Busby
Loc: St. Petersburg, Fl
I am planning a trip to Paris this July....any suggestions on day trip, photo friendly operators?
I like landscape and wildlife photography.
Any suggestions greatly appreciated.
Busby
Giverny, Chatres Cathedral and Versailles are short train rides from Paris.
I'll leave it to others to comment on locations. Keep in mind that July 14th is Bastille Day (French independence day). I unknowingly arrived in Paris on July 14th and couldn't find a hotel room anywhere in the city. :( Plan ahead! :)
If you can tolerate the lines the Eiffel tower is a great place to get pics of the whole city. Montmartre is the place to watch the light come on all over the city. Lots of art work in the square next to the Sacre-Coeur on Montmartre. There are never ending place to get great photos in Paris. If you happen to be in the cathedral Sacre-Coeur at 6 pm on Friday go in and listen to the nuns singing, it is beautiful, but no pics.
The kind of wildlife you'll find in Paris requires a fast lens not a long lens. I've never been there but I shoot a lot in NYC, and when it comes to lenses, wide is more important than long. If you don't have an ultrawide, get one.
Enjoy your trip!
Depends on the length of your stay but when I lived near Paris I would take visitors along the Champs Elysees, Place de la Concorde, Tuilerie Gardens, Louvre, Notre Dame back up the Seine to the Eiffel Tower and then back to the Arc De Triomphe. A walking tour that can take in bars and cafe's people watching and would take half a day or a full day with loads of photo opportunities
Rick Steves, the travel writer and commentator on PBS, has a great book on Paris which I used last year. He also has some podcasts of various sites like Notre Dame de Paris which help explain what you are seeing. He has good suggestions on locations, views, lodging, food, museums, etc. Shoot as large files as you can. I made the mistake of inadvertently shooting JPEG of the Eiffel tower which I later wanted to enlarge to a poster size print. I only rescued the process by solarizing it because the "graininess" would have made a straight print very poor.
Take a cruise on the Seine. Several board near Notre Dame. Takes about an hour. Gives you different views of the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Louvre etc from the river.
I believe that if you have a lunch reservation at the restaurant in the Eiffel tower you "fast track" the lines of people waiting for the elevator.
Cykdelic
Loc: Now outside of Chiraq & Santa Fe, NM
Busby wrote:
I am planning a trip to Paris this July....any suggestions on day trip, photo friendly operators?
I like landscape and wildlife photography.
Any suggestions greatly appreciated.
Busby
I would suggest going out later at night to take pics.......10 pm range or so. There is a lot of light there that allows for some good opps.
There are photo opportunities everywhere in downtown Paris. We often take walking tours from "Paris Walks",
http://www.paris-walks.com . After taking a morning tour, we often wander in the same area, eat, drink and take pics.
Check out their schedules on-line. Even if you don't take one of their many tours, their schedule lists great places to go and photograph. Their July schedule will be similar to their June's.
Busby wrote:
I am planning a trip to Paris this July....any suggestions on day trip, photo friendly operators?
I like landscape and wildlife photography.
Any suggestions greatly appreciated.
Busby
Have a great time... I'm greeeeeeeeen
Busby
Loc: St. Petersburg, Fl
Wow...what a plethora of Great Photo Ideas...thank you so much....I love this forum....will follow up on all of your suggestions.
I don't know how much time you would need to spend in Paris to see it all, but it is spectacularly beautiful! Bastille Day is la fete Nationale (14 July)and a very big deal. That night there is an amazing photo op for fireworks at la tour eiffel. Photos of the city can be taken from la tour eiffel, l'Arc de Triomphe, the Ferris wheel near Le Louvre, and Notre Dame. AAA has a spiral bound Paris guide that is wonderful but as you walk around, in and about Paris, you will see such amazing beauty everywhere. Trip to Giverney (Monet's home and surrounding gardens) is wonderful. Don't miss Versailles and Fontainbleau. Be sure to go to Montmartre. another great view of Paris from the tower at Sacre Coeur and while in that area, see Le Moulin Rouge. Don't miss les macarons at Laduree on Les Champs Élysées and they have a great restaurant, too. Le Louvre, Le Centre Pompidou, le Musee d'Orsay are terrific. Have a great time. I'm really jealous!
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