Air Show, Volleyball & George

The highlight of this week was the big Paris Air Show held just outside Paris in Le Bourget. It’s a grand spectacle (worthy of a visit from John Travolta), basically a massive showing off of what aircrafts are capable of. It did make me feel good knowing that airplanes, even commercial ones like the new giant Airbus A380, can do FAR more than they ever do when we’re on them. And of course the military jets – the F-16s, Superhornets, Mirages, MiGs, etc (I just learned most of these names this week!) are a testament to human technological skill. Too bad they just help us kill.


On the other end of the scale, I had the privilege of photographing women’s professional beach volleyball just next to the Eiffel Tower. Each year, the city sets up a dozen or so temporary sand courts along the Champs de Mars for one of the stops on the women’s professional beach volleyball circuit. I don’t think I need to comment on this very much but let’s just say it wasn’t boring.


Musically, this week I shot George Michael in concert at the Stade de France just outside Paris. I was shocked he could still fill a stadium as big as the Stade de France after so many years but he pretty much did. Hard to say how many people were there but it had to be around 40,000 or so. He still used some of his Wham dance moves but at least didn’t wear those orange Dolphin shorts.


Had dinner this week with a small group of Americans in Paris. That’s a pretty rare occurrence for me – I don’t know many Americans here. Had fun chatting about life in the US, skewering Bush & Company and espousing theories about why the French behave the way they do.

And finally, a small but satisfying victory against my French cell phone operator. After spending 28 euros and probably a couple of hours calling their customer service line (yes, in France YOU pay THEM when you call, the opposite of an 800 number in the US) to report that they made a mistake on my bill, and after going with a friend into one of their stores with the same fury I used to have when dealing with the cable company in LA, they offered me a free month of service – 50 euros worth! And oh yeah, they damn well reimbursed the 28 euros they charged me for calling them. Vive la France!

A couple of photos of the week (including a link to a composite of more images from this week) ...

A rainbow over the French countryside

Two teenage "streakers" attempt to disrupt the women's volleyball match

For more photos of the week - CLICK HERE