Paris….. Monuments and museums, fashion and fine food, tour guides and taxis…. What’s your picture of the City of Light?  I regularly take my camera exploring in the streets of this extraordinary city but most of the major landmarks of Paris have yet to make an appearance in this blog.  Here instead is something that caught my eye a few days ago – a glimpse of green through a shady doorway.  And here is a scrapbook of images that have been waiting for their moment in the limelight.

 

New maple leaves in Village St Paul
Windows in Sentier
Oak leaves in rue de Turbigo
A mural by Seth in Butte aux Cailles
Behind bars in rue Vivienne
Architectural details at the Bourse de Travail in the 10th arrondissement
Raindrops on new rose leaves in our shady balcony garden
Stories in stone on Tour St Jacques – there’s a snail on the vine as well as the grotesque beasts attacking the grapes

 

When Beyond the Window Box first ventured out into the streets of Paris the photos I posted were rather earnest views of parks and gardens, accompanied by informative text.  The raison d’être of the blog was to encourage myself to seek out green places in the city, almost as an antidote to city life, and to share my discoveries with anyone who happened to be interested. Gradually the photos have taken over and I’ve started to play with images, exploring light and shade, pattern and texture alongside my exploration of Paris streets.  I’m still tuned to glimpses of green,  whether a hidden garden or a self-sown tree sapling, but there’s so much else to discover in the wealth of detail that makes up the fabric of the city.

This post was inspired by the Weekly Discover Challenge Raison d’Être  ‘Why do you create? Publish a post about your artistic raison d’être.’  So here it is.  My photos of Paris are a record of my exploration of the green places and public spaces of the city.  Increasingly they are also an exploration of different ways of seeing.  My picture of Paris is a patchwork of plants and people, street trees and street art, bikes and buildings.  What’s yours?