ShutterSPEED in Paris: un jour typique
Nobody who loves incredible museums can rest well until seeing Paris. It’s always been that way, which is why ShutterSPEED serves up some of the most intensive creative time you’ll ever have when we’re in the heart of the City of Light. To give you an example of one of our most wonderful days in Paris — here goes…and remember: this is just one day.
We’re going to start off the day at The Louvre, because art lovers are obsessed with this trove of magic. But even before getting there, we work with you over coffee in a charming cafe to be sure your “plan of attack” is well planned out. (The Louvre is enormous and there’s no way to do it justice in a half day.) Most of the students, and every other tourist in Paris, wants to see the Mona Lisa, so make sure to get this treasure built into your morning, while also being sure that you find lesser-known marvels that will stretch you beyond where the tourists congregate. Among these, perhaps nothing strikes our students as more fantastic than the incredibly well presented apartments of the the Emperor Napoleon III, whose famous uncle had been the first Emperor of France. Non-flash photography is allowed in the Louvre, so of course we all take plenty of pictures of the art. But our specialty is getting shots that aren’t common, including plenty that take the throngs of tourists shooting the art as their subject.
After the Louvre, we always meet for lunch at some sidewalk café near the river to talk over the morning and what we’ve seen. Again, every moment is another amazing photo opportunity — even lunch. (The historic cafes and their interiors, servers and settings are all incredible to behold and capture.) It’s equally amazing to promenade as the French do along their beautiful Seine river, as the mighty and gilded bridges span from Left to Right bank and carry the city’s busy residents every which way at once. Because “Paris le grand” happens coincidentally with its hidden and intimate counterpart, observing the city closely and being inquisitive pay a mighty dividend. So where does love live in this famously romantic and cheek-kissing city? We always look to the “Love-Lock Bridge.” Completely covered with locks, this gem of a foot bridge is for lovers, who come from all over the world to purchase a lock, write their names on it and then lock it onto the bridge as a statement of love. Just steps away, our walk will quickly take us from intimate Paris back to her grand other self, as Notre Dame Cathedral rises up to meet us and invite us inside…
After lighting memorial candles inside and taking photos of the cathedral’s famous “Rose Window,” we’ll regroup again to take in a final shrine within walking distance. Shakespeare and Company Bookstore overlooks Notre Dame and is on our way to the metro we will be needing soon. So how can we resist popping in to see the current version of this iconic store, whose creaky wooden staircase lead upstairs to secret reading nooks and a window overlooking the Seine and the cathedral’s scary gargoyles. Add a few more great shots to our portfolios…as we walk like pilgrims through a bookshop whose patrons have included F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway and Jean-Paul Sartre.
Our day continues as we hop the metro and scoot to Speos International School of Photography, where we’ll meet our friend Marie, with whom we start planning this visit about 6 months in advance each year. So charming and welcoming to us, Marie is always thrilled to show us around her incredible facilities. In her classrooms, Marie’s students take time to meet our group and show us how they set up their lighting and gear to do whatever the day’s assignment might be. Today we walk in to makeup and wigs going on models, as the studios are set up to do fruit and food shots. (Shots like these are done all over the world, but nowhere is food photography as amazing as it is in Paris: food capital of the world!) We dive in with Marie’s blessing to view their photos in real-time on computers, which are linked directly to the cameras and allow for immediate editing. Then we go on to tour the student’s gallery before heading in to meet the founder and director of the school, who takes time to explain his vision for photography in the world and how his school is helping to drive that vision on a global scale. Anybody who was worried about France’s reputation for sometimes having a “snooty attitude” before coming here isn’t worried after meeting the director, the students and Marie. They answer all of our questions and spend much of the afternoon making us all want to come to Paris for more time to study with them! Can anybody say internship after graduation??
We usually leave Speos around 5pm and hop the Metro again back to our hostel. It is a great tradition to have a glass of champagne under the massive arches of the Eiffel Tower at night, so usually the students will gear up to do this well after the eager professors have turned in for the night. The Tower lights up and sparkles on the hour — and this spectacle offers our students even more great shots, which they are always thrilled to show us over coffee the next day, when class begins with everybody on time, because no matter how late they were up, our students always are hungry for another amazing day on The Catalyst in Paris.
