-Élysées. Not content with this, we kept walking until we reached Arc de Triomphe pausing only for breath and for tickets before we climbed to the top to be greeted with the almost incomprehensible sight of Paris in its spralling entirety.
Already tired but loathed to stop, We took the metro to Montparnasse where we visited the sites of both Man Ray's studio and the Dingo Bar - where Hemmingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald first met in 1925. Our main destination in Montparnasse though, was 2 Impasse Lebouis and the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson.
We spent what was left of the evening walking around the Latin Quarter before taking a walk along the river then the metro to our hotel and to bed.
After our exertions walking around the city the day before, Asia and I both agreed to take it easier on Sunday. We lay in bed longer then it was off to the Eiffel Tower. A much colder and windy day, we agreed not to go up but it was eye-opening to realise the scale of it. The rest of our afternoon was spent walking around the vast expanse of the Louvre. The scale of this building and the artwork contained within really has to be seen to be believed. I imagine you could spend a full day in the Louvre and still have much you didn't see when you leave.
On Sunday night we took the bus back to Beauvais and then a flight back to Prestwick. After such a fun, busy, enjoyable and slightly fantastic weekend, it was a sobering thought to realise in just a few short hours, we would both be waking up to a Monday morning.
C'est la vie.
postscript: Thank you Asia - for everything.
