No matter how hard I try, I can never get Paris far from my mind. Today’s NYT 36 Hours in Paris, Marais edition immediately seemed post worthy. One of my favorite photo projects ever was the “Mots de Paris” contact-sheet above. Most of the images were shot around the Bastille/Marais area, where I had my incredible photography class with the talented Philippe Vermes – his studio was amazing and a whirlwind of models and photo shoots in and out at all times. Now, mind you, this project was in the pre-digital age, so I had to plan where the images would show up on the page/negative (starting with Bienvenue à Paris [welcome to Paris] and ending with transportation words and sortie [exit] and au revoir et à bientot [bye and see you soon]. The finished product – a contact sheet blown up to nearly 2ft wide – was more impressive, but you’ll have to settle for the digital version now.
A couple years later I returned and started a digital collection of the words around me that just felt so Paris. Mudane Paris was a refreshing departure from cliched, toursity Paris for me. Click here for the growing album.

P.S. On the same theme, a Chronicle Books Paris roundup is on their blog this week.