IN SEARCH of VINTAGE PARIS
walking back in time
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all photos by Barbara van Zanten |
DATES: Wed Sept 12 - Wed Sept 19, 2007 (7 nights) LOTS OF WALKING - minimum five hours a day |
Paris, as everyone has heard, is a magical city, and if, like me you are a fan of photographers such as Eugene Atget and Robert Doisneau you have a nostalgic view of what Paris should look like, but (these days) rarely does. Paris is a modern city whose past Presidents and planning officers have regularly made sadistic architectural decisions destroying, altering, re-building and modernizing their beautiful city, often with startling results that have an allure all of their own. However, many of us, when we visit Paris, yearn for the black-and-white Paris depicted in those famous images of the photographic masters. It is still possible to find old parts of Paris where you can construct great nostalgic photographs. All Paris streets are atmospheric and so very "French" and shots of famous Paris landmarks are timeless. But by going to the sometimes cruddy parts where tourists rarely venture and by looking into courtyards and through cafe doors you can find authentic retro vignettes. There are even some tiny bits of old Paris peeking out from under the skirts of modern-touristy Paris. After all, it only takes a square yard of something wonderful to give us enough material for a great photograph. Who cares if there is a nuclear reactor just out of shot? (Don't panic, there are no nuclear reactors in Paris). Luckily Paris is also still full of old cafes and bistros that did not succumb to the tax deductible temptations of a 1960’s government modernization program that resulted in zinc counters and marble tiles being replaced by Formica, flock wallpaper and nauguerhide. These places are treasure troves of nostalgia and by getting up really early we will be able to shoot inside them before the daily rush begins. During this eight-day exploration of Paris, a city I lived in for eight years and to which I regularly return, we will seek out and find hidden corners, interiors, stair wells, shops, cafes, old buildings and alley-ways and with the help of a sepia filter, switching from color to black and white, or by manipulating Polaroids we will try to photographically re-construct the Paris of Doisneau, Maurice Chevalier and Jean-Paul Sartre. By leaving out the cars and people and with a rain shower or two, modern Paris can become pre-sixties smoke-filled post-war Paris. We will start in the Latin Quarter, (hang-out of Earnest Hemingway in his poverty stricken period at the feet of Gertrude Stein), site of the University of Paris, the Sorbonne and the College of Medicine, and hence a lively and youthful part of town. I feel that this part of Paris is where “it’s at”. This is the heart of the great city and the daily life of this quartier is the heartbeat. It is light years away from the Grand Boulevards and opulence of the Right Bank, a district that breathes money and power. Our hotel is literally a few steps away from the river Seine and the Cathedral of Notre Dame - convenient for the insomniacs and jet-laggers of the group to walk to this illuminated edifice at night and marvel at the expertise of the 11th century masons that built it as well as the current cost of illuminating it. We will spend four nights here, time enough to unpack and settle in. From here, the oldest part of Paris spreads across the river onto the two islands in the middle of the river (ILe de la Cite and Ile St. Louis) and over to the Right Bank where the Louvre is found. We will venture south into the university district, and north and north-east into Les halles, Bastille-land, and the Marais It is in these areas that vestiges of Retro Paris still flourish, fully supported and protected by the inhabitants of each quartier, fiercely proud of their Retro Paris shabby-chic. For the last three nights of our tour of Paris we will transfer across town and up the hill to a small but perfectly formed hotel on the top of Montmartre. This quartier, made famous most recently by the film “Amelie” (if you haven’t seen it, rent it. Consider this an obligatory preparation for the tour), touristy though it can be by day, still looks, smells, feels and tastes like the Paris of Picasso, Toulouse Lautrec, the can-can and absinthe. Disregard the fake artists in the Place des Tertres and the tourists sitting on the steps of the Sacre Coeur. Get up early before anyone else stirs and the streets and alleys once walked by the most famous painters of all time sparkle their magic. Our hotel looks out onto the little square where Max Jacob, Pablo Picasso, Braque, Utrillo, and Modigliani stumbled home after a long night out. The ateliers where they lived as unknown painters, called Le Bateau-Lavoir is next door. A few streets away are the cafes that served Van Gogh and Renoir, Corot, Degas, Cézanne, Apollinaire, Matisse, Vlaminck and Braque. During the day these cafes and restaurants are taken over by tourists and their history is lost in the crowd, but at dawn, who knows how many ghosts will accompany us, fellow artists, in the search for their old hang-outs? Maybe they (along with the street cleaners and trash guys) will show us the Montmartre that they loved. The ancient buildings, the shutters, the cobbled alleyways, the old scooters tied to wrought iron fences, the café windows, the decorated boulangeries, the steps up and down, the endless views, the pots of geraniums...Everything is there for us to photograph….and we will be steps away staying in a hotel with great views of Paris from its bedroom windows! You don’t even have to get out of bed for great shots because I have reserved the rooms with the best views! How’s that for service! The hotel is ideally situated on the north side of Paris for departure from Charles de Gaulle airport. This tour is ideal for those intermediate and advanced shooters who have been to Paris before and have already photographed the Eiffel Tower at least once.... Driving in Paris is a nightmare, parking is even worse. So we do not use a motor vehicle. We walk or take a bus or metro. (Or if you choose, you can take a taxi at your own cost). This means that we have to carry our tripods (essential for night shots), but this has not seemed to be a problem during past tours. Paris lives in a constant state of excitement and we always get caught up in its web of charms, so much so that we do not notice the weight of our equipment or how far we have walked....However, you should be fit for this type of tour as we will walk at least five hours every day. for more images of Vintage Paris - click here for Barbara's images from last year's Retro Paris tour click here for client images from last year's Retro Paris tour click here for photos of last year's Retro Paris tour group click here |
