Pixiq

While I can still remember, let me jot down some stuff about my three Paris trips.

The first time I went was in September 1992.  I went with two carry-ons: a large knapsack, and a saddle bag.  The knapsack held:

Rollei Twin Lens (in case you’re not familiar with the camera, it’s medium format, with one lens that can’t be removed).  I had several filters for it, a hand-held light meter (reflective), a cable release, and the rest of the bag was filled with rolls of film that had been removed from the cartons and put into plastic bags to save space.  I took something like 200 rolls of 12 exposure film.  The Rollei TLR camera I had didn’t take the longer rolls.  It probably cost me about $800.

I stayed in Paris for one week on my own, in a tiny hotel with the bathroom down the hall; and met my friend Dirk on the appointed day. He had already rented a car and we began a week-long trip around the perimeter of France.  Meeting up with him in Paris was poorly planned.  We planned to meet at the plaza of Notre Dame.  However, it was  packed with tourists.  He spotted me because I had climbed up on a nearby table and was standing on it waving my arms like a nut.

Anyway, after circling France, crossing the Alps etc. we returned to Paris, and I stayed there for a third week on my own.

When I got back to NYC, I developed the film myself, and was disappointed with the people shots.  Yes, I had done some good building shots, the Seine,the Alps etc.  and some interesting things in the countryside, including Arles, where I was ecstatic with the light.

But the people were all but gone.

That first trip was dumb, as far as preparations go:  I had no hotel reservation, and at that time (20 years ago) I was suffering from bad stomach ailments which were eventually diagnosed as Chrons disease (which went into remission 12 years ago).

But at that time, I was quite thin and sick and set down in Paris without a Hotel reservation; and I remember I eventually got a room to rent, but they wouldn’t let me in until noon; and I really had to use the bathroom, so that first morning I was introduced to the Paris public lavatory, which was clean and well-designed.  During most of that trip, I suffered from severe cramps and spent most of my time looking for Parisian bathrooms.

* * *

Trip 2

This time, I went prepared to shoot people.  Same saddle bag with clothes etc; but this time a camera backpack with the Contax G2, several lenses ranging from the wide to maybe the 90mm).  Various filters, and the rest of the pack was filled with film.  Also taken out of the cartons and kept in plastic bags.  I still had my undiagnosed illness.

How many rolls did I go with, something like 200.  And believe it or not, at the end of two weeks I had run out of film.  However, I found a photo store in Paris (more expensive than NYC) and bought another 20 rolls of Tri-x.

Yes, and this time I concentrated on people, though you couldn’t ignore the spectacular sites I had missed on the first trip.

Two weeks.  Then back.

* * *

Trip 3

My stomach illness was diagnosed (first diagnosis) as colitis (which it wasn’t) and I was under treatment for this, and arrived in Paris with a ton of pills.  I only stayed for a week.  I didn’t have any more time than that in terms of vacation.  I was still using the Contax G2.  I really had gone this time for a vacation; and didn’t do much shooting.

Trip 4

This trip was a little longer than a week, and I was using the M3 at this time.  No back up camera (dumb but lucky) because the camera broke a few weeks after I returned home; and two lenses, the 50mm f1.4, and the 35mm f2.0

This was the enjoyable trip.  I had been to Paris enough times to know it pretty well.  This was the only trip where I was feeling well – physically – and was comfortable with the camera, and what I wanted to shoot.

*Just a note about the Chron’s – that has been in remission since I left the ad agency (11 plus years ago).   I know that some people wouldn’t write publicly about their illnesses, but frankly – that was an important part of the early trips – and my first memories of landing in Paris because I was so sick.

I remember saying to myself after taking a particularly good shot, “Oh, if people only knew how sick I was when I took this.”