Paris - Grande Arche - La Défense

Plate II - Quatre Temps, the Grande Arche, and CNIT…

La Défense is primarily a business area. Named for a statue (La Défense de Paris) commemorating the defense of Paris in the 1870 Franco-Prussian war, many of the city’s highest office buildings and large commercial premises are situated here, including the Quatre Temps shopping mall (left). Typical of modern malls a wide range of shops is to be found, the tenant mix catering for both residents of the nearby Nanterre, as well as the office workers of La Défense itself.

Although not the tallest building in the area (that dubious honour belonging to the GAN Tower) La Défense is dominated by the Grande Arche de la Fraternité (centre), constructed in 1989, the centennial year of the Eiffel Tower, and in it’s own way just as significant a landmark of Paris. Also dubbed the Tête Défense this arche celebrates humanity rather than the military victories of Napoleon’s two other Parisian arches.

An exhibition of sculptural works was in place in the spaces surrounding the Arche, one of which can be seen in the image.

It would be hard to miss the nearby CNIT (Centre des Nouvelles Industries et Technologies (right)), with its amazing shell like roof construction. Constructed in the late 1950’s France once again used designs, methods and technologies others thought unrealistic at the time. A popular venue for conventions, exhibitions and conferences the expansive 22,500 square metre reinforced concrete roof (it remains the largest of its kind in the world) is supported only at three points, each some 200 metres apart. Interestingly many of the grand landmarks of Paris are the legacy of various French presidents. Not to be outdone by his predecessors President Sarkozy has perhaps the grandest (and most controversial) vision of all with his plans today for a Grand Paris - a vision that could change the way future generations will see Paris forever.

Paris - La Défense - La Défense

Plate I - La Defense

I had flown into Orly airport at around midday, and taken the Orlyval and various metro or RER trains to reach my hotel, only a stone’s throw from the RER stop at Nanterre Préfecture. I will confess to having been so overconfident that I could navigate the city like a native Parisian that I hadn’t noticed that two opposing direction metro lines terminated at either Boissy or Poissy (of course I could have confused myself even further had I known there was another headed for Roissy).  Clearly remembering only the ‘oissy part of where I was going (and assuming there was only one), I followed the signs at Chatelet to the Boissy option and nervously realised I was headed in the wrong direction for La Défense only some four station stops later. Who cared … I was in Paris (or under it). Having had glimpses of parts of the city when the train ran above ground, I could not wait to start discovering this destination I had so long dreamed of visiting. 

My hotel was indeed a very short walk from the RER (it was in fact built immediately above the underground rail tracks and at night the rumble of the trains either kept you awake … or lulled you into sleep). I deposited my baggage in my room, and without even pausing to refresh myself from the long overnight flight from South Africa, I set out to discover as much about the city as I could on day one. I could not wait as long as it would take to reach Etoile, and started my familiarisation with La Defense.

Coming up to ground level a carousel was operating in the large public space between the office blocks and shopping centres of La Défense. Activity was brisk … and it appeared that an ambulance was on hand to cater for any heart stoppages I may have experienced as I finally got my first real glimpse of Paris. I knew immediately I was going to love the place.

Paris - The Beginning...

PARIS … in my pocket!

Armed with only my wife’s simple pocket camera, and a single roll of film, I set off for my very first visit to Paris in 1996. Primarily there on business I expected to have little time to practise my amateur photographic skills.

On my first glimpse of the city two things very soon became apparent…

Firstly - the camera was going to be hopelessly inadequate to capture the magnificence of these sights, with which I had for many years conducted a long distance love affair.

Secondly - a single roll of film (24 shots) would possibly last me my first half hour, for in Paris leaving one  view, only a few paces reveals another more enchanting.

The second matter was easy enough to rectify as many Parisian street vendors carried replacement films. The camera however was to remain a major challenge. Why then did I take it ?

To start, my own compact 35mm unit had been stolen. Further, I like to blend in with my surroundings. I am convinced that the oft implied detachment, even arrogance, of Parisians results from having to share their home ground with millions of foreigners each year . And further still, I am loath to appear decked out with a day’s factory output of Olympus or Canon hung about my neck, spending but a few seconds at any location, before heading to the next planned tour destination. “If it’s 10 o’clock, it must be the Eiffel Tower” is not my modus operandi. That way you see everything and learn nothing. Travelling successfully, is a foreigner asking me for local directions or information. Oh, and I walk - it simply is the best way to discover the heart of a place and its people.

The images …

With three Parisian weeks ahead of me I decided to challenge my artistic instincts to see how successfully I could record the magic of the city with the simple little device I had in my pocket. It used “110” film cartridges, had a built-in basic flash (useless for anything beyond a metre), a fixed single (plastic) lens, a shutter … and a very, very imprecise viewfinder. 
Plainly, I had not yet gone digital!!!

The results, printed on my return home, were less than inspiring. Certainly, personal memories had been captured, and even today those slightly blurred postcard sized images make me wish I were again in the streets of Paris. But I never would have dreamed of sharing them with anyone but my closest friends. Kept together in a photograph album, the collection I sometimes jokingly referred to as 'Paris…in my pocket', became my ‘Paris…in my drawer’… … …

I recently decided to digitize my entire photographic collection. Of course - high on my priority list were these Parisian snapshots. But, even with the best scanning resolution available, the poor detailing became, if anything, even more apparent. In a few idle moments I started playing with some simple post processing imaging software. I’d hoped the ‘sharpen’ effect would do just that. It did not. Some thirty designer effects later I discovered ‘watercolor’. The impressionist like result was fitting for the city

The results I'll incrementally post here, arranged by arrondissement. I have at last realized the final creative step in making Paris…in my pocket! the tribute to the city that I had always hoped it would be.

See for yourself!!


Dave

This first image is part of the concrete sign outside the Parc Floral de Paris in Vincennes.