Obamania, Paris Plages, Tom Waits and the Tour de France

Obamania came to Paris this week and all the hype that you're hearing about followed.


I arrived early at the Elysee Palace and already 2 hours before Obama's arrival there were crowds lining the streets yelling "Oh-Ba-Ma". There was tangible excitement in the whole area surrounding the presidential palace. This was in stark contrast to the vibe when Bush visited here a few weeks back.

With all the excitement generated by Obama's visit, we were reminded that he was still only just a U.S. Senator and not the head of state. Following protocol, the arrival ceremony was quick and without fanfare. President Sarkozy greeted Obama and seemed immediately quite chummy with him.

The swarm of journalists, photographers and cameramen (and I mean swarm, twice as many as were here for Bush's visit, including rock star journalists like Christiane Amanpour) had just a few seconds with the two leaders before they headed into the palace for a brief meeting. I got to go inside and photograph their subsequent joint press conference, during which Sarkozy's demeanor could best be understood by watching a young teenage boy show off his new hot girlfriend.

To see more images of our future president, CLICK HERE.

Tom Waits, the incredibly creative and energetic singer, played a sold-out concert at the Grand Rex Theatre.


I knew a bit of Waits' music but was not in any way prepared for what I witnessed on stage. The energy, theatrics and talent made for some kind of musical explosion. Have any of you ever seen him live? If you have, please tell me about it. I was completely blown away.

For more images from the show, CLICK HERE.

The 7th annual Paris Plages opened this week. This year there are actually 3 "beaches" in Paris as the event keeps growing annually.


People, many tourists but also a fair mix of locals, really seem to enjoy it. I had a new Paris Plages experience this year. I was walking along the "beach" watching people play petanque and saw a few people standing in front of what was essentially a hole in the wall along the Seine. They noticed I had a camera and asked if I wanted to go inside so of course you know my answer. Turns out that two (or possibly 3) people who live there have been there for 21 years.


The "apartment", dug out literally in the interior wall of the left bank of the Seine, was originally made for men who guided boats along the Seine. Today, the city owns it and for some reason I couldn't understand, lets the people who live there stay. The place has electricity but no running water and looked a bit like a shrine of some cult. The time of the Paris Plages is great for the people living in the wall because normally, the road along the Seine just outside their "door" is a mini-highway filled with cars. So large groups of people passing by must be a relief for them. Just another colorful piece in the Paris puzzle.

And if all this wasn't enough for one week, the final stage of the Tour de France took place along the Champs-Elysees.

Although it turned out to be the second closest race in the Tour's history, it still wasn't so exciting because the last stage of the race is largely ceremonial. Except for the scorching heat and the race organizers clearly using chaos theory as a guide, it's a fun afternoon, especially seeing how into it the race supporters get. For more photos of the Tour, CLICK HERE.

CLICK HERE to see my new hero.

Some photos of the week:

Living in the Wall
Living in the Wall
Playing Petanque on the Paris Plage (looks like the Matrix doesn't it?)

Bastille Day, Childhood Friends and a Feedbag

The highlight of the week was the annual Bastille Day military parade. Every year it seems that unpredictable Paris weather cooperates on that day and this year was no exception.


Bastille Day is among the biggest public holidays here and commemorates the 1789 storming of the Bastille prison, the event that symbolizes the start of modern day France. Each year the military hardware is on full display and is quite impressive and as always, the president is on hand to lead the ceremony.


To see more Bastille Day images, CLICK HERE.

This week I entertained 2 different childhood friends on their visit to Paris. I hadn't seen either of them in over 10 years. It's always invigorating to re-see the city through the eyes of a visitor.

As your actuary, I'm compelled to recommend that you hear the latest Coldplay album (if you haven't already). They have real talent. And watch THIS ENTERTAINING VIDEO.

This made me laugh out loud:



Photo of the week:

Summer in Paris

Girl in the Metro ... finally

After more than six years living here, I finally had my first "girl in the metro" experience so I'm going to celebrate by blogging about it. I had just finished shooting Alicia Keys in concert

and on my way home, got onto metro line 4 at Chatelet. There was this very attractive young woman sitting across from me on the metro who was rather obviously checking me out. She was doing it in a more open way than I've experienced in a long time. It wasn't threatening or psycho; I rather enjoyed it.

My stop was coming up so I stood up and moved towards the door. She stood up and also moved right towards the door, intentionally aligning herself squarely in front of me. Our eyes met in the reflection of the window, and I was determined not to turn away, just to see what she would do. She didn't turn away and our stare lasted maybe 10 seconds, broken only by the opening of the metro door at St Michel station.

