About This Guide
Whether you’re visiting Paris for the first time, or you’ve already seen some of the sights but want to get to know the city better, my aim is to point you and your camera in the right direction. This guide provides details on the most spectacular sights, from the most famous to the less well known, and suggests how to make the most of your time as a photographer.
Fujifilm X-E1, 31.5mm, ISO 200, 1/210s, f/13
Getting Started
Keep in mind that this book is not a tourism guide. If you want to know where to stay, this is not the book for you. (Plus, why are you sleeping?! Paris is great to photograph at night. Grab your camera and get out there!)
So, what is in the book? This guide offers tips on locations, timing, viewpoints, and local information. In addition, the images here include the EXIF data to show you the settings I used. These images are all my own and are intended to spark your creativity to find a new angle or perspective.
I assume you already enjoy photography and know your way around a camera. That’s not to say that a beginner photographer won’t benefit from this guide, but I’m not going to walk you through the camera settings for each shot.
Where to Photograph
I’m not going to tell you exactly what photos to take—where’s the fun in that? Rather, I’m going to suggest some viewpoints, and you are welcome to re-create those sample shots. While I can point you in the right direction, photography is about vision. The creative element—the key element—needs to come from the photographer. Your photos will be better for it. What I aim to do is save you time in getting to the places where your creativity can thrive.
I try to avoid the term “tourist.” Most of us don’t like to think of ourselves as tourists, yet we visit so many places where we will always be, to some extent, outsiders. So, let’s call ourselves “visitors.” As a visitor, I’ll direct you to places that are full of people and places where you might be the only person with a camera. You won’t find a lot of solitude in Paris, but you will find wonderful images. Your challenge will be how best to capture them. So, dear visitor and photographer, welcome to Paris!