Tales of Two Cities

Photography Stuff

 

 

Yes, that is me taken just a bit ago sitting in front of the iMac that I acquired from my daughter a few weeks ago.  I went to a 1 1/2 hour course at the MAC store the other day to help me adjust to the change from the PC to the Mac. The surroundings were way too noisy and it was difficult to hear the speaker, but I did learn about Photo Booth.  What a hoot!!  I call this my Andy Warhol self portrait (v 1).

New Photography Project. I recently bought a Canon 7D to replace my  loyal, two-year old 40D.  I chose it because of its faster auto focus and improved low light performance. Inspired in part by my new toy and in part by a wonderful book that my granddaughter, Meg, gave me for Christmas, I have decided to try to take a picture each morning of something ordinary that is a part of my everyday life.  If I can stick to it for a while, I will join SmugMug's Daily Photo community.  For the moment, with only three photos in my gallery, I am just sharing with friends.  You check it out here.  Since the gallery is private for now, be sure to bookmark the link if you want to go back from time to time to check on my progress.

First Book of My Photographs. I just received my copy of Paris in Black and White 2009, a little photo book I put together using Blurb, a relatively low cost, Internet based, vanity publisher.  Blurb furnishes templates and directions and authors add content.  Once the finished product is submitted and a book is purchased, it is officially published and future copies are printed to order. 

These are not high end art books, but I was happy with my copy (I ordered the hard cover with dust jacket) and, in particular, how the black and white pictures looked. I gather that Blurb is good about reprinting if there are problems, which do occur from time to time.  Happily I didn't have to test this policy.

You can see a full preview of the book by clicking on book preview at the bottom of the badge at the right and even buy a copy should you be so inclined. For the moment, the book is available at cost (with premium paper) so there is no profit to me if you decide you simply must have it!  If you buy, please let me know how you like the book and about your experience with Blurb.

Future projects include a collection of the Paris photographs shown in the three shows in which I have hung my work (two of which were solo shows) and a collection of my Postcard du Jours published right here in Typepad!!  Stay tuned.

I Love Book Stores

If you love them too and are interested in Paris history, architecture and culture, classy empty books and other fun stuff for people of all ages, check out the book store at the Hotel du Sully next time you are in Paris.  You'll find it off of the Rue St Antoine between the Bastille and St Paul métro stops. It is open 7 days a week. 

We popped in today, just to check it out, and left with two books about Père Lachaise.  Charles has already picked out a map of ancient Paris that he is going to buy next trip.  He would have bought it today except that we already have a map of Paris  acquired on our visit to Paris Historique earlier in our stay. 

On the Lighter Side - News from France

News from the Music World - Here it is complete with amateur video - the song that currently tops the charts in France.  Coupe de Boule is a bouncy but monotonous ditty that makes light fun of France's loss in the World Cup finals and the infamous head butt of the Italian player Marco Materrazi by the captain of France's team, Zinédine Zidane.  As you may recall, France's beloved "Zizou" was ejected from the game and Italy went on to win.  Eventually, both players were sanctioned and fined, Zidane for the head butt and Materrazi for having said whatever it was he said that provoked it.  (All we know is that he apparently didn't call Zidane a terrorist or insult Zidane's mother, which leaves lots of room for some very interesting name calling.)  I could be wrong, but I think it is the first time that a player has been sanctioned and fined for a verbal insult during a soccer game.  Interesting precedent since verbal intimidation is very much a part of the play. 

What a Beach!  No Thongs? - Sacrebleu!!  The powers that be of the City of Paris have warned Paris Plage visitors that topless sunbathing by women and/or wearing thong bathing suits (by men as well as women?) may result in the levy of a fine. This is surprisingly puritanical for the French and Paris where photographs of buff, thonged bottoms and shapely bare breasts look down on the populous from giant advertising posters on the street and in the métro.  By the way, I didn't see anything as interesting as a thong bikini or topless sunbathing when I visited Paris Plage last year.  Perhaps it was too cold.  (I did see navels and a belly ring, though! See photo.)

News from the Literary World - On the French best seller list: the recently published Témoinage (Testimony) by Nicolas Sarkozy, leading center-right candidate in next year's presidential elections.  You can read the International Herald Tribune's review here. The Economist reports that "[t]his is [Sarkozy's] pre-election diagnosis of the French -- too work-shy, too gloomy, too anti-American, among other things -- mixed with a personal pitch to be understood as a straight-talking guy who wants to put things right."  The left's leading presidential hopeful, Ségolène Royal, has written a book that is due out in next month.  I guess I know what I'll be reading while we are in Paris this September. 

