Sunny Sunday Snoopy

Almost every walk I take in Paris starts out here, along the quay and past Notre Dame. This day was bright and sunny and everyone was out for a stroll. In terms of photography it was my lucky day. I had gone from being in the world to looking at the world through my viewfinder. Looking through the viewfinder makes what was just second ago the expansive world with no boundaries into a small image with definite edges. Notre Dame has been there for a thousand years and hasn't moved once. She is the very definition of static. The grand cathedral and the stone walls of the quai are a solid base, a foreground on which living plays out. But you have to be patient. In Paris you can be patient with confidence, something always happens! There is a stairway here down to the Batobus, the Parisian version of a water taxi. I was happy standing there. The sun was warm, the breeze cool, and I was amusing myself reading the titles of the books and looking at the posters in the bouquins. I looked back through my viewfinder just as this black dog came round the corner with no less urgency than a businessman late for an appointment. This is my Paris, the one that lives in my imagination. She is solid, always there, Notre Dame never disappoints me. And through that solidity there moves a stream of life, ever fascinating, ever mysterious. The dog moved past me, full of intent, the woman and the girl on the bicycle were gone. I look at the image and wish that I had seen it. I made this image for you. I'm going back soon and have promised myself to live through more images rather than see them in my viewfinder.