Here is another Paris shot. I'm in the square in front of Notre Dame, which would be to the left of the photo. Paris makes for good night shots, as buildings and streets are well lit, but not lit by neon. But what actually makes this photo work is the woman in the white jacket. The lamp posts in the distance to the left lead the eye up to the nearest lamp post which with is brightest light, is domineering. There we would be stuck and unbalanced, in an uninteresting part of the photo, if it wasn't for that woman's white jacket. The eye is pulled down, and suddenly the viewer notices people in the image, and lamp posts in the distance, which lead the viewer back to the left of the page. This composition forms a continuous triangle. There you go, a quick tutorial in composition.

I went to Paris and some cities in Provence (hence my prolonged absence, apologies to my regulars for the lack of posts). Of course I took many photos, around 600-700, which is less than I expected I'd take. I have two 2 gig memory cards, and have yet to fill one up in a trip. I do use the smallest file size, as I don't expect to be blowing any images to poster size. And I've yet to shoot RAW; I'm a little intimidated. Also, my computer is slow enough without having to process large files.

Anyways, the photo above is one of my favorites. Sitting on the edge of a waterless fountain sipping an Orangina at Place de Vosges (how to pronounce??) on a Sunday afternoon was an excellent Parisian people watching opportunity. The fountain was a magnet for kid activity; soccer ball kicking within the low fountain walls prevented the ball from going far; speeding tricycles veered around me, and the fountain spouts and piping were stepping stones and balance beams respectively.