Smoke and jealousy
Perhaps, the man on the right wishes he had an aperitif instead of a coffee.
Leica M7 with 50mm Summicron-M on Ilford XP2
Evening letters
While walking back from a exhibition opening at la Petite Poule Noire in Paris, I saw these two boys spending a Saturday evening playing outside their doorway on the boulevard Beaumarchais.
Leica M7 with 50mm Summicron-M on Kodak Portra 400
Where the world shops
Le Bon Marché is the oldest and most famous department store in Paris. Although it’s no longer the place to see the best and latest fashions, visiting the store is still a fun, albeit often unaffordable experience.
Leica M7 with 50mm Summicron-M on Kodak Tri-X
Biking by
I love this intersection at St. Germain and rue Bonaparte with the city’s best known cafes in the background. Late one night, this woman rode by. She was fast, but by shutter was slow, producing the motion blur.
Leica M7 with 50mm Summicron-M on Kodak Tri-X
My year in photos: 2010
This was the first year of my life that I documented more with my photography than with my writing, especially if that whole picture = 1,000 words equation is true. Here are some of the things I saw in 2010, arranged, more or less, chronologically. For those of you who are curious about gear, I took most of the shots with a Leica M7, Leica M8, or Panasonic GF1. And I’m still waiting for my roll of Kodakchrome to be processed.
Is the history of France the history of love?
The juxtaposition between this awkward looking couple and the advertisement was too good to ignore. Click on the image for the actual, uncropped version.
Leica M8 with 40mm Leica Summicron-C, processed in Apple Aperture
Americans in Paris
When I lived in France, I made monthly treks to Galignani and the Village Voice in Paris to stock up on American novels. Galignani is supposedly the first English language bookstore in Europe—yeah, that’s right!—and Philip Roth is, along with Paul Auster, probably the most popular American novelist in France. Here’s Roth’s latest, Indignation, on display at Galignani in April 2010.
Leica M8 with 40mm Leica Summicron-C, processed in Apple Aperture
At the starting line
At this red light, two bikers look left and two look right. Who’s going to come out ahead? My money is on the woman with the Kookai bag.
Leica M8 with 40mm Leica Summicron-C, processed in Apple Aperture
Getting a light
This young man takes a break from his kitchen to smoke a cigarette, standing just out of the shadows and in the light on the Boulevard des Italiens.
Leica M8 with 40mm Leica Summicron-C, processed in Apple Aperture
When the light changes, the texting stops
This man in a suit typed furiously on his BlackBerry while he sat at a red light near St. Germain. As the light turns to green, he places his phone back in his pocket before he pedals away.
Leica M8 with 40mm Leica Summicron-C, processed in Apple Aperture