Learning a New Medium (2/38)

I had very little experience with photography before this course. My first week, therefore, was spent mostly experimenting with my camera. I thought it would be much more difficult photographing indoors because the sources of light would be much more direct and there would be so many more shadows.

My main focus was to make the most visually interesting photographs I could, given my near complete inexperience. I also wanted to incorporate the idea of the flaneur, the Paris arcades, and the Atget photographs we were looking at into my work. So I decided that I needed a place of commerce with natural light, reflective surfaces, and geometrically intricate elements.

Originally intending to head to the arcades at Montmarte, I was sidetracked by the beautiful vistas at Les Halles. This turned out to be a happy coincidence: Les Halles was much better suited to my needs then the Montmarte arcades would have been. At ten in the morning on a very clear day, there were nearly no shadows, very few people, and plenty of interesting architectural formations for me to compose into the visually interesting photographs I wanted to make.