Hey, look! The two great religions of modern times coexisting happily
side by side on a Parisian pavement near you: pornography, and, err...
religion!
Difficult to know which is the best, umm, i mean worst, isn't it?
The one involves slavery of the body, the other the enslavement of the
mind.
Or is it the other way round?
One encourages sinners to keep on sinning for all it's worth; the
other... couldn't survive without sinners!
Ha, that's funny. Imagine a religion in a world without do-badders - all
the priests and preachers would be on the dole with nobody's souls to
save...
So thank God for sinners and other small mercies, eh?
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
Wednesday 30 June 2010
Tuesday 29 June 2010
Jeezuss B. Cummin
Well, he probably isn't if we were to be brutally honest about it, but
don't let that small detail spoil the party...
A couple or three hundred people complete with floats sporting
balloons and banners and smiling singers danced down the boulevard
Saint-Jacques last Saturday.
'Trust your lives to Jesus', they exhorted us. Unfortunately i'm
reasonably happy with its current trustee.
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
Monday 28 June 2010
Sun and Moon Surmise
These sun and moon sculptures have been stuck on a piece of grass
right next to Piiisss'eds Centrale, a few streets down from the
Gare du Nord.
This is a veritable nesting place for all that's terrible about
Parisian homelessness and alcoholism. Wanna do a sociological study on
'the other side of Paris'? Let me know and i'll give you the address.
Whether there's any cute, pseudo-naive-yet-psearingly-poignant
parallel to be drawn between these crudely sketched symbols of
interplanetary significance and the bunch of dodgy drunks which
surround them i'll leave up to you. Although if the sun and the moon
could talk, i reckon they'd have a few things to teach us about
universal behaviour, and how not to do it.
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
right next to Piiisss'eds Centrale, a few streets down from the
Gare du Nord.
This is a veritable nesting place for all that's terrible about
Parisian homelessness and alcoholism. Wanna do a sociological study on
'the other side of Paris'? Let me know and i'll give you the address.
Whether there's any cute, pseudo-naive-yet-psearingly-poignant
parallel to be drawn between these crudely sketched symbols of
interplanetary significance and the bunch of dodgy drunks which
surround them i'll leave up to you. Although if the sun and the moon
could talk, i reckon they'd have a few things to teach us about
universal behaviour, and how not to do it.
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
Sunday 27 June 2010
Lovelocked Landlubbers
The lovers' bridge, i mean the most romantic one, you know, with the
wooden planks, and the splurging picnics and the bottles of wine and
no cars - Le Pont des Arts, that's the one - well it's developed a
strange disease over the last few years.
i would say over the last few months, but with the speed minutes turn
into weeks these days i thought i'd play safe. And that disease would
be..?
Well, these little locks, lovingly abandoned and often adorned or
scratched with a couple of lovebirds' names from here to eternity, or...
Or until the Mairie de Paris decides it's had enough of these bloody
padlocks from lovelorn losers cluttering up it's street furniture...
Personally, i hope they stay.
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
wooden planks, and the splurging picnics and the bottles of wine and
no cars - Le Pont des Arts, that's the one - well it's developed a
strange disease over the last few years.
i would say over the last few months, but with the speed minutes turn
into weeks these days i thought i'd play safe. And that disease would
be..?
Well, these little locks, lovingly abandoned and often adorned or
scratched with a couple of lovebirds' names from here to eternity, or...
Or until the Mairie de Paris decides it's had enough of these bloody
padlocks from lovelorn losers cluttering up it's street furniture...
Personally, i hope they stay.
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
Saturday 26 June 2010
Folks, I Give You... The Famous...
...Eric T!
If ever there was a digital age Paris photography pioneer, Eric would
be he.
At his annual picnic we met Paris photography lovers from around the
world.
And his friendly welcome was loved by all... Vive photography; Vive
Eric's picnic: and Vive Paris!
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
If ever there was a digital age Paris photography pioneer, Eric would
be he.
At his annual picnic we met Paris photography lovers from around the
world.
And his friendly welcome was loved by all... Vive photography; Vive
Eric's picnic: and Vive Paris!
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
Friday 25 June 2010
The Shutter Sisters
This little lady is one of the unsung stars of the city I reckon.
Out in all weathers, unpredictable hours, and when she is called into
action the work is hard and unrelenting.
