Paris 3.0

Is this starting to sound like a Windows update or what? In some ways it is…an update. We kind of have a handle on the Metro using it a lot. The 5 day pass for two is about 100 Euro and well worth it if you plan on seeing a lot of Paris.

 

 

We opted to take the Metro out towards Montmartre. I say towards because we ended up in a very forbidding and seedy neighborhood. As an example, I shot a beef truck and the owner came up, hit me on the shoulder and said something in French I am sure was not complimentary. I am guessing he didn’t like my photographing his beef. Hm. A boeuf?

Anyway, we were trying to get to the Sacre Coeur but missed that and opted to return to the Citie and go inside a musee for a drier venue. We went to the Musee d’Orlay. Entrance fee was 12 Euro each. This is an incredible display of artists from every form from pointillism to impressionism. The sculpture alone was worth the cost.

From our view the students sitting and drawing was worth it. Where did Paul Gaugin get his inspiration? I also did not know that Gaugin sculpted. One of the things that struck me was the pointilists. They were copying film which of course, did not exist then. Hm. Some of the works were at least 4 feet wide. The paintings are almost as if someone enlarged color film to the point that film appears when under exposed and over enlarged. (For the non photographic types, believe me this looks exactly the same).

Outside, we took the Metro home and enjoyed a quiet evening.

By the way, for the photographers amongst us, all of the images were captured with the Fuji X100 and, as we do not have any photo software along with us, all are uncorrected jpegs straight out of the camera. ISO ranges run from 200 to 6400. The camera has performed very well under about every circumstance you can imagine.

One thing that many photographers complain about is its slow focus and auto exposure. While this is not an issue with landscapes, it can be unnerving shooting on the street. A cool little trick is to put the camera in manual focus, use the AF setting and prefocus on a spot say 10 feet, and let your subjects come into range. Shades of film days! Speeds up the little Fuji’s ability to shoot on the street. Fast and rarely miss a shot.

Another thing I appreciate is the built in ND filter. (The waterfalls in Ireland were shot in this way). It slows your shutter speed from say 1/60^th of a second to a nice water blurring 1/5^th of a second.

Tomorrow portends sunshine. Diana wants to get out in the country. It has been said that Paris is not France. God, I hope so.