may 2016
48°51′24″N 2°21′08″E
on the tail end of my undergraduate degree i was summoned by my folks to Paris - they had arranged for a city break and wanted me around for a couple of days. though i’d just been home for Christmas, i agreed, hoping a temporary change of environment would help clear up the anxieties associated with the end of my academic life.
i didn’t find the European capital too appealing, quite frankly. it had too many layers, too much to explore beyond the obvious tourist traps. i am certain i would have ended up liking Paris if i’d spent more time walking its streets. nonetheless, the point of the trip was to spend some quality time with my parents and i left it to them to guide me around the french metropolis.
i was very enthusiastic about my pictures. i’d started learning a bit more about photography beyond a commercial context and certainly wanted to graduate from being just a dilettante. i looked at it with the naivete of someone who knew very little and in effect perceived everything as “easily achieved” or “within reach.” sure i could become a street photographer if i wanted to, right then and there. sure i could photograph the essence of an European capital i had never visited before. sure i could go “on assignment” to Paris and comfortably shift my attention from my family to my surroundings and back, repeatedly and in a productive way.
i walked away with several hundred shots which barely qualified as reasonable vacation snaps. humbled, i resolved to always do my research and temper my expectations.
may 2016
48°51′24″N 2°21′08″E
on the tail end of my undergraduate degree i was summoned by my folks to Paris - they had arranged for a city break and wanted me around for a couple of days. though i’d just been home for Christmas, i agreed, hoping a temporary change of environment would help clear up the anxieties associated with the end of my academic life.
i didn’t find the European capital too appealing, quite frankly. it had too many layers, too much to explore beyond the obvious tourist traps. i am certain i would have ended up liking Paris if i’d spent more time walking its streets. nonetheless, the point of the trip was to spend some quality time with my parents and i left it to them to guide me around the french metropolis.
i was very enthusiastic about my pictures. i’d started learning a bit more about photography beyond a commercial context and certainly wanted to graduate from being just a dilettante. i looked at it with the naivete of someone who knew very little and in effect perceived everything as “easily achieved” or “within reach.” sure i could become a street photographer if i wanted to, right then and there. sure i could photograph the essence of an European capital i had never visited before. sure i could go “on assignment” to Paris and comfortably shift my attention from my family to my surroundings and back, repeatedly and in a productive way.
i walked away with several hundred shots which barely qualified as reasonable vacation snaps. humbled, i resolved to always do my research and temper my expectations.
