Taking a nap...

Hope is in the air...

Yesterday was a quick-but-great stay in Lausanne, Switzerland. I just couldn't miss the beautiful Hopper exhibition. But first things first... after 45 minutes stuck between two massive men on the plane, the first thing I had to visit was... the restrooms. Oops! sorry, the money exchange booth! Yeah, if you wanna pee there... don't ever forget to have 1 Franc in your pocket. Anyways, I finally got to the Hermitage Foundation and indulged in art staring for hours. From the simple-yet-awesome sketches to the wonderful paintings, here I got nostalgic about my dear America. He just managed to capture not only the landscapes, cities and people, but also the light that is so special to America. I just love what his work emits. From a dinner, to a road and a hotel room... he just managed to "shoot" what I like most about America: A strong simplicity full of emotions that funnily appeals to everyone, even to american detractors...
I finished the day wandering on the Leman Lac's banks, staring at the amazing Mont Blanc and mountain chains, drinking a nice swiss red wine.


Edward Hopper Gas, 1940




Road trip 2005

Light the way it is...

I was walking in the streets of Firenze. Music and camera on, I suddenly realized I was completely lost... which is, by the way, the best way to discover a city. I was crossing the street and turned my face on the right. I don't need something extraornidary to catch my attention. What I like is the feeling, the atmosphere, the projection you can have thanks to a simple light. I had to capture this sublte light on the shutters and the tan-colored wall. Every once in a while, when it's rainy here in Paris, I like to look at this simple picture. It brings great memories and mood.

The pipeman...

Here is a funny, cool and amazing art collector. He's my dad's best friend. As far as I can recall, I've always seen him with a pipe... and a smile too. He's the one who taught me how to cheat playing card games at 6, and who taught me that boys are "des p'tits salauds"at 14.
His art gallery, near Saint Michel is worth dropping by. But the greatest place to see is his home. A privilege for me. A comfy apartment filled with beautiful-yet-sometimes-weird art. Whenever I go there, I discover another piece of art I didn't notice the previous time. "Is it a block of concrete in your bedroom?" ... yeah, ok, try a unique designed night table ; or there's this funny little drawing in the corridor, I've always enjoyed staring at... yeah, a Giacometti...
This home feels like a museum, a bit messy, but you know, sometimes messiness just fits. So C, this post is for you.

The two lovers...

I know, another bench scene! Well this time I won't describe it, I'll let you guys try to guess what the guy is doing on the left, coz seriously... I have no idea.
Oh and for the title, these guys were probably not gay, but I don't know, that could be possible right? I mean which friends would wear both the same kinda shirt on the same day, lying on a bench... love their attitude.

The night walker...

I could walk all night long with my camera on, whether I'm in New York, London, Firenze, San Francisco or Paris. I love how differently you can perceive the city, its architecture, its people, its smells, the scales are different also. That night, I was wandering near Notre-Dame and I just loved the light coming down on the pavements. I asked this beautiful woman to pose. I like the upshot, you know, the contrast of her black look, with the light subtly surrounding her.

Have you seen this bear?

A crime scene! A hardly parked rusted bike and a poor teady bear left all alone on the saddle...
What happened? Did the mom of the little boy surprised him with brand new superheroe comics? or did the kid smell a new batch of hot chocolate cookies and ran to the kitchen?
Wait, no. We're not in the 60's anymore.
Anyways, on my way home in the evening, I walked past the house and noticed the bike and the stuffed bear were gone. Yeah That's what I think too... the bear was just freezing his ass off and got the hell out of there with the bike.

Our bags also need to rest sometimes...

I can't really tell why I shot this picture, but I think it probably has a lot to do with the colors. I loved his light brown briefcase, as if it were also relaxing, sunbathing even. His used-looking brown velvet jacket, yeah, the same kinda jacket our History teachers used to wear.. And the total blue look of his shirt and jeans, right to... the socks...

My little Muse...

She's only 6, but she already has quite a thing for style and fashion. I remember when I was her age, I used to put on my mom's heels too, it really made me feel like a little woman. M, my sweet heart, this post is for you. Stay as curious and cutie as you are and please, don't grow too fast.

It's alive...alive!

I know what you might think..."a plant, yeah? so what..." well, let me tell you a little story about This plant... Once upon a drunken time, a girl turned 25 and a boy offered her this plant. She was excited -well the girl, not the plant, though...- anyway, she found this cute tiny little green marvel very nice in its hardstone designed pot. She thanked the guy -and did not forget the plant on a table at a gay bar, no no...- and then all the other friends around started telling things about the plant... It's a special plant, it is Carnivorous... sometimes you can hear it breath when you sleep, its leaves grow until they reach a prey, if you get too close to it, it might just eat your finger...or...well do nothing coz after all that's just a plant and you'd be a moron staring at a plant for hours.