We both exited and headed towards the escalator, my mind racing around trying to figure out what I should do. She walked slowly in front of me, peeking once over her shoulder to make sure I was behind her. We began going up the escalator; she positioned herself 3 steps in front of me so that her finely-formed derriere was precisely at my eye level. As we approached the top of the escalator, without warning, she spun around and lunged in my direction. My heart skipped. Especially when she starting running DOWN the up escalator, right past me.

Turns out the metro police where doing a spot check at the top of the escalator and she must not have had a ticket, so she ran. I turned my head to watch her as she ran past me and before I knew what was going on, I was in the clutches of the police, who politely asked me for my ticket. With a little more warning, or if I had seen the police and realized that's why she was running, who knows, I might have followed her and given her a ticket or something.

But it was not to be. She disappeared and took with her my most exciting metro experience to date. I'm sure I'll see her again, but probably on YouTube or France's Most Wanted or something like that.

Some photos of the week:

Alicia Keys

Wacked exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo

Everland Hotel (click to learn more)

Round flowers - Square des Poetes

Hostage, Eiffel in Blue, Lenny Kravitz and George Clooney

I had a very non-traditional 4th of July his year. I had the privilege of being at the presidential/military airport for the arrival of Franco-Columbian Ingrid Betancourt following her release after being held captive for six years in the jungles of Columbia.


Betancourt, who was campaigning for president in Columbia when she was taken by FARC guerillas, was a well-respected journalist here in France and over the last six years, securing her release became an issue of national pride. While I have my doubts about the official story of the rescue mission that freed her, I have no doubt about the real excitement and emotion when she was greeted by President Sarkozy at the airport when she finally returned to France.


To see more images of the historic event, CLICK HERE.

This week also marked France's turn at having the presidency of the European Union and to celebrate, they decorated the Eiffel Tower in blue with yellow stars, symbolizing the EU flag.


In a system that seems bizarre to many, the EU presidency rotates between member countries every 6 months, not a lot of time to implement any agenda.

Musically, Lenny Kravitz put on the concert of the week. He certainly puts out a lot energy during his show and has a huge following here.


I got a great surprise this week. I met a few friends for dinner and one of them pulled a book out of her purse and asked me to sign it. I thought it was quite odd that someone would ask me to sign the cover of a George Clooney biography so when I asked her why, she told me because my photo was the front cover of the book.


I had no idea that my photo had been used and was quite amused by the surprise. You can see the book on Amazon by clicking HERE.

And finally, some photos of the week ...

Lenny rocks
Eiffel Tower in Blue
The best use of Evian
Hear No French, Speak No French, See No French

Bruce, American & European Football, Stolen Art and Gay Pride

An action-packed week again in Paris as summer brings this city to life. Went to the Parc des Princes to photograph Bruce Springsteen's annual visit. He surprised me by speaking a bit of French and didn't surprise me by still being phenomenal on stage.


Imagine my surprise when I found out that there was an French league of American football. The league Championship, called the Diamond Helmet, was played this week between the Flash of La Courneuve and the Templiers of Elancourt.


What struck me was how small the players were, that there was no visible clock (the referee yelled out how much time was left) and how the players yelled in French but interspersed English expressions such as "one time!" (it took me hearing this a few times before I realized it was English!).

To find out who won (for all you betters) and to see my photo expose of the event, complete with captions describing the action, CLICK HERE. (click on the first photo to see the images in larger format)

Staying on the football theme, I went with some friends to watch the European football semi-final match between Germany and Turkey. We went to a Turkish hangout to watch the game with diehard Turkish fans, ready to support the underdog. Turkey lost but the match was really exciting. Through these videos I shot, you can witness the highs ...



and the lows ...



I shot the opening of a new exhibition at the Jewish Art & History museum in Paris which featured a collection of work that was stolen from Jewish families by the Nazis during the occupation of WW II.


The annual Gay Pride Parade winded its way through the city. I was able to take a fews shots on my way to the football championship but didn't spend very long watching the celebration. It's always an entertaining event but there are more and more parade-related problems each year.



You never know what you'll see while eating dinner in Paris: CLICK HERE

And finally, I came home last night to find a big group of models from Belgium in my courtyard, having a party by candlelight. A fashion designer lives in my building (which explains my post from a few weeks ago) and organized the soiree. They were really warm (as in friendly, not skin temperature) and invited me to join them drinking champagne. After some soul-searching and deep contemplation (1/2 of 1 second) I agreed and had a nice evening surrounded by an odd blend of beauty and Flemish sounds.

