Left of Center Photography » personal

France

Paul — Sat, 12 May 2012 18:01:57 +0000

So, after spending a few days in Germany, I caught a plane to Paris so that I could spend the weekend with an old friend and see that city for the first time. I arrived Friday afternoon and we managed to get in a quick visit to the Arc du Triomphe (climbed all 284 steps!), Montmartre and the Musee du Louvre. Wandering the streets and just taking it in. I actually didn’t even bring a camera with me the first night. I just wanted to absorb it all. The architecture and history of the city is incredible. If you wanted to really appreciate it all you would need to spends weeks there.

Saturday was another day full of monuments and museums. I did take my camera this time. Saw so much that day, but also managed to find a quiet cafe off the main streets for a fantastic lunch and made time to take in the view of the city from the top of the Centre Pompidou.

I very much owe my friend, Marie, and her family a debt of gratitude. Not only did I have a great time seeing Paris, but I was welcomed into a wonderful home and got to enjoy meeting her family as well.

Merci beaucoup!

And finally, my friend and gracious host…

The adventures of LoC aren’t over yet. In two weeks, I head to Cancun for sand, sun and, what will no doubt be, a beautiful wedding!

Germany

Paul — Tue, 08 May 2012 12:01:25 +0000

So I spent the past week over in Europe. Started in Germany and ended in France. Saw some wonderful sites and got to connect with a very important old friend.

I stayed in Bonn, Germany for the first part of the trip. When my secret double agent day job was over, the evenings were filled by taking the train into the City Center and strolling the streets. On one such evening, an elderly man approached myself and the group I was with and began rattling off some story in German. I don’t know a lick of German. When he finally paused to take a breath, we informed him we were American. The whole story started over in English. At this point he also proceeded to sit right down at our table. He told us tales of hiking across the US back in the 1950s, about how much something cost in Central Park (we should have paid more attention to this part) and the movie “An American in Paris”. Then he pulled a small pad of paper from his bag and began to sketch us.

When he finished, he asked us to identify ourselves which we did. Then he told us it was $2 Euro per head – $6 Euro total (see the math I did there?). Ahhh…drawings like this were what cost $20 in Centrail Park! Really, I thought he was going to try selling us German weed.

Here are just a few other pictures from around the city.

Now Boarding

Paul — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 00:29:03 +0000

This idea of street photography in an airport came to me a while ago, but finally getting around to acting on it. As I make more trips I’ll continue to share more pictures.

Behind the Scenes

Paul — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 20:05:27 +0000

It’s not really a “behind the scenes” on the technical stuff that makes LoC work, but still it’s important.

Most of my clients will recognize my wife from Facebook posts or having met her at some point. Last night I got a chance to turn the camera towards her. I owe just as much of my success with LoC to her as I do to all of you loyal followers that invite me in to your lives to capture the images that will be your memories.

For the past year and a half, as LoC has expanded, she has shown constant support to help me make this dream a reality. This post is just a “Thank You” to her for being there and helping me make all this happen.

Blue Hen Falls

Paul — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:22:50 +0000

It’s probably been 16 or 17 year since I was last at Blue Hen Falls. A lot has changed. Back then it was in the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area. Now it’s a National Park. Back then I went in armed with zip lock bags, rulers and a notebook. I was spending my mornings and afternoons capturing and cataloging salamanders as part of my senior project while finishing up my degree in biology. I had a camera with me just in case I found one I couldn’t identify, but I don’t recall taking many pictures. I would have never thought then that my next visit would be for the sole purpose of capturing the falls on film…well…on pixels.

Prints of these images can be purchased HERE