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Nostalgia in Paris. Guide for photo explorers

Updated: May 4, 2021

Tuileries Garden in winter. ©Isadora RE / My Paris Photo Tour

Walking through the Paris of broken dreams is to enter the ink that has run in the hands of poets and novelists. So many have paid tribute to the city of love and misery that those seeking a sublime atmosphere find the perfect setting in Paris.


The best season to photograph the Paris of nostalgia begins now, this autumn that ends, with fallen leaves and cold humidity that invades everything. Few days are left with that mist immortalized by classic Parisian photographers. The hour, perhaps the one where the lights are about to go out and only a few brave ones go, at night, to meet fortuitously.


Two novel settings: the Seine with its bridges and banks full of black souls: the water, the reflections, the emptiness, make this a very special, almost Venetian atmosphere. In addition, Montmartre, the stands that with their lit lamps and empty walkways have been a recurring theme in nostalgic photography for Paris.


For unusual photo explorations, an itinerary to discover, full of branches and large trees, is in the Tuileries and the Luxembourg garden, where the sculptures accompany with their pathetic expressions. The Jardin des Plantes and the Palais Royal allow for magnificent images with fixed perspectives and are rich in bokeh from their lamps lit in the evening. Finally, a walk through the Marais, or the streets perpendicular to rue Montorgueil (those that are cobbled), will give strong images, especially if the rain has fallen and the ground is full of reflections.


To process your photos, try black and white, or explore with duotone or low saturation colors.


“El puente Mirabeau”

Guillaume Apollinaire

Traducción de Andrés Holguín

El puente Mirabeau mira pasar el Sena Mira pasar nuestros amores. Y recuerda al alma serena Que la alegría siempre viene tras de la pena

Viene la noche suena la hora Y los días se alejan

Y aquí me dejan

Frente a frente mirémonos-las manos enlazadas-

Mientras que pasan bajo el puente De nuestros brazos -fatigadas- Las hondas silenciosas de nuestras dos miradas

Viene la noche suena la hora Y los días se alejan Y aquí me dejan

El amor se nos fuga como esta agua corriente El amor se nos va Se va la vida lentamente Cómo es de poderosa la esperanza naciente

Viene la noche suena la hora Y los días se alejan Y aquí me dejan

Huyen el lento día y la noche serena Mas nunca vuelven Los tiempos que pasaron ni el amor ni la pena El puente Mirabeau mira pasar el Sena

Viene la noche suena la hora y los días se alejan y aquí me dejan

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