Saturday, August 7, 2010

A few pictures from France

I've been trying to get a lot of academic work done before I leave again next week, so I haven't done any comprehensive photo-uploading, but I wanted to put up just a few of my favorite pictures. Which is to say, the few that are actually sort of presentable.

I am a bad photographer -- this is why I need Brooks along on trips! - and I mostly take pictures out of a sense of obligation: I need to document this! Other people will expect to see this! So I didn't take very many to begin with, and a lot of them didn't turn out well. I was just looking at someone else's blog, someone who is a real photographer, and she had posted a picture that had "so much wrong with it." Alas, I couldn't see what was wrong with it at all, which I'm sure is proof of how much is wrong with ME as a photographer and viewer. I'm mainly happy if my pictures aren't blurry or weirdly lit. And I was there, which is the main thing. So here you are.

Notre Dame: I thought I wasn't going to even bother trying to take pictures of it, but just as I came around the front, the sun was right between the towers and I couldn't resist.





In Strasbourg, working on papyri in a crowded room with no air conditioning, but with big screenless windows that opened on a stone alleyway. Collaborative scholarship at its most immediate.




In Paris again, shopping for picnic food in the market on rue Mouffetard -- street produce stands and cheese, wine, and meat shops.



Eating the picnic, with Notre Dame on one side and a bridge perfect for wedding photography on the other.




More to come later...