Ok, well that story may be a little arranged, but be kind, I've slept 3 hours last night.. So here is the shorter and much real story: awesome night, great 25 B-day!




"The morning after...



.....

REDy to go...

I know I could never pull that off, but I thought this girl looked really cool in her red leggings, her grungy shoes, her small brown bag and with her hair falsely loose. I liked her body language and above all, her white rounded glasses on her lightly made-up face. I liked the echo of the red leggings on her red lips. Is she coming back from a late gig? Is she maybe going to a middle-of-the-day basement gig? Nope. She was just on her way to a family lunch...

What's your next move...

Yesterday was a beautiful day over Paris. Heat, blue sky, summer outfits out again... I wandered from The Tuileries, to Saint-Michel, to Saint-Sulpice, my camera on the alert! I saw this cute couple on a bench in the Tuileries. They were so deeply into the chess game -well at least the guy- that they didn't even notice me though I was like 6 feet away. I love how focused the guy is, trying to find the perfect next move, while the girl relaxes a little, maybe thinking "ok honey, how long is it gonna take!" Or maybe she's just acting sexy to make her boyfriend troubled to win the game? Anyways, I like this shot, their body language and the girl's outfit made me think about some amazing drawings from illustrator Norman Rockwell.

BankMen

I ran into old family pictures yesterday and I just couldn't stop looking at them. From my grandmother's wedding day at Saint Germain des Près, to my mom's first steps, my grand parents' first 1936-paid vacations or a simple 1948-sunday-afternoon out in the Luxembourg garden. I love what they emit, from the deep light of the pictures, to the very detail. I chose to show you that one -one of my favorite FYI- it's a simple work day at the bank for my grand father (second from the left). I just love the setting, the suits of the bankworkers, the look on their faces, the way their hair is perfectly combed, and the moustach even! I guess this picture was shot around 1935. 75 years later banks haven't really changed, have they? Well, except maybe for the small I-love-to-take-a-break-every-10-minutes sweaty guy at the reception...

Writing's the best legal drug...

Whether you use a pen, a keyboard or an old typing machine, the feeling's the same in writing: Freedom. Still sceptical? Here is a challenge I'm giving you today. Write a short post about something that happened to you today -it can be at work, with friends, just walking, whatever... trying to depict something that caught your attention. Send it to me and I'll post the best posts on the blog. Only one order: enjoy yourself.

City or Countryside?

Who said you had to choose between the city and the countryside...

Hit the road...

Today was a pretty day, I rode for hours along the banks of the Seine. That's a great spot to jog, shoot pictures, and stare at the amazing castle-looking houses. On my trip I ran into two old black 1940-something citroen cars, you know, those you see in the old movies. That was quite a show. I also saw this 30-something guy bragging in his shiny-but-way-too-show-off SUV. But there's only one vehicle that took my breath away. On a corner of a street, I saw this old washed-out-looking van. You just don't know how the hell a van like this ended up here! I just can't help but imagine all the roads and adventures it must have seen in its life. I love the mix between the rust and the destroyed blue, the tinted windshield, kinda making me think of Spielberg's movie Duel.
Damn it now I can't think about anything else but bring that van into my garden, arrange the inside into a great place to crash on a leather sofa, a last-minute-fixed bar and remove the doors of the left side to have a nice open space to look at the sky at night while listening to some awesome music.

I wonder how the cavemen lived without knowing music...

Maybe it's the weather -pretty crappy for the summer-or I don't know, but lately I've felt like settling in my old brown leather sofa, a drink in the right hand, my mom's old-1964-Pioneer-stereo turntable near the other, and listening to some awesome old sound. Between the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, The Pink Floyd, The Who, and above all... Simon and Garfunkel! My Little Town, Cecilia, Bridge Over Troubled Water, El Condor Pasa and of course Mrs Robinson -from one hell of a great movie. But the first and only track that ever gave me intense goose bumps , as far as I can recall, is The Boxer. The last 1 minute and a half: simply Indescribable.

Are you cops retarded...

I know it's not funny to moke a kid because he's got some difficulties with maths. That's just mean. But I'm hoping the Police Department ain't hiring kids (well they're so desperate they might one day...) anyway, I really wished I could have given a 2nd-grade math course to that cop, or maybe given him glasses or just took his beer out of his hands coz in every places around the world, 8 is before 28. You can go check, true story.
I hate prejudices. You know like butchers are fat with red cheeks, History teachers can kill you with only just their breath or cops are dumb... they're just soooo mean. What? oh yeah and soooo true.