Postcard du Jour #1 - Le Salon du Livre 2006

Each spring Paris hosts a huge book fair.  We went to our first one two years ago and were fascinated by the enthusiastic crowds and the thousands of books on display. We missed the Salon last year so we were excited to learn upon our arrival in Paris that the 26th Salon du Livre was in progress.  It had opened on March 17 in an impressively massive 500,000 square foot space at the Porte de Versailles.  Each year the Salon has a theme.  I believe it was literature about China in 2004.  In 2005, the salon honored Russian literature.  This year it was dedicated to the literature of  the Francophonie, the French speaking countries that are members of the International Organization of the Francophonie.

We took the subway to the Porte de Versailles on the outskirts of Paris mid-day on a Tuesday after doing our bi-weekly shopping at the local outdoor market.  We feared large crowds, but the wait to get in was short and we found that the hall was not packed with people the way I remember from two years ago.  That may have been because the Salon was to remain open until 10:30 that night, the eve of the last day, but it may also have been the result of lower attendance overall.  Last year's attendance was reportedly down significantly from that of the year before.  It would be sad if this is a trend.

Shortly after we entered the Salon, Charles was approached by Raymond Clermat, author of L'Argent, Pourquoi est-il Notre Maitre?  M. Clermat, whose picture you can see below but who does not come up on a Google search, was passionate about the evils of money and obviously hard up for someone to talk to.  It took quite a while for Charles to escape! I just took pictures.

While every manner of book was in evidence, as one would expect, there were a surprisingly large number of bandes dessinées on display from a variety of publishers indicating that there has been a lot of growth in this segment of the market. Although descended from the original Belgian bande dessinée, TinTin, these books are not written (drawn?) only for young children.  Indeed the majority are for much older audiences and some are decidedly for adults only.    It was fascinating to watch book "signings" by authors of the bandes dessinées.  They made original drawings for their fans right in the books, a time consuming process for which people happily waited in line.  (See photo below.)  It almost made me want to buy one just to get it signed. 

Perhaps having become a grandmother recently drew my eyes to the tables and shelves full of books for the little ones, but even acknowledging my bias, it seemed to me that there were many more children's books on display than we saw two years ago.  You can imagine how hard it was not to buy armloads of books for Emily, but we resisted, which is not to say that we will not buy her at least one before we leave. It is not too soon for her to start learning French.

Although it was a school day, there were a large number of children at the Salon, apparently there on school field trips.  The two boys in the photo below were looking at a bande dessinée version of the History of France. 

 

The best part of the Salon for us, though, was that Charles acquired the CD of Le Grand Robert , the French equivalent of the Unabridged Oxford English Dictionary.  A fascinating saleswoman spent over half an hour with him demonstrating the product and regaling us with stories of the two years she spent teaching French in Shreveport and Lafayette, Louisiana.  Happy Birthday Charles!!  (For those inquirinq minds that want to know, March 18 was the official day.)

Here are some pictures from our afternoon at the Salon.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow ...

The first time I saw Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz was in the 1940s.  I was excited about its being in color (something special in those days) and was very disappointed when it began in sepia.  Then - what a magical moment it was - Dorothy opened a door and found herself in the full-color land of Oz.

The transition has been made even better in the newly published digital transfer made from restored film and available on DVD in a three-disc collector's edition.  (If you have broadband Internet access, click here for the Warner Brothers site.)  It is a feast for the eyes. The scenes in Kansas are in rich sepia and the Technicolor© is vibrant without being over saturated.  None of which makes me like the movie's ending any better.  I believed that there really was an Oz and the idea that Dorothy's adventure was only a dream diminished the magic for me. Well, maybe not entirely. Sometimes, even today, part of me believes that there is a somewhere over the rainbow.

Speaking of Oz, we recently saw Wicked on Broadway.  What a fabulous extravaganza of song, dance and special effects it was, all enacted on an amazing set.  Based on a book of the same name, the musical is the backstory of the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch.  The tale has a decidedly modern, tongue-in-cheek twist.  Think Glinda as Valley Girl and the Wicked Witch as a misunderstood do-gooder demonized by those in power. As Kermit the frog sang: It isn't easy to bein' green. 

Seduced by BHL

It's the old story.  You detest someone you've never met for what you think he stands for.  When you meet him he seems decent enough but you are not interested in pursuing a relationship. Then one day, suddenly, wham, the world shifts and it's love.  Starring Doris Day and Rock Hudson.  Such is the story of my one-sided romance with Bernard-Henri Lévy (known simply as BHL), French intellectual and media star.   

