an unexpected day in Paris
“an unexpected day in Paris,” a series of images from April 21, 2010, not only captures a day in the life of a city, it also reflects the development (no pun intended) of a photographer.
On April 14th, 2010 a volcano erupted in Iceland.
The resulting ash cloud halted all aviation in Europe in what has been called the greatest interruption in the history of travel. April 21st was the first day that new contrails could be seen over Europe and, as flights began to resume and weary travelers were beginning to make their way to their waiting homes, their vacations or loved ones, one particular “stranded” traveler was photographer ben allsup.
ben spent this unexpected day in Paris, France with his camera, shooting the city as it presented itself. He walked approximately 12 miles, depressed the shutter button some 500 times, and recorded images mostly in black and white.
This selection of 16×20 prints has been culled from that day, each titled by the time of the shutter’s release, and is as much representative of the city as it is ben’s own photographic evolution and philosophy as a photographer. ben often thinks of photography as his form of fishing. In the same way that some might keep a box of lures and dream of trying out that new one in a far away river or pond, ben keeps cameras on shelves, dreaming of the day they might get taken down and dusted off to bring home “the big one.”
On that day in Paris, ben found himself at one of those far away ponds with one of his favorite lures. He knew when leaving his comfortable hotel room on that fine Paris morning to head out to the banks, that there would be plenty of casting. Maybe the big one would get away, but there would certainly be some nibbles on the line and he would enjoy sharing the tales of this day for years to come.
