Shedding Light

I thought these street lights made interesting subjects, especially against the backdrop of Parisian architecture, (the first image using the famous rose window of Notre Dame as the background).

For each blog post I input the location where each photo was taken, I put "Notre Dame" in the search on the map and Google selected a town in Indiana USA, which was founded in the mid 1800's rather than one of the most famous landmarks in one of the most famous cities in the world. The cathedral's construction commenced almost 700 years before the town that takes its name and although it wasn't finished for almost 200 years it still predates the town by over 500 years. Apart from the 6,646 people who live there and the students who have studied at the colleges there I am sure that Notre Dame IN is not the first place people anywhere else would think of.
 

Halfway Up The Stairs Is A Stair Where I Sit

I have been exceptionally lucky this year in that I have been able to travel a great deal and that means I have had lots of great photo opportunities.

For today I have gone back to May and the streets of Prague. During my roadtrip I tried to do a little street photography and here are a couple of shots that I rather like.

The first one shows a young couple taking a few moments to rest in the shade on some steps near the castle. I think it is a lovely scene, a romantic moment and a moment of calm away from the bustle of the castle precincts.

The second shot shows one of the many trams that work their way through the city's narrow streets.

I recently finished reading a novel set in these streets and having been there and walked the streets of the old town the narrative seemed more alive to me. It really is a beautiful city.

In The Market Place

Walking around Vienna we stumbled across a street market selling all sorts of goods from elegant jewellery, antique crockery, books and bric-a-brac.

One of the things I wanted to do when I set out on the roadtrip was to do some street photography. Vienna provided lots of great opportunities and in markets there are always lots of photos waiting to be captured.

I love the smiling robot in the second shot but my favourite image is the last one where the stall holder is engaged in conversation, he is getting quite animated, but what I really like is the statue of the girl in the mess of books and magazines.

Street Life

As well as showing some of the great sights along the way I also wanted to capture images of some of the people as we travelled around Europe. In so many of my pictures I try to keep people out but when photographing in a city it is really the people that bring the places to life.

In the first image for example the people passing through this walkway are what gives the arch its purpose and I wonder how many thousands of people have walked through here over the years. To give the image a sense of age and history I shot this one in black and white.

The next two images work much better in colour especially because the colours are so warm and vibrant and I love these pictures of people stopped for their morning coffee. I really like the scene in the third which shows the terrace of the Grand Cafe on An der Frauenkirche in Dresden.

The final shot shows one of the carriages and drivers patiently waiting to start a tour of the city but it was a little early in the day. The fashion conscious among you might notice the drivers' choice of socks and sandals, never a good look...