In case you hadn't realised, her job is to hold open shutters with a
clever little swivelling motion, and you can find her and her sisters
all over the city if you look out for her.
Go on, give her a wiggle if you find her unemployed and cheer her up a
bit: she's had a hard life.
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
Out in all weathers, unpredictable hours, and when she is called into
action the work is hard and unrelenting.
In case you hadn't realised, her job is to hold open shutters with a
clever little swivelling motion, and you can find her and her sisters
all over the city if you look out for her.
Go on, give her a wiggle if you find her unemployed and cheer her up a
bit: she's had a hard life.
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
Thursday 24 June 2010
Here Come The Nutters
Every Friday night, a bunch of nutters hurtles through the centre of
Paris with wheels attached to their feet, and it's quite an impressive
spectacle to behold, to be sure.
i've never been brave enough to take part, although i do 'blade, after
a fashion... (nothing beats, effectively, parallel skiing down the
Champs Elysées, using the tourists as slalom poles, he he ;-)
Anyway, look out for them if you're ever in the city of night around
ten in the evening - you can't miss 'em really, with their cute little
monitors all dressed in yellow blowing their cute little whistles and
shouting all over the place.
And if you catch them on a fast downhill run, like the boulevard Saint
Michel, for example... watch out for the nutters!
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
Paris with wheels attached to their feet, and it's quite an impressive
spectacle to behold, to be sure.
i've never been brave enough to take part, although i do 'blade, after
a fashion... (nothing beats, effectively, parallel skiing down the
Champs Elysées, using the tourists as slalom poles, he he ;-)
Anyway, look out for them if you're ever in the city of night around
ten in the evening - you can't miss 'em really, with their cute little
monitors all dressed in yellow blowing their cute little whistles and
shouting all over the place.
And if you catch them on a fast downhill run, like the boulevard Saint
Michel, for example... watch out for the nutters!
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
Wednesday 23 June 2010
Back In Time
i'm never quite sure how to react to images like these. There are
about five of these giant posters ranged along quite a few of RER Line
B platforms, and every time someone goes by them it looks as though
they are about to get blown to smithereens by the mean-looking guy.
Nice.
It's an ad for a computer game, and to be honest i'd probably quite
enjoy playing it if i chose to spend time on such things. i mean, i go
to see films where people blow each other to smithereens all the time
and love it.
i guess my real issue with this is, does it have to be quite so 'in
your face', really. It doesn't say much for our so-called 'peaceful
society' if gratuitously killing people (or pretending to) is the
biggest fun we can have.
Maybe it's the dad in me typing out loud, but i often think of the
innocent things my grandparents and parents and even i did for
entertainment in our youth, and wonder what it would be like to be
transported back to those times, just for a few days.
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
about five of these giant posters ranged along quite a few of RER Line
B platforms, and every time someone goes by them it looks as though
they are about to get blown to smithereens by the mean-looking guy.
Nice.
It's an ad for a computer game, and to be honest i'd probably quite
enjoy playing it if i chose to spend time on such things. i mean, i go
to see films where people blow each other to smithereens all the time
and love it.
i guess my real issue with this is, does it have to be quite so 'in
your face', really. It doesn't say much for our so-called 'peaceful
society' if gratuitously killing people (or pretending to) is the
biggest fun we can have.
Maybe it's the dad in me typing out loud, but i often think of the
innocent things my grandparents and parents and even i did for
entertainment in our youth, and wonder what it would be like to be
transported back to those times, just for a few days.
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
Tuesday 22 June 2010
Maaarr-MITE... Mooo-MENTS...
Oh my goodness... Where on earth can i be?! Marmite and Bovril? Heinz
Baked Beans? Coleman's Mustard? CURLYWHIRLYS, for crying out loud?!!!
i must be dreaming... This can't be happening...
Either that, or i've been run over by a Vélib and against all
expectations ended up in some sort of quaint little English corner
store heaven... But then i remember!
It was just after the abstract mystic poetry section in W H Smith, the
oldest English language book shop in Paris, so they say, when all of a
sudden, on turning a metaphorical corner in my mind i came upon this
little haven of paste, i mean peace...
It's a somewhat romanticised Dickensian vision, in all its computer-
enhanced glory, this pic here, but it's nevertheless a curious
surprise and a gentle hark back to the days remembered by some when
there was, in fact, an English tea shop upstairs at Smiths...
