citytrip

Paris strolling

Personal Pictures, street

I had the chance to finish these summer holidays with a 4 day leisure weekend in Paris, together with my wife.

We normally carry our bikes on this kind of city trip, and this time it was no different. We remembered well from 7 years ago that biking trough Paris was ok, except for the weather (last time we did it it rained four consecutive days).

We had better luck this time, with four sunny days, only a bit of rain one evening.

We had no special plans for this holiday, except seeing Paris not the tourist way, but just enjoying what we get to see, and trying different routes than the Champs-Elysees or visiting the Eiffel tower. So we just rode our bikes trough the city, with no particular plan.

We enjoyed the calm of the Père-Lachaise Cimetary and the charming buzz in the Rue Saint-André des Arts, we went to Bois de Boulogne, came back trough La Défense business centre, had some really nice food just down the hill of Sacré-Cœur, enjoyed seeing the ships go trough the Canal Saint-Martin, the small streets of Le Marais and the marketplace on Boulevard Richard Lenoir.

Enjoy the images, I hope you can feel some of the atmosphere in these places shine trough.

For those interested, all images taken with the Sigma 50 mm 1.4 DG, on my Canon 5D mark II.

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thank you for watching, come again soon.

Ludwig

Amsterdam Highlights

Personal Pictures

In my ‘highlights’ series, I had Barcelona and twice Paris (I) and (II), this time I visited Amsterdam hit-and-run style (about 24 hours between arrival and departure)

In short:

Bikes, old and new architecture, canals, (missing) prostitutes, a lot of wind, (noisy) dutch people, good company … and a restaurant cat.

Oh I love strolling around in a big city, taking pictures, watching people, searching for good subjects and good light.

I don’t wanna spend a lot of words on this one. I enjoyed my walks, I hope you enjoy the pictures.

I have taken these pictures with the only lens I had with me, Canon 50 mm f 1.4. It is a challenge worth taking. Take only one lens, look for subjects, frame them.

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take care, and come again soon. There’s quite some beauty shoots on the planning.

Ludwig

Paris Highlights II

Personal Pictures

Last weekend I was in Paris again, for a short break of one and a half day.

I was there with the family, and we strolled around a lot. my kids got to see the Moulin Rouge, place Pigalle, the Sacré Coeur with place du Tertre, we visited an exhibition at the Institut du Monde Arabe, we saw the Panthéon, the Jardin the Luxembourg, visited the Tour Montparnasse and we walked a lot!

I’m not so much into the classical pictures of monuments and all, but couldn’t resist to include some of them. I love the city atmosphere and the typical details you get to see in Paris.

Imagine a gray overcast sky, chilly but not cold, horns tooting everywhere, and the constant chatter of the Parisians.

I hope you get a feeling of being there, at least a little.

All pictures taken with Canon 5D II and Canon 50mm 1.4. All images can be clicked for a bigger version.

 

Parisians love dogs, apparently. There’s dogs on every quay, in every park.

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The institute of the Arabic World held an exhibition on the stories of 1001 nights. This was a listening area, where one could sit down in almost complete darkness and listen to the spoken versions of the stories. Next is the facade of the building, and a metal sculpture.ludwig_desmet_academie-6739

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Nightlife in front of the Sacré Coeur chirch, and then down towards the place Pigalle. Made me think of the movie ‘Midnight in Paris’.ludwig_desmet_academie-6756

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The banks of the Seine, with the Notre Dame, and next the Panthéon, the Jardin de Luxembourg and the magnificent view from the Tour de Montparnasse. No queue, and I believe it to be cheaper than the Eiffel Tower.ludwig_desmet_academie-6769

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The woman felt my presence. She suddenly looked back at me.ludwig_desmet_academie-6781The ambiance in the restaurants and food almost as good as in Belgium. 😉ludwig_desmet_academie-6804

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Paris Highlights

Personal Pictures

I was in Paris last week, for only one day, but I had some time to make some pictures in the afternoon/morning I was there. Some of the better ones:

A dog is a dog, even on the Champ de mars

running trough wonderful colors

Photographing around the Eiffel tower.

500 on the banks of the Seine.

Entering the darkness of a long winter night.

We Belgians did it again. Strike on the railroads in Belgium, so no train got to Brussels. Luckily I booked from Lille so I got home at the scheduled time.

thank you for reading. Remember, next thursday, I’ll post the third and final part of ‘the mansion shoot’