From Paris, with Photographs

After an enjoyable trip to Berlin earlier in the year, the opportunity to go to Paris was hard to resist. I wanted to explore all of the usual touristy sites, as well as trying to fit in museum visits.

The equipment

I took with me my Canon 5D, Lomography La Sardina, Polaroid 103, Rolleicord 1A and a Ashanti Pentax SP500. In terms of film, I took Fuji FP-100c (for the Polaroid) Kodak Ektar, Ilford Delta 100 in 120 format (for the Rolleicord) and Agfa Vista 200 from Poundland for the Lomography La Sardina. I took loads of film, most of which I ultimately didn’t even use! A case of ambition over practicality, but at least I wasn’t wanting for something I didn’t have to shoot.

Digital camera, film camera shot count

I didn’t get much use out of my Canon 5D. I find it hard to shoot interesting shots with digital, especially when it comes to travelling, as you’re often pottering about too much to be able to photograph constantly. Considering that the temperature was about 30 degrees, taking any photographs was a struggle. With so many other, much more interesting cameras to try, I only really used the Digital when we went around the tower.

A clear, beautiful day in Paris. The 5D creates sharp, great images, but digital often feels a bit characterless to me.

Despite this, I was still pleased with the shots I took. Shots were sharp and clean, with the beautiful weather providing strong light and unbelievable blue skies. I used the EF 28-135mm lens for all of the photographs, so had a good choice of focal lengths to frame photographs in. I sometimes feel that this can make you a bit lazy, but with so many different subjects to photograph flexibility is a must.

Mr Blue (Polaroid) Sky

One of the most striking features of the Fuji Polaroid film is the way it renders skies. With such a blue sky, this format produced striking images around Paris. I sometimes feel as though my Polaroid framing skills are somewhat lacking, with shots sometimes looking a little too straight. I wanted to mix this up, and shoot from more interesting perspectives with this most unusual of cameras.

The Polaroid 103 with it’s excellent blue tones, and the Eiffel Tower on a clear day was always going to create a strong, simple, pretty shot.

Black and white Delta 100

I’ve used both Delta 400 and 3200 in the past, but never 100. I chose to try it using the 120 format of the film, in the Rolleicord 1A. As this camera has no light meter, I used my Sekonic L-308 to get reflective light readings as I prepared my camera for photographing. This worked really well, and the results came out well exposed in most cases.

Amazingly sharp images from the Rolleicord 1A, using Delta 100 processed in DD-X.

I developed the film in Ilford DD-X, which is the developer created for the Delta line of films. The film came out really shorp, with low grain and a great range of tones. I’m always surprised how sharp the Rolleicord is, with the Zeiss Triotar producing amazing results for a camera of this age.

Kodak Ektar 100 in the Rolleicord

I’ve used Ektar a couple of times in the Rolleicord before, but mainly for Motorsport photography. I had not used it in such bright conditions before, and the results were simply stunning. Super sharp, ultra low grain, and incredible colours came out, and were far better than when I’d used the camera in dull conditions. The bright summer sun really brought out the best in this film, as well as the Rolleicord 1A.

A stunning image of the Paris skyline, on Kodak Ektar 100, taken on the Rolleicord 1A. I’m really enjoying the 6×6 format, and the beautiful images from the Zeiss Triotar lens.

I’m starting to really enjoy using the 6×6 format that the Rolleicord gives. It can be challenging to photograph in this format without having landscape or portrait orientation, but the beauty comes from the simplicity of the frame, and figuring out how subjects can fit within it.

The perfect pottering camera strikes again

My Lomography La Sardina was a constant companion around Paris. It’s simple operation, coupled with it’s light and small size made it ideal to point and shoot with in the exhausting heat. I used the Agfa Vista Plus 200, which I bought from Poundland. They have stopped stocking the Kodak Color Plus 200, and have replaced it with this. I was impressed with the results which compare well to the Kodak film. At a pound a go, this is a great film to take Lomo style photographs with.

The La Sardina was a great little point and shoot companion in Paris. This park was outside the natural history museum, on a bright sunny day.

I thought that the 200 ISO speed would be too fast for such bright conditions, but the shots turned out well in even the most challenging conditions.

Lomography Store Paris

The second Lomography store I’ve been to. I should probably visit the ones in the UK sometime! This shot was taken on their La Sardina camera on Agfa Vista Plus 200.

After buying my La Sardina from the Berlin Lomography shop, I wanted to get some kind of souvenir from the Paris shop too. This place was about a third of the size of the Berlin store, and all of the cameras were displayed in old suitcases, which looked really cool. I bought a Lomo t-shirt, and a Lubitel keyring, as buying another Lomography camera would be a bit of a stretch at the moment – especially as I have billions of film cameras already!

Visit to Maison Europeenne de la Photographie

On the final morning of my trip, I visited the Maison Europeenne de la Photographie in the east of Paris. Here they had an exhibition of June Browne Newton (also known as Alice Springs) which was really interesting. Having seen Helmut Newton (her Husband)’s museum in Berlin, this really linked together the two trips. Her photographs had a great feel to them, with striking portraits and nudes, many of them in black and white.

The Maison Europeenne de la Photographie in Paris had soem interesting exhibitions.

Another exhibition was the Anderson & Low Manga collection, where photographs had been digitally altered to resemble people from the popular Japanese comics. These had a really striking look to them, with highly stylised illustration elements added to them to accentuate the look of the artworks.

An inevitable cat picture

This grumpy looking cat in a Paris apartment window was one of the photographic highlights of the trip!

I spotted this grumpy looking moggy in an apartment window while I was pottering about. Sometimes, an iPhone is the best tool for a bit of digital snapping.

Where next?

I did enjoy Paris, but not to the same extent as I enjoyed my trip to Berlin. I think the baking hot weather was the main factor, and I think that Berlin had more interesting architecture from a historical perspective. As for where to go next, who knows? I’d like to visit more of the capitals of Europe, or failing that a distant and distinct place, such as Las Vegas of Venice.

As for photographing abroad, I think I need to cut down the amount of stuff I take. As much as I like all the different cameras, they do become wearing to lug about all of the time. I may try shooting in a single format, such as 6×6 or 35mm, as I don’t seem to have had any problems with film going through security x-ray machines.

Additional photos

All of my shots from Paris can be seen on my Paris Trip Flickr set. What are your memories of trips to Paris? Do you have any photos online you want to share? Please leave a comment if you do, or if you have any questions about my photographs.

Posted in: 6x6, Digital, Film Photography, Lomography, Polaroid, Travel