"A beautiful photoblog of images of Paris by Barbara Pasquet James"
Bonjour, and welcome to my photoblog. I am a U.S. lifestyle editor who writes and speaks about Paris: food, fashion and culture. I don't consider myself a photographer. Or rather, I'm as much a photographer as anyone in possession of a smartphone and natural curiosity about well, Everything. Not long after I was invited to join World Photo Adventure as editor I contributed a piece on the colorful spice markets of Old Istanbul using an iphone 3G for the photos - it seems so passé now but it worked great - and I was hooked.
FocusOnParis.com is my take on Paris, with an iphone: I focus on details that appeal to me or catch my eye. And as Paris is a city that speaks for itself, I've decided to let it do just that - through images. Thank you for your visit, and I hope you enjoy these photos as much as I enjoy taking, selecting, and posting them!
Barbara Pasquet James
WPA Featured Photographer 10/2016 - Full article / interview below
Bonjour, and welcome to my photoblog. I am a U.S. lifestyle editor who writes and speaks about Paris: food, fashion and culture. I don't consider myself a photographer. Or rather, I'm as much a photographer as anyone in possession of a smartphone and natural curiosity about well, Everything. Not long after I was invited to join World Photo Adventure as editor I contributed a piece on the colorful spice markets of Old Istanbul using an iphone 3G for the photos - it seems so passé now but it worked great - and I was hooked.
FocusOnParis.com is my take on Paris, with an iphone: I focus on details that appeal to me or catch my eye. And as Paris is a city that speaks for itself, I've decided to let it do just that - through images. Thank you for your visit, and I hope you enjoy these photos as much as I enjoy taking, selecting, and posting them!
Barbara Pasquet James
WPA Featured Photographer 10/2016 - Full article / interview below
- camera: iphone 5 - c'est tout
- home base in Paris: Montmartre
- home base in USA: NYC: (212) 561-0227
- home base in Paris: Montmartre
- home base in USA: NYC: (212) 561-0227
- lifestyle editor / cultural trainer / speaker
- Paris-based writer (launched / edited / updated): USA Today Paris City Guide - Where To Eat, Where To Shop, Out On The Town, Insider Tips....
- website: ParisTALKS.com (currently being refurbished - many thanks for inquiries)
- more: See World Photo Adventure - Paris-based writer (launched / edited / updated): USA Today Paris City Guide - Where To Eat, Where To Shop, Out On The Town, Insider Tips....
- website: ParisTALKS.com (currently being refurbished - many thanks for inquiries)
***
"What a lovely looking site, full of grace, beauty, simplicity and sophistication...."
New York Arts Magazine
"A
photographer who made a picture of a splendid moment, an accidental
pose of someone or a beautiful scenery, is the finder of a treasure." Robert Doisneau
- fashion & style -
- food & drink -
- lifestyle & trends -
- boutiques & shop windows -
- gardens & parks -
- architecture & design -
- interiors & exteriors -
- galleries & art -
- street art & street life -
- door knobs & doorways -
- backstreets & sidestreets -
- cafés & cobblestones -
....
....
Barbara Pasquet James
Twitter / Instagram / Pinterest:
@focusonparis
Truth be known, I am flattered and
even somewhat amused to be invited as this month’s Featured
Photographer. If you read the About page on my almost-photo-a-day blog
FocusOnParis.com – I often skip Sundays – the first thing I point out is
that I don’t consider myself a photographer, to be clear, and en plus
I use an iphone. Now an iphone5. I know I know I should upgrade again
but so far everything’s working fine and I simply point, frame, and
shoot whatever strikes me, wherever I happen to be.
Though I’d dabbled in painting in
college, for me, photography was a skill I admired from the sidelines.
Working as a correspondent and writing travel-related articles had given
me a brush with the medium, as I’d grab whatever camera was around to
illustrate a piece. Just being in close contact with photographers – my
brother Ralph, my husband, inspiring photo-blogger friends – had been
rubbing off on me and I didn’t even know it. Years before I did a stint
in Cadaqués, a hidden away white fishing village in Spain just south of
the French border that had became a magnet to artists, not just for its
natural beauty and light (the aptly named Light At The Edge Of The World
with Yul Brynner and Kirk Douglas was filmed there) but because the
eccentric surrealist Salvador Dali had made it his home. Openings and
parties in galleries and artists’ studios seemed a daily given. The view
from my balcony alone, overlooking the jewel-like bay and hilltop
church, had made a subliminal impact. I discovered that many of the rock
formations and objects that appeared so “surreal” in Dali’s paintings
were, in fact, very real. The Mediterranean, depending on time of day
and season, could change dramatically from greens to blues to reds.
It was illustrating an article about
Istanbul’s vibrant spice markets using my cell phone's camera a few years ago
that made me realize I enjoyed this. Immensely. I have F-stop phobia and
the iphone made it easy. I began to play with images that played on
light. I strove for minimal edits and cropping, and when I launched
FocusOnParis.com, simplicity was my motto. I would post photographs of
Paris, my city, and keep captions brief so as not to distract from
images.
Blues play an important role in my
favorite photographs and strong colors attract me. The blog has been up
less than two years but receives many visitors, increasing daily. I’ve
gotten some interesting offshoot (pun intended) offers and assignments
and hope to keep it going.
What do you love about photography?
The fact that I now “see” things I’d not have noticed before; a corner of a building, a parked bicycle, a door, juxtaposed colors… Many otherwise unremarkable little things as I go about my day have become favorite subjects.
Dream shoot?
A photo safari in Africa. I hear it’s life changing.
Time with Camera?
Since 2010, the year of my Istanbul Ephipany. But I didn’t start shooting more consistently until 2015, the year I launched FocusOnParis.com. Looking back I see an evolution in the quality of my photos.
Favourite Subject?
Paris streets, street scenes, vistas, cafés, cobblestones, architecture, art, food…. The subjects of my photo blog.
Favourite Piece of Kit?
I’m dying to say Hasselblad or vintage Rolleiflex (two in my husband’s arsenal) but as of this writing it’s my faithful iphone5.
What is the first thing you notice about people?
The mouth. Then their eyes.
Mountain cabin or beach house?
Beach house but not just any beach.
Last book you read?
His Mother! by Sandy Richardson, just released. I contributed a chapter.
If I could travel in time?
The day before my brother died. As for another era, La Belle Époque in Paris à la Woody Allen’s Midnight In Paris.
What is the furthest you’ve been from home?
On The Other Side, in a spiritual dream.
If you were a crayon, which colour would you be?
Turquoise blue.
Top of your bucket list?
Right now? Louisiana. Exploring the Bayou, old plantations, local specialties / recipes, what’s left of its French culture. Other destination, scheduled soon: the “heel” of Italy’s boot, the magnificent Puglia region with stops in Polignano, Trani, Ostuni, Alberobello with its troglodyte architecture…. I will travel far for good coffee and hear that even the humblest café on the tiniest village square there serves insanely flavorful espresso.
Barbara Pasquet James.
Weekday Activity: Writer, Author / Photographer.
Website: FocusOnParis.com
Location: Paris, France.
All images and text copyright ©2016 Barbara Pasquet James
1 Comment
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Barry McCann on October 26, 2016 at 9:33 amGreat images. Details evoke memories of Paris very vividly.