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
Monday 21 June 2010
Long Ride Home
A couple of tired kids opposite me on the RER B yesterday afternoon,
visibly tired, with a snoozing mother next to me, after a long day's
shopping at Les Halles by the looks of things.
The chubby Asian boy with his surgically attached PS3 or something
made me smile, possibly reminding me of the adult facing him with his
surgically attached iPhone or something... the only difference between
men and boys, as all females know is the size of their toys...
His little brother's 90 degree neck angle sleeping position was also
rather impressive.
There's a woman who photographs complete strangers on the Paris
transport system and does a little pocket interview with them to put
up on her blog every day. Sometimes i really can't be bothered reading
about some stranger's life in two paragraphs, and other days i find it
rather poignant.
So, who did YOU sit opposite today..?
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
Sunday 20 June 2010
Word On The Street
Back in '68 i think it was (i wuz 3) a famous protest slogan appeared
on the streets of Paris:
"Sous les pavés, la plage!" (Under the paving stones, the beach!")
Somehow tragic and optimistic at the same time.
i'm not sure if the same can be said for this bit of street level
anarchy which, rather unrealistically i reckon, alerts shoppers on
Avenue du Général Leclerc in the 14th arrondissement of Paris that
the force of an entire people is being unleashed on France. Under the
undeniably attention-grabbing slogan: 'FUCK - Straight to the Target'
Now, i'm a bit confused. The 'FUCK' and the message itself would
suggest that some foreign, Anglophone and France-hating hoard is in
the process of putting some dasterdly plan into action. The perfect
French used by the 'unleashers', however, would indicate otherwise.
Just one more Parisian mystery waiting to be resolved, i guess. Come
to think of it, it's been a bit windy today for the time of year -
maybe that's what they mean...
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
Saturday 19 June 2010
You're In A Cute Cabin To Let (Pt.3)
And here's the solution to the 'You're In (urine) A Cute Cabin To Let
(toilet)' conundrum...
The first photo was taken from inside this superb, if super-stinky
structure, looking out through that curious pattern of holes.
The second photo, the one with all those lovely pipes, is actually
round the back, and the one here shows it in all its glory, the last
of a kind. It'll be a sad day, for me at least, if they ever decide to
get rid of the last Parisian urinal in the old style. Long may it
stand and stink.
Visit Part 1 Visit Part 2
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
Friday 18 June 2010
You're In A Cute Cabin To Let (Pt.2)
Think pipes and tubes; think waterworks. Think valves and pressure;
think sweet relief!
Where am i and what am i?! (in Paris, bien entendu, and next to a
prison, in fact, although personally i don't have any doors or locks...)
Visit Part 1 Visit Part 3
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
Thursday 17 June 2010
You're In A Cute Cabin To Let (Pt.1)
Anyone know where this is? Or what it is for that matter. One of a
kind, it almost certainly is now, but there was a time when they were
all over the city. To the relief of many.
Visit Part 2 Visit Part 3
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
Wednesday 16 June 2010
I Can Hear Your Heartbeat
You see that eerie blue light, right? Well it actually pulses, a bit
like a heartbeat. These blue lifesavers are rare beasts indeed - only
about ten have been installed at strategic, and often inaccessible
points around the city, where vital aid could be a while coming, like
here, on top of the Arc de Triomphe.
The idea is that any old (or young) Joe Bloggs or Jean Dupont or Feng
Wong or Muhammed Hussain, or the fairer equivalents of course, seeing
someone in heartfelt distress, can grab the phone in one hand, the
jolly old defibrilator in the other, and jumpstart the unfortunate
sufferer back to life by following remote instructions, just like in
the movies!
Although if they take as long to answer as that last sentence takes to
read, they may as well not bother...
Coming soon: my exclusive guide to fun yet fully equipped places to
have cardiac arrests and other heart emergencies in and around Paris.
Will also be available shortly in the iPhone App Store with built-in
geolocalisation (unsuitable for wearers of Pacemakers).
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
Tuesday 15 June 2010
Great Whingers From History
"Oh, for GOD'S SAKE! I said I wanted a BEIGE one, to go with my tunic,
Jeeezz... Does NO-ONE here have the vaguest idea of what aesthetic
beauty's about any more?! Did I really lose my arms and my peachy
demeanour for this..? If my mother had known this would happen people
would have lost more than their arms, I can tell you, whinge whinge,
moan moan..."