Souvenirs, souvenirs...

Hey everyone! Sorry for this looonng break but things have been pretty tough lately. So, you guys wanna know what a girl does on a Monday morning in the middle of summer after a whole Mad Men-season-3-night-long watching? I decided I would store some useless stuff down in my basement like a candle in the shape of a turtle -true story- a jewelery box that's too damn small to even contain a bracelet in and some pens that won't work anymore but you never know they might in 5 years... Anyway, as I loaded the things onto some shelves -next to some other million useless stuff- I made something drop on the floor of the room -next to my sauna by the way, yeah I feel like bragging today... I picked it up with, I gotta say some weird and funny emotions. I was brought back 16 years ago. 1994. Remember the time when us girls at school were wearing pants that were too damn short that, when sat, we could see our beautiful long Laura-Ingalls-looking white lace socks or was it only me? And when we would be so proud to reach level 7 of Mario Bross on our Game Boy or defeat the boss on the final level in Streets of Rage -please the youngest be respectful! WarCarft wasn't born in a day! Anyway... I was moved to hold the tape (K7 in French) of Ace of Base's 1993 Happy Nation! I used to listen to it like 10 times a day! Wonderful to learn English! Remember "A so the sa" for "I saw the sign", anyway no need to tell you'll have this song back in mind for a little while...


As I kept searching for other memorable stuff, I found some old school notebooks! Check out this page!


I was in 2nd grade (CE1 in French). Holly crap I used to write well, yep, so did all of us. That may have been my first post, as Internet wasn't yet in our homes, neither did computers!!! Yes I know I'm old. Anyway, as it was long til I got my first camera there's no picture here, but I guess the drawing will do. Oh and for the record: IP5 was a 1992 movie with Yves Montand and Olivier Martinez. I remember I loved it but you know the weirdest thing? I have absolutely no idea what it's about now! Anyway, I am about to confess something very private, something people can be ashamed of, something you can probably get forced into rehab for!! I admit. I was barely 6 and already an addict. Actually ALL our generation was addicted to one small thing used everyday at school by thousands of kids. The Cléopâtre glue!! Remember the white and blue packaging!? The small plastic stick to help you put the glue?! but above all...remember the smell???? OMG. I could sniff that all day long, though I would probably have ended up in rehab... I was so pissed when they took it off the market! When I opened my pencil case it had been replaced by some regular sniffing UHU glue. My very first desillusion as I can recall. So yeah some glues smell ok, some pencils can get you somewhere even, but there will alaways be only one glue for me. Cléopatre.



Waoh that was a moving moment. Here is a French grammar exercise. As you can see I did well, yep still bragging. What I like here is the French pride you can see through it. Renault won a Formula1 race, defeating Ferrari. And Sarko said our generation hasn't been given a we're-French-we're-so-proud! education... my ass.


I stayed for a little while in my basement rediscovering many things I had completely forgotten. Here is another great discovery... today that would probably worth like 250 euros or be displayed at Colette. A genuine 1969 Monita headphone radio! It belonged to my mom. No, she's not the girl on the box, though she probably wore stuff like that back then. It's still in good shape, the wires are still ok, I'm sure it would still work with batteries. I may take up this challenge. I may put on some cool looking 1970's clothes, roller skates and the headphone as I would skate along the Banks of the Seine. I'll keep you guys posted.






I hope this post made you think back to your early years as it did to me. And if someday you feel like storing things in the basement, the garage, your sister's room, anyway, anywhere you take your dump, well look around, sit down, take these old things you didn't throw away, drink a Tesseire Minth sirop, eat a BN and listen to Portishead's "Glory Box", Iam's"Je danse le MIA", Billy Ze Kick's"Mangez-moi", the Connelles'"74-75" or Blur's"Girls and Boys". You might just feel, well... old yeah I know but good too.

Sometimes read a book, or just sit on one...

I love to stop by this small park at the entrance of Rue Mazarine. Whether it's for reading or just observing people like the group of Russian workers taking their lunch break here everyday. There's always something or someone that inspires me. An old lady feeding the pigeons, a boy from the Beaux Arts sketching on a paper, or even this old man sitting on the exact same bench everyday with the exact same posture: resting his chin on his cane, giving smiles to the people passing by. I love this place. Probably because my grand mother living in rue Mazarine used to take me here when I was little, but also because not so many people know about it so it's generally the regulars of the neighbourhood that come by. But the thing I like the most are the beautiful benches sculpted in the shape of opened books. Sometimes, tourists sit on these benches and look around to take pictures of the Institute without paying attention about what is right under their buts...