From the same series as last week: the Champs Elysées with Christmas lighting. Why everybody who visits Paris wants to stroll along this most polluted, busiest and extremely touristy avenue in town still is beyond me, even after 4 years, but you sure can take some nice pictures over there. I think I just might have answered my own question…

Place de la Concorde, the special end-of-the-year ferris wheel and a slow shutter speed make for fun photography. Paris always seems to be on the move, except for the tried and trusted old architecture and monuments that remain a safe haven. You can see them here, steadfast among hectic city life. Paris, ça bouge!

I’m simply rehashing relatively old stuff here (relatively as in: compared to my age) but still thought the image was worth it. I’ve started development of v3.0 of this website which should be ready by the end of this year. Nothing too fancy but I promise you can comment on my blog entries. That is: unless you’ll only comment on me rehashing old stuff.

I love shooting in clubs: merry people, steady beat, kinky lighting and oh so tough to capture. Yesterday the Collège néerlandais was for one night transformed into a hip club with eight Dutch deejays – quite a big export product nowadays – playing from dusk till dawn. I can’t help but wonder what Dudok, its architect, would say about that…

Some 8 weeks ago I woke to the sound of a local artist of Arles describing for at least half an hour to the Arlesian press how his work was very much linked to Vincent van Gogh. Well, mine is too, you know? The evidence is in the image above. Do a Google on Cafe Terrace at Night and you’ll know what I’m talking about: this was the setting of one of his famous paintings. Vincent and I: we’re very close, as luck would have it.

You might have seen this image before if you’re a careful reader of this blog or an art collector, as this particular photo titled “Rue de Grenelle, rain #1” is gaining fame (read a nice review of it in Dutch; several prints left for sale). From 2 to 15 July it is on display in Dublin where the French Embassy invited “27 talented photographers, representing each of the 27 member states of the Union, to share with us their vision of France” – details can be found here.

Yesterday evening at eleven o’clock I passed the Louvre and went berserk with my new 24mm tilt-shift lens. This is a four second exposure of the glass pyramid in front of the old and vast museum that once housed the royal family. It’s not that hard to understand the French revolution when you see what royals built for themselves back in the days.

This image landed second place in the weekly assignment competition on fredmiranda.com, a webforum for photographers. The theme for this week’s assignment was “roads”. Within one week you have to shoot a photo that fits the assigned theme, which can be difficult as you have to make do with the circumstances you’re in (weather, surroundings), but it’s fun and a great way to learn.