Paris Bistros

The La Rotonde, a typical bistro in Paris. I found the Bistros to be amazing places. First, they had been around for a very long time. Second, they had been frequented by the artists, and other influential people of their time, who began to pave the way for our modern world. Inside the buildings photos of Picasso, Hemmingway, Matisse and so on show the vibrant community of “thinking” people who have lived in this part of Paris. To be able to go back and feel part of that world was very special and made me realise even more that each person is a thread that makes up the fabric of human progress. No where else have I experienced the past and present being so intertwined as in this part of Paris.

Esmeralda the goat

I took this photo at the Picasso museum in Paris. One of the amazing things about most galleries in Europe is that it is OK to photograph art works (providing you don't use flash of course). People photographed art, they painted their own picture of the art, they viewed and absorbed the works. When I thought about it I realised that of course Picasso would have approved. For Picasso, and the other painters of his era, once a work of art had been produced it was a thing in its own right. It existed as a tree or house or any other object and therefore could be treated as such. This would include it being photographed. Once I had this thought I snapped away (without flash) with the best of them.