Notre Dame Cathedral
It is a story that has spread around the world, “flames engulf Notre Dame in Paris.” Holy shit, I said out loud when I saw a Facebook live video of the cathedral. I was in disbelief. Stunned. I am near speechless as I turned CNN on and watched the news. One can not understand the gravity and severity of this massive loss. I grew going to a Catholic Church and was an alter boy for a short period of time. When I landed in art school and began to learn about art, religion, and architecture, I took on a new appreciation for such monuments. As I progressed through my art history courses, Paris and Notre Dame were always a discussed focal point during those periods of time covered in the classes. I wanted to see Notre Dame. I wanted to visit Paris.
It was a cool afternoon. It was late August and the temperature was lower than normal. We had a day of grey over cast skies and periods of mist to light rain. When we crossed a bridge filled with locks and made our way to Notre Dame, we were greeted by hundreds of people. I couldn’t help but stand in awe of what was greeting me, a beautiful cathedral, a massive structure that took 200 years to complete, and had impossible to comprehend details. Every detail that I could absorb, I did. I moved my lens across the exterior of the building and eventually on the inside once we passed the doors. Notre Dame Cathedral had more details than any one building I think I had ever visited before, until the Vatican 8 days after visiting Notre Dame. I can not remember the smells from inside, as I do recall there was something that stood out to me, but what I can remember is the light. Low light, candles illuminating pockets of the cathedral, and of course, the focal point, the glass windows. There were so many beautiful moments happening. People. Hundreds of us in amazement of the structure we were standing in. People using phones, cameras, and their eyes to sneak images. We moved through, a bit quicker than I would have liked, but what we saw, what I photographed, rendered impressions in me that I will never forget. I am saddened as we witness something so significant, so beautiful, so dear to so many burn.
Here are a few images I made of Notre Dame Cathedral when we visited.
Happy New Year: 2016 and promo
I wanted to wish a warm and happy new year to all my friends, family, clients past, present, and future. In 2016 I am looking forward to some new work and big business changes.
Next week a promo will be dropping to some potential clients. I have been working on some new ideas, new work, and have a new trajectory for my photography. The photo below is from part of the promo kit that will be dropping.
2015 was a great year. I made some new friends, new connections, had some fun shoots, and most importantly got married. Second to getting married, we traveled. Below are 4 photos that are from Paris, Venice, Florence, and Rome.
Paris, France
Venice, Italy
Travel Friend, Florence, Italy
Caught, Rome, Italy
2016 is going to bring more travel. I am looking forward to landing in the Pacific Northwest in February, seeing Portland, Seattle, and Canon Beach. I want to travel for leisure, pleasure, and work. Between the work, I want to enjoy the places I travel to. The world is smaller than we think, yet bigger than we could expect. I have never been one for "resolutions." I am however one for setting goals and accomplishing them. To all my friends, family, clients past, present, and future, I want to wish you all a safe, happy, and prosperous new year. I hope that you accomplish all that you set out to do.
Travel Photography: Paris
To truly understand something is to see it for what it is worth in all its glory. I have never in my professional life been as busy as I have been in the last 7 weeks. The moment I returned from Europe I was inundated with a tremendous amount of new work and was able to pick up some new and exciting clients. But enough about the boring stuff. Lets talk travel.
I want to share with you an image that I made. This photograph captures the innocence and playfulness that is childhood.
A rainy evening in Paris.
There was a light mist falling. My camera dangled from my arms, tethered to a strap that tore at my shoulder. It had been a long day of studying Paris by foot. We were making our way to a famous set of stairs. I had a mission, to locate a specific vantage point to view the Eiffel Tower from. Unsure of how long we would be showered with a light mist I wanted to climb the stair case as quickly as we could. I had to have that photograph, just had to. I periodically turned to look at the view we were leaving, yet altering on our course to an even greater view. I spotted a child dancing with an umbrella. He was without worry, without caution, and without reservation, the same lack of convictions I had when I framed him up and pressed the shutter, forever freezing him in a statuesque pose.
Over the next nine days in 3 different European cities, this photograph would inspire me to look for the moments that people were occupied, yet unaware. Those were the moments that would become my photographs. The sights, the sounds, the lights, and smells, those will forever be memories that with the right circumstance will one day be reactivated when I walk the same Parisian streets. But the photographs, those will be the visual reminders of the tangibility of Paris. The streets, sidewalks, the damp marble stairs we climbed, those among other objects passed our hands and our feet, as we studied Paris. I would like to think of Paris as a city of rich in texture, texture that can be seen, photographed, and felt.
Avec amour , de Paris!