One last visit to The City of Light.
My first visit in September, 1974 had been nothing but joyful, confirming my love of all things French.
By October, 1977 my utter disillusionment with England saw a one way ticket to America in my baggage but, before boarding that Pan Am flight, a second and final visit to Paris was indicated. I simply wanted to cement the images of that gorgeous city in my mind. And in my Leica.
These are among the very last monochrome film images I ever took. Thereafter, once in America, my salary would double, my taxes would halve, my suit count would rise from one to three and my prospects would improve two orders of magnitude. And Kodachrome and the local printing place would obsolete TriX and the smelly chemicals and enlarger in the home darkroom/bedroom.
At the Arc de Triomphe
Self portrait with Leica
At the Elysée Palace, Cadillac and all
Wedding in Parc Monceau, quite possibly the most perfect public park …. after the Tuileries Gardens
At the Holocaust Museum. Appropriately spiky and threatening
At the Holocaust Museum
Café Cher(ie)
Working girl
The Venus de Milo has seen better days
Gorilla
Mailman
Train conductor
Gendarmes
If the English are a nation of animal lovers then the French are a nation of dog lovers
Pipe and pigeons
Leica M3, 35mm Summaron, TriX. What could be more perfect for street photography? All images ‘scanned’ using the Nikon D800.