Paris Inspired by Henri Cartier-Bresson

A young man takes a nap along the river Seine in Paris France — A man is taking a nap along the Seine in Paris

Black And White Photos From Paris With The Fujifilm X-Pro1

My wife and I spent five wonderful days in Paris at the beginning of April. My friend Philippe is French and over the years we have heard many great tales about the magnificent city where he grew up. Through Philippe, we have come to know some of his childhood friends, Dominique, Catherine, and Patrice.

We enjoyed superb French hospitality from them all as we stayed the first couple of nights and the last night with Dominique and Catherine in Aulnay-sous-Bois and a couple of nights in Patrice's daughter's apartment in Montmartre.

What better way to experience Paris? We were treated like royalty. Thanks, guys. We owe you big time and hope we will see you on this side of the Atlantic soon. Thanks also to Philippe for helping with the plans for this trip.

A copy of the cheque issued by Cartier-Bresson to purchase a Leica Camera in 1985 (at the Leica Store in Paris)

As the title of this first blog post from Paris says the following photos are hugely inspired by the French Photographer Henri Catier-Bresson. Hence the monochrome theme. Like thousands of photographers before me, I am drawn to his black-and-white photos, his strong compositions, and his people/street photography. On the first morning of our Paris visit, we took the train from Aulnay-sous-Bois to the Chatelet Les Halles metro station, and very shortly thereafter we were at Centre Pompidou.

We were completely surprised to find out that they had a Henri Cartier-Bresson Exhibition. This was too good to be true and an opportunity not to be missed. A huge library of work was on display spanning Cartier-Bresson's career. Later in the week, Dominique surprised us as he took us to the Leica store in Paris. See the photo above.

The photos in this post are captured with a Fujifilm X-Pro1 camera, XF 35mm f/1.4 R, and XF 23mm f/1.4 R lenses.

For a full review of the X-Pro1: Fujifilm X-Pro1 Review