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
Monday 14 June 2010
Collateral Lambage
High above the city, while docile Parisians and visitors alike flock
to a multimillion euro group sauna (it's really hot right now),
unbeknownst to all, vigilanties are keeping watch...
This is the weekend of 'Le Grand Moisson' (the so-called Great
Harvest), the city's latest (and craziest?) invasion of the Champs
Elysées. This time we're not talking about the Prussians, or Hitler's
minions, or even a hoard of football fans really happy that their
little guys put a round thing in a hole more often than all the other
little guys.
Nope, this time the invasion comes in the shape of a few
potted trees, a lot of wilting grass and, err, oh yeah, a bunch of
very hot and very unhappy-looking sheep. No, i mean real sheep, you
know, those woolly things that don't live on the Champs Elysées...
A shady and secretive bunch, we, The Observers (yes, i count myself amongst
their numbers) keep a keen eye trained on this most peculiar of
capitals, constantly on the look out for any unusual, weird or just
downright stupid behaviour.
Here's an example...
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
Sunday 13 June 2010
Vive La Folie
Hey, Nature-Lovin' Folks! Here's an original fun day out on the good
ol' C-to-the-E... Yep, i'm talkin' about the Champs Elysées as you've
never seen it before.
So, for 48 hours only, you can share the two hottest days of the year
so far with just two million other people on 'the World's Most
Beautiful Avenue' (it must be true - they say it so often) to sweatily
shuffle and jostle past what is probably the unluckiest flock of sheep
in France this weekend.
On a less cynical note, this sort of event is a perfect example of why
i love this city: the fact that they actually did it just about
counters the sheer uncomfortableness of the event itself.
In the end you can't really say it was the joyous garden party it was
touted as, but it was an event. It inspired me to mount the Arc de
Triomphe for the first time in 17 years as a pseudo Parisian - i've
never been up before because i could've if i'd wanted to - and it gave
me a few more pics to throw at you in the weeks to come. Vive la fête,
vive la folie and... Vive la France!
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
Saturday 12 June 2010
Lamp Posts Of My Mind
An averagely picturesque Montmartre lamp post one day, an unexpected
double image the next.
There are often surprises round every corner, even the most familiar
ones.
i find that sometimes when i'm lacking inspiration, nature heaves a
metaphorical sigh and gives me a bit of a hand. Or an eye. Or an extra
lamp post.
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
Friday 11 June 2010
May March, Will March
Paris doesn't always rhyme with pacifism, even in principle.
In the north of the city, on a sunny Sunday afternoon, people are
marching from Porte de la Chapelle to République, banners in place,
megaphone in hand.
These are the shady generation, the unseen caste (yep, we've got one),
the 'without papers'... (les 'sans papiers')
This terrible social stigma is on the march - contesting the irony of
being employed but illegal at the same time. The majority of the
marchers seem to be male, it must be said. But...
Funnily enough, there are many suspiciously French-looking women and
children in the march.
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
Thursday 10 June 2010
Throwing Hearts
As our city becomes increasingly saturated with our (admittedly) own
detritus, i thought i'd post this heavily garbage-gorged, rubbish-
filled and undeniably trashy image of something just a teeny-weeny bit
positive from the lower slopes of Montmartre.
The better graffiti artists sometimes get it so right, and so sweet.
Their message gets through! With love into the bargain.
Just don't throw your hearts away quite yet: i still have a few
thousand images which want to lay claims to their desires before i
myself get unceremoniously carted off to the great garbage dump in the
sky...
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
Wednesday 9 June 2010
(Step into the) Sacred Circle
The darker side of Sacré Coeur, the one with the dirt and grime, has
always been the one which interests me the most.
The 'other' side, the frontside, shinyside, sandblastedside holds less
appeal for the photographer: too many people and too many precedents.
Freshfaced, airbrushed pseudo-innocence? No thanks - give me the
stinking underbelly every time.
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
Tuesday 8 June 2010
Getcha Entrails Out
Pompidou Centre eat your guts out! This extremely strange little
building along one of the train lines going north out of Paris always
intrigues me, and i've been trying to get a great shot of it for a
while now. This isn't quite the one yet, but it'll do.
