Friday morning is overcast and misty in Paris. An early morning stroll round the Tuileries finds the line outside the Louvre quite long at 9:05am. Not that I’m planning to join the queue.
I want to recreate a night shot I took 10 years ago now, and find that the 35mm equivalent lens on the Fuji X-Pro 1 that I’m carrying is just too wide and can’t compress the scene in the way I want. So I’ll need to come back later with the SLR with the 24-105mm to get the result I want.
I’m still learning the controls on the Fuji, and stop at the library window at Jeu de Paume to practise the focal point settings.
By 1pm, the mist has been burnt off by the sun, and it morphs into a spectacular day in Paris. I decide to have a picnic lunch in the Jardin du Luxembourg, along with what seems like a good proportion of Paris. The garden is in beautiful condition due to the spell of cool wet weather at the end of spring.
In the background, I can hear a band playing nearby, and discover a high school brass band playing in the Rotunda. I initially thought that they were from the American School in Paris (they just look like American school kids), but as I’m looking for a free seat, I see that their instrument cases all have baggage tags. Turns out they are from Tennessee (see, American school kids), on their way to Switzerland. They are surprisingly good, with an extensive repertoire for a school band. They play for an hour, and a measure of their success is when the local Parisiennes of a certain age get up and start dancing a deux.
I decide to walk back the apartment, and on the way back wander through the Palais Royal. In April 2012, I photographed the ‘temporary’ Theatre du Comedie Francais. 15 months later, it’s still ‘temporary’, waiting for a buyer to un-assemble and relocate it elsewhere.
