I jammed tons of tourist sites into the four days I spent a Paris but there was one extravagant site I missed that the travel bureaus never told me about - probably because they knew nothing about this unique option.
And that is to require a ship tour of Paris in the dark and consider the stunning great thing about the 35 bridges that cross the Seine. I did get an exquisite glimpse of the bridges of Paris in the dark back home, though, once I acquired and flipped through the pages of "The Glow of Paris: The Bridges of Paris at Night" by Gary Zuercher.
After over-exposing an attempt accidentally , Zuercher discovered the sweetness of the flow of lights on the bridges against the dark background of Paris in the dark . After this discovery he spent subsequent five years shooting all 35 bridges of Paris, from midnight to 2-3 a.m. when there was little traffic and few pedestrians to interfere together with his work. The results are absolutely amazing.
But Zuercher went even further by researching the history of the bridges and offering a desirable narrative of every bridge, a number of which were crossed by Caesar . I learned that they wont to construct houses and shops on the bridges within the middle ages. Another bridge wont to host a festival with acrobats, fire-eaters and musicians, even "tooth pullers." Another bridge had a money-changing booth on one end. And another was hit by a jet fighter plane, killing four French Air Force pilots. Absolutely fascinating stuff.
Over a period of 5 years, Zuercher took his cameras out into the Parisian night to capture stunningly evocative images of the bridges that span the Seine. Using his artistic eye and complicated photographic technique, he created these glorious black-and- white photographs, rich with detail and possessing a transparent , luminous quality.
No one else has ever photographed all the bridges that cross the Seine in Paris during this way. we do not see crowds of individuals or heavy traffic. Nothing obscures the sweetness and strength of the structures, the romance and symbolism of the bridges. Shooting in black and white allows the small print to shine: the architectural elements, artwork, nearby buildings, trees on the riverbanks, and starry lamps casting paths of sunshine across the water.
He divides his time between homes in Paris and Washington, DC together with his wife Dominique who is French.
I got the book just to display on my cocktail table but I started reading it and couldn't put it down. such a lot goo information on the bridges and Paris's history that it's much, far more than a coffee table book. I highly recommend this book, but don't just put it within the front room for display but read and luxuriate in every page!
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