The seduction started with Garrison Keiller's funny and dismissive review in The New York Times Book Review of Lévy's new work, American Vertigo: Traveling America in the Footsteps of Tocqueville. The message was clear.  BHL is the worst type of French intellectual: pretentious, shallow and a showoff besides.  He has a "childlike" love of paradox.  (That could be appealing, couldn't it?)  He worships Woody Allen.  (OK.  You expect that.  He's French.  But my god, he also admires Warren Beatty.)  "Bombast comes naturally to him."   (Oh dear.  How very boorish.) It was hard to conclude that his book and his observations about American life were to be taken seriously.

Nevertheless, when the French Library sponsored his appearance to promote American Vertigo (to be published in France in March), I was in the audience along with 349 others. He gave a charming talk, said all the of the right things in a strongly accented, effortful English delivered with an occasional, oh so charming, gallic shrug.  Although he did mention meeting Sharon Stone, he didn't seem childlike or bombastic.  Hmmm.  Maybe Keiller had overstated his case.  Still, I didn't buy the book and join the multitude lined up for the book signing.

Then, four days later, I watched C-Span's rebroadcast of his January 24 appearance at SAIS in which he discussed his book and his observations about America at some length. He engaged enthusiastically in debate with neoconservative William Kristol and in playful discussion with Professor Francis Fukuyama.  His presentation was masterful.  He was fully in control of his facts. He was articulate, thoughtful and passionate about what he had seen in his 10 months of travel throughout America. He was utterly charming.  I was in (unrequited) love. 

Guess I'll have to buy his book after all.  Or maybe I'll just borrow it from my neighbor.  Her copy is signed.

Why I Love Photography

"You have to pursue photography, not just in the physical sense ... but mentally and emotionally as well.  Photography is a fascinating marriage of art and physics.  It's a journey of the mind as well as of the the body." Rick Smolan in the Forward to DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY HACKS 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools by Derrick Story.

The book, which is full of really nifty suggestions, was a Christmas gift from my thoughtful son-in-law, Steve.

What is this thing called L-A-B?

High on my Christmas wish list was Dan Margulis' book Photoshop LAB Color: The Canyon Conundrum and Other Adventures in the Most Powerful Colorspace.  Some of the folks on Digital Grin, a photo forum that I frequent, have been working through the chapters in the book.  Just reading their posts made it clear that harnessing the power of L-A-B is a difficult challenge, if a rewarding one. I became intrigued.  Never mind that the book is specifically written for Photoshop users and I use Corel's PhotoPaint 12, I wanted to see what all the excitement was about.   I wanted to see if I could figure out how to do the magic in PhotoPaint, which is in many ways as powerful as PhotoShop. 

My thoughtful daughter made sure the book was waiting for me under the Christmas tree and, since then, I have been reading and thinking and experimenting and reading and thinking some more.  There are 16 chapters.  I am on chapter 2.  I have been reading and re-reading chapters 1 and 2 then experimenting with some of my photos.  Slowly I am beginning to "get it."  My brain hurts.  I can't stop.  I think I'm going to have to buy PhotoShop.  I'm in L-A-B!

Click here to read about the history of L-A-B.  You will note a French connection. Mais bien sûr!

Eclectic Book List

My Back Bay bookgroup held its holiday dinner and book swap on Monday.  We each brought a book, wrapped in holiday paper, that we had either read and enjoyed or were looking forward to reading.  Here is a list of what people chose for the swap:

• A Thread of Grace, Mary Doria Russell
• The Courage Consort, Michael Faber
• The Bookseller of Kabul, Asne Seierstad
• A Yellow Raft in Blue Water, Michael Dorris
• A Good Year, Peter Mayle
• Shopaholic Takes Manhattan, Can You Keep a Secret, Sophie Kinsella
• Amazing Peace:  A Christmas Poem, Maya Angelou
• The Age of Conversation, Benedetta Craveri
• The Lady and the Unicorn, Tracy Chevalier
• Cat's Eye, Margaret Atwood
• Mansfield Park, Jane Austen
• Maximum City:  Bombay Lost and Found, Suketu Mehta

My contribution was A Thread of Grace, which I chose because I like the author's earlier novels and, while I was trying to decide whether to buy it or not for the swap, a young woman volunteered with much enthusiasm that it was a truly wonderful book. 

I picked The Courage Consort, which was quite a coincidence since I have just started the author's earlier giant opus, The Crimson Petal and the White.

I have read four of the books on the list and can recommend them all:  The Bookseller of Kabul, A Yellow Raft in Blue Water, Cat's Eye and, of course, Mansfield Park.

Brevity is the Soul of Wit - Well, at least it's Funny

My daughter sent me this link to a site called Book-A-Minute Classics.  Try it.  You'll like it.