Four views of Le Tour Eiffel and an intimate moment…

I thoroughly enjoy being able to spend time in a place. Especially, to photograph. To work the scene, to study the situation and the way the light falls, to watch for patterns in movement…

At a place like the Eiffel Tower, nobody is going to do something that a million others have not done.

But I suppose people aren’t attempting to be creative when they take their forced-perspective photos of the tower in their hand or leaning against it. And it is surprising that the marble isn’t slightly dented from all the jumping going on. It isn’t an attempt at something new: they want their photo of themselves doing what they’ve seen other people do. They need their selfie…

…there’s no shame in that.

So, if you watch this crowd, there are certain patterns that emerge.

Unlike the loners like me, people typically travel in groups or with at least one other. And when checking off the list of tourist locations, they stand for a moment and examine a map or consult a guidebook for the next box to check. Here we are, there it is, here’s our picture… what’s next?

 

Sometimes, though, they actually just stop and take in the scenery…

 

…and appreciate where they are. Finally, they have made it to Paris. Or the Taj Mahal, or Mt.Fuji, or the Grand Canyon… Finally, they are seeing with their own eyes what they have spent their lives reading about and seeing in photographs.

Those are the patterns I love. To see someone just being. They’re not checking their phone or talking to anyone or looking at the map or at a guidebook.

The world is real. And it is indescribably amazing. Don’t miss it by being somewhere you’re not.

Stay tuned…
-Noah D.