MEMORIES: Paris

Our irst trip to Paris was rather random. Once, discussing a place to go for a New Year’s Eve, someone jokingly suggested France, Paris to be precise. This came out from a famous phrase of Ilya Ehrenburg: ‘To see Paris and to die’. And then we thought to ourselves: ‘why not, indeed!’ Thus it happened – our irst trip to Paris in 2013. A year later being in Paris for the New Year’s Eve became a tradition.

Over these years dozens of places were seen by my camera, many a photos were taken. Naturally, I ended up with, putting it mildly, a vast number of images. Some of them depict rather well-known, touristy places; more often they show life of the city– its everyday, ordinary life. I mean, clearly Paris is not just a city, given its signiicance in European history and for tourism. Nonetheless, in many respects it is a city just like many others. One can ind there things like usual urban landscapes, people hurrying to work or strolling in parks on the way from home to cinema, children eating sweets, parents waiting for a bus. In other words, photos in this book relect the fabric of everyday life in a city that happens to be full of history and tourists. This city is my main model. In the end of the day, every late December I am not going to Paris to see people (I do not have anybody there – no relatives, no friends, no acquaintances). I am going to Paris to see Paris.

This book is my invitation to come along with me and see Paris as a place with everything that a modern city has: houses, parks, squares, historical places, bus stations, business and shopping centres, restaurants, bridges, construction works, city’s multi-ethnical hosts and multi-national guests, and much more.