Some photos of the week:

Bruce rocks
Bruce and the crowd
Gay pride?
Stolen and returned Monet on display

Fete de la Musique, Hancock and INSEAD

Yesterday was a big day in Paris ... the annual Fete de la Musique. The Fete is a day and night where the streets of Paris are filled with music in all its forms, with only one guiding principle - all the concerts are free. The festival was originated in 1982 by the former French Cultural Minister Jack Lang, who we randomly saw walking around the Marais this night. The Fete is now celebrated in over 100 cities around the world, including New York, San Francisco and Pasadena.

On the night, you find an eclectic mix of sound, where you can find some stoner playing DJ by powering his iPod with a car battery and connecting it to speakers, and not far from him, a Brazilian orchestra playing with the Republican Guard band at the Elysee Palace. This year's Fete fell on a night that felt like there was harmonic convergence. It fell on a Saturday night (it's always on June 21st, the longest day of the year), with absolutely perfect weather, a full moon and a big soccer match (Russia v The Netherlands). You could feel the manic energy building in the city throughout the day.

In the afternoon, I met some friends for a drink at the famous Cafe de Flore - locals all hate this place but my friend's friend visiting from the US wanted to go there - and while riding my Velib bicycle there saw a big double-decker tourist bus up on the sidewalk next to the Pont des Arts with a big lamp post bent like a pretzel on the street below it. A few minutes later while at the cafe, I inexplicably saw a huge group of scooter delivery guys from the restaurant Planet Sushi taking over Boulevard Saint-Germain. It was that kind of day.


I spent the night walking various neighborhoods with a group of friends until about 2:30am. It was useless to go home earlier than that because the city was so electric throughout the night that your chances of sleeping before day break were pretty small. I really didn't feel like taking any photos so I have no documentary images but if you'd like to see some from years past, CLICK HERE (these are not my images).


This week also brought the French premiere of the film "Hancock" with a group of stars in attendance - Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Tony Parker, Eva Longoria and Kanye West.


I also had a shoot at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, about an hour South of Paris. A group of young business leaders from Dubai came to INSEAD, a top international business school, to learn the latest greatest thinking in business.

A few photos of the week ...

Charlize Theron
Eva Longoria
The cast of Hancock
Butcher's representation of the city of Paris
Dubai student at INSEAD

Bush, Afghanistan, Radiohead and Models

This week had a political flavor to it, with President Bush coming for a visit as well as the opening of the Afghanistan Donor Conference. Bush's visit to Paris, part of his European farewell tour, came with mixed emotions for me.


I was in the interior courtyard of the Elysee Palace (the French "White House") for Bush's arrival and I couldn't help but feel a bit of excitement when the presidential limo pulled up and Bush got out amidst all the pomp and circumstance of the royal guards.

But honestly, as soon as I saw his little crooked smirk on his face and how awkward he was in that situation (and in his own skin), all I could think about was the shame, embarrassment and dishonor he's brought to the reputation of the USA. For me, it's impossible to watch him enjoying anything, almost like when you see your ex having fun just after she splits with you or something like that. You feel like they don't deserve it.

To see a few more images of the President's Paris visit, CLICK HERE.

Earlier this week I shot the opening of the Afghanistan Donor Conference, with leaders from over 80 countries in attendance.


The conference raised over $20 billion for the reconstruction of that country. World leaders that attended included French President Sarkozy, Afghan President Karzai, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as well as Condoleezza Rice and Laura Bush. There were also many rotund middle Eastern guys there that seemed to be used to the opulence that came with the conference.

This week also included shooting Radiohead in concert (who were, of course, very intense) as well as a Human Rights Watch conference on Chechnya. I volunteer as Human Rights Watch's photographer for events hosted by their Paris office.


The events are almost always very informative and cover topics I usually don't know much about.

And finally, my near heart attack of the week happened when I walked down the stairs from my apartment, turned left to exit the building but then heard a faint noise coming from the courtyard behind me.

I turned around and saw a dozen models, dressed all in white with their hair painted white, all staring right at me. I froze and then, in English, asked the only thing that came to my mind ..."Am I dead?".

Some photos of the week ...

Sarkozy blows
First Lady (let's hope it's jetlag)
Hamid and Sarko