This photograph above might be recognizable as one of the images I’ve used in the header of this site. I love this photograph. The colors and the age of the door, the angle of the photograph, the old lock … It’s like a street still life in wood, a found object.
With the door, my personal project had been working on shooting subjects at an angle with my camera. I had been working on trying to capture different angles, different moods, just trying to be playful with my images.
I love to walk the streets of Paris. Over the years I’ve walked so much of this city, yet still have not seen even a fraction of what it has to offer. Walking the back and side streets is the best part of this project, because, if you stick to the main streets, you’ll never get to capture simple, local, images like this one. Walking on the main streets, you’ll only see what everyone else sees.
On this particular day I was walking in Belleville near the home of my friend K., near the Place du Sainte-Marthe. What a wonderful little neighborhood tucked into a corner of 10th. Somehow, this neighborhood within a neighborhood reminds me more of the slow, laid back, South of France than the faster paced urbaness of Paris. Place du Sainte-Marthe is quiet during the day and in the evening people seem to really enjoy the two cafes on the square.
These photographs were taken, I think, one street over from Place Sainte-Marthe. Maybe on rue Jean Moinon. Or maybe is was just down from the square on rue Sainte-Marthe. I can’t be sure. I didn’t make a note. I don’t remember. I do remember that these images came from a narrow street lined with artists shops that didn’t open until the afternoon, and some of them only opened on weekend afternoons. I think the street was only a block or two long. I took a few photographs here, these are two of my favorites from that day. Another one is posted below.
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Le Sainte-Marthe Bistro, a traditional Paris bistro restaurant, and Bar La Sardine, are both tucked into the square.