Beixi Li
/investigation into self
My first full day in Paris we walked probably around 15 miles through winding Parisian streets, and it all started here in the Luxembourg Gardens. Waking up early, we grabbed croissants and sat down next to the fountain, watching kids push off boats.
In the middle of a historical military building was a boundary of canons. We had the great inspiration to sit on them, probably breaking some official rule, and take pictures. This is what we got.
Climbing steps on steps, we finally reached this church that was placed on a hilltop and from there, all of Paris was stretched out below. As I was walking through the streets of Paris it seemed almost surreal, even now I can't always seem to understand that I was really there, and that this all really happened.
I have millions of shots of the Seine as we crossed back and forth all day, and I still couldn't get enough. I was lucky my Parisian friend never got tired of me stopping to take pictures. The buildings in the background are the Louvre.
The last morning in Paris before I left, we woke up early and I took one last shot through the balcony. Sigmund Freud lived in the apartment two doors down and the street we're looking at, that's where Midnight in Paris was filmed.
Leaving Paris I couldn't help but take this picture, I'm sure it's never been done before. There was something about the way the sun was setting right on the tip of the wing of the plane that I couldn't resist. I could see Europe spread out below me and could hardly believe my eyes that I was really there.
Paris, je t'aime
I must have taken 30 different shots of the Eiffel Tower and by the 10th my friend jokes and says, "Wait, no THIS is the perfect shot."
Paris at midnight. Beautiful. A soft rain had just fallen and the four of us wandered through hazy lights, cobblestone streets, and Victorian apartments.
My first trip to Paris and it already seems a blur. Maybe I can capture the memories when I don't just write them down, but snapshot them. As I experiment with digital writing, I'm trying to find ways to capture the moment creatively, to hold those experiences that will never return so that one day, 10 years later, I can remember them with a smile on my face. This is just one of a few methods of expression that I have been trying, a little more casual, but I look back at these pictures, and I am smiling.