While I was not in Paris for the shelter-in-place, my dear friend Madeline was. Here is Paris in her words and film photographs from that time — a stark, somber, and intimate portrait of the city. Madeline is a gifted street photographer. You can find these moments on her Instagram. I got to photograph Paris during […]

The train rolled into the station and I reached into my pocket, searching for my phone. I was already running late and it was a little drizzly, so I was trying to figure out what exit to take for Belleville. To my dismay, which turned to anxiety, I realised that in my rush to get […]

I was not always the biggest fan of Montmartre, Paris. It was rather far from where I was living at the time; there are too many hills and not enough escalators; it’s a little gritty; and on the other hand also very touristy. I find myself always on extra alert for pickpockets, especially near the […]

There’s a delightful surprise in the Latin Quarter, something wildly unexpected and out of the blue — or, rather, the appropriate expression is “out of the Haussmann architecture.” It’s la Grande Mosquée de Paris. There is a small admission fee, but if you love architecture, this is such a treat. It was built between 1922 and […]

[As the 14e is quite large, this post will be updated as I explore more. I made an artist friend today, on my first visit, and he said he’ll take me around to all the good spots.] When I think of Paris, the 14e is not what comes to mind at all. A little gritty […]

In a way, you might say I ditched San Francisco for…San Francisco. At least, that’s what it felt like on this humid, heavy Tuesday as I trudged up the impossibly long staircase. Paris has hills, too, it seems. Popping up on the other side, I tumbled into a tranquil square, with trees spilling everywhere and […]

The sun beat down, mid-morning, on the pavement. Barely 11am, already humid, unbearably stuffy. La canicule.  Trees of steel and glass rose up from the ground, punctuating the skyline in a competition for brilliance. It feels…soul-less. The industrial design sucks away all that might be filled with wonder, leaving sleek monotony behind. Bienvenue à La Défense! […]