Walking around Paris, I came across this scene at Pont Neuf. The boy was struggling to pose for his father. After some trying, he got his shot and i got this one.

I have had this camera about 6 weeks now and had the opportunity to test it out properly in Paris recently. First my reasons for buying it . 1) The image quality – Using the same foveon sensor as the Sigma SD14, the quality of this camera’s images is supposed to be fantastic. 2) Its compact size – easy to carry around and doesn’t draw the attention of a big SLR camera. Ideal for street photography 3) The wide angle lens. – at around 28mm (crop factor taken into account) it makes an ideal landscape/architecture lens. The quality of this lens is also supposed to be first class.

I had read a number of reports citing the sluggishness of this camera but for the type of shots I take, this really isn’t an issue. True, this camera is not built for sports photography, the batteries are quick to drain and the lens only has a minimum aperture of F4 but all that said, it does allow you to get shots that a SLR would not whilst maintaining the quality of an SLR. Using the camera set in full manual allows the best possible results

This shot is of IM Pei’s Pyramid at the Louvre, Paris. This pyramid now forms the entrance to the famous museum. This structure is a typical IM Pei design – glass and steel used cleverly to  allow as much natural light to filter into the museum as possible. The similarities between this design and the Bank of China in Hong Kong are clear.

I read a couple of interesting facts about this monument. The first related to German occupation. Apparently, the Germans insisted on marching through this Archway as a way of insulting the Parisiens. The second fact relates to the flame of the unknown soldier which burns underneath the arch. Apparently it has only ever been extinguished once – on the night France lifted the World Cup – and this was by a over enthusiastic football supporter.

On Sunday, I went to Place Des Vosges – a little square – towards the Bastille region. The musicians were playing under the arches and a fairly large crowd had gathered. This part of Paris is fairly difficult to stumble upon but is well worth the visit.