The weird thing is, from the front it just looks like any other normal
building. i'm including a picture of the facade here to prove my point:
building along one of the train lines going north out of Paris always
intrigues me, and i've been trying to get a great shot of it for a
while now. This isn't quite the one yet, but it'll do.
The weird thing is, from the front it just looks like any other normal
building. i'm including a picture of the facade here to prove my point:
Now how spooky is that? Theories? Maybe it used to be a bakery or a
launderette and all bakeries or launderettes look like this from
behind - i just don't know. But one thing is sure: 37, avenue Corentin
Cariou is not all it seems...
- By the way, I checked to see if I could find what this place actually is, apart from just downright weird, and found that is is, or at least was, a Japanese restaurant called Matsuba. Quite why they need all those pipes is still a mystery to me.
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
Monday 7 June 2010
Koffi Baksun Woz Ere
i don't know if you remember a pic i took of one of these machines
along with a little elogy to the coffee machines of the Paris metro.
Well, they've all been out of order for the last few weeks with a big
poster on the side claiming they'll be back soon even more beautiful
than before.
i never considered the things beautiful as such, but that brown brew
they spat out sure helped me on many an occasion.
i wonder if this woman was equally frustrated and is now half falling
asleep as some guy seems to be playing with his telephone behind the
sombre, scratched up window of a passing train.
What the window scratchers are aware of is that there's an invisible
protective plastic film covering all the windows, which makes a lovely
mess if you take a knife to it. And interesting shapes if you take
photos through it.
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
Sunday 6 June 2010
Paris and I ~ 'Gimmie Those Gables'
Hey, we could be in medieval, err, Tudor China, couldn't we, umm,
well, sort of..? No. But never mind, here we are in contemporary
France, ensconced in cosy Paris, the 3rd arrondissement i do believe.
There are some that suggest this is the oldest house in Paris, but
i've always been sceptical about such claims, not least because i just
can't picture anyone just randomly building a house in the middle of
nowhere. Or maybe they mean that there were others but this is all
that remains.
Well, whatever the story, you can find it down a little side street
certainly off the beaten track that only us locals (and about 17
million Chinese) know about...
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
Saturday 5 June 2010
Run-of-the-Millsville, Parizona
An anonymous trainscape on an anonymous journey (try saying THAT fast
with a mouthful of Cheesy Wotsits, and we'll see...)
My trip back to the city of light holds some surprises and some
shadowy moments. This seems to be one of them.
Nothing fancy, nothing funky about this run-of-the-mill image, other
than it being, so, well, blue, and green, and... run-of-the-mill!
P.S. In France, their Wotsits taste of peanuts. How gross is that..?
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
Friday 4 June 2010
Things Are Looking Down
Yo-ho-ho..! Coming to a Parisian street corner near you - the jolly
green giant from Issoire, ready to jump on you and suck your bones dry
if he likes the look of you and is feeling a bit peckish!
Most people who have lived in Paris long enough know about our
outsized friend, but not everyone has lived in Paris, or long enough,
so here he is again.
Do let us know if you spot him, as rumour has it he moves around, all
the better to take unsuspecting walking barbeque fodder like you
unawares. Just remember to look up... coz things are looking down.
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
Thursday 3 June 2010
Croissants of Calm
After the blatant sordidness of yesterday's posting i felt a bit
guilty, so here's a chocolate box shot that surely will offend
nobody ;-)
And where is this charming (and innoffensive) crescent of little
cottages to be found, you may be asking?
Why, in the fourteenth district of Paris, my dear friends. The 13th, 14th
and 15th arrondissements hold plenty of surprises if you just get off
the main highways and snuffle around a little.
What's your favourite anodyne 'find', folks? (back to sordidness and
squalor soon people, i promise)
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
Wednesday 2 June 2010
Throbbing Drainpipe of Love
Got that rainy day feeling? Look like a deluge is imminent? Time to
call in 'Black Panther', the mother of all drainpipes...
This self-proclaimed 'superb' specialist (see details above) urges us
to come quickly and demand her services.
It's still not that common to find a well-established feline operating
in the emergency plumbing field but, according to Estelle,
satisfaction is guaranteed.
(A Paris iPhone street photograph by Sab Will for the 'Paris and I'
photo blog)
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