First an apology for not posting here for almost a week. I’d hoped to make at least some brief initial reports while I was actually in Paris at Paris Photo (PP) but several things defeated me.
One was the Internet provider. I use a BT-provided service which claims to give me access at thousands if not millions of locations around the world. It links to a map of them, and zooming into the part of Paris around where I was staying shows them crowded around it, but it proved to be more of a virtual network than I expected, as on the several occasions I tried none appeared to be in range.
The hotel I was staying at didn’t offer Internet access, except through a special and rather expensive terminal for checking e-mail. It’s cheap hotel I’ve stayed in previously and is basic, but reasonably comfortable, close to a useful Metro station and an easy stroll with luggage from the Gare du Nord where my Eurostar arrives. The kind of place where half the rooms don’t have a plug for the sink (and this year we forgot to take ours) and small children would quickly electrocute themselves from the socket hanging off the wall or the open tops of bedside light fittings. But the rooms we’ve stayed in there have been warm enough, unusually quiet for central Paris, had plumbing that works, plentiful hot water and comfortable beds, and it provides a basic breakfast all in at a price less than the admittedly rather more sumptuous breakfasts at some luxury hotels.
But the real reason I didn’t post was simply a lack of time. There was just too much to do and to see, and most of it connected with photography. PP itself, with stands from over 90 of the best-known galleries from around the world – some with large collections of work on show, as well as all the best-known publishers and magazines was just a start.
It was also the Mois de la Photo (MdP) in Paris, with its long list of shows in galleries around Paris – almost 60 of them, and the Mois de la Photo-OFF which sensibly limits itself to a hundred shows. But these things are just the tip of the iceberg, and on almost every occasion I was making my way to one of these listed shows I came across two or three others.
Last Friday afternoon, after a rushed lunch, I hurried to a book launch at a stand in PP itself for a glass of champagne and a copy of the book (more on this and most of the other things I mention here later) before spending a few minutes looking around the dozen or so stands of the show I’d not managed to see in my previous two visits. The I let myself wander a few minutes around the Jardin du Carrousel before strolling along by the Seine and across the Pont des Arts to the Institut de France fore the superb landscape show there – part of the MdP.
Leaving this I looked briefly at several other shows as I strolled down to St Germain des Pres, where I’d arranged to meet my wife who had been watching a film somewhere in the 5th arrondissement. Together we went to the Magnum gallery to see the MdP show there, mainly pictures from his new book ‘La France’ (Bruce Davidson had just arrived there to start a book signing) before going to a cafe for a beer – or a cofee for Linda. Magnum had been our first stop on ‘Le Parcours Photo Saint-Germain-Des-Pres’ and in the next couple of hours we looked in at the other 30 shows on a trail around the area, as well as two more in the MdP – Eikoh Hosoe and Ralph Gibson – in the area but not part of the walk. We didn’t go in everyone of those 30 on the trail – most specially open that evening until 7pm – there were a few where a quick look through the window confirmed it wasn’t worth stopping, but most of them, and there were a number of highlights, including a small show of the work of Marc Riboud which had a very nice picture of a street in Leeds.
By then it was time for a little more refreshment, after which we took a late evening trip to Montmartre – just a short walk and a funicular ride from our hotel. Then a bus ride down to Place Pigalle and a walk back – by the time we arrived in our room I was too tired and it was too late to do anything but sleep.
Next time I go to Paris, perhaps I’ll be better equipped – one day I’ll surely buy a new phone that does more than make telephone calls – and less ambitious and simply try to make the occasional tweet about what’s going on.
Over the next few weeks I’ll gradually work through the copious notes I made during my trip and get working on the many pictures I took. There are certainly many stories to be told and quite a few will appear here before too long.
UPDATE:
PARIS PHOTO is now on MY LONDON DIARY
- Wednesday
- Thur am: 9e, 2e & Paris Photo
- In the 3eme
- Brian Griffin – The Black Country
- Jim & Millie’s Party
- Wandering in the 20e
- Lab East at Paris Photo
- To Saint-Germain-des-Prés
- Montmartre at Night
- Street Photography in the 10e
- Guided tour of the Photo-OFF
- Dinner at Chartier
- The Marais
- BnF and FIAP
- Monday Wandering