Field Notes: Axiom
Paris, France · 2025-10-08
A few months ago, my trusty Canon was in the shop for repairs. In a panic, I bought a Fuji X-T5 that I love and a used lens that turned out to be more myopic than my mother with "short arm disease," her lifelong excuse for needing reading glasses. That tiny lens turned Paris into a blur, and it had been eating at me ever since.
So I packed the van. I loaded up on snacks, brought my favorite traitor dog, queued up a playlist of fresh tunes from 1985, and hit the road.
Ten hours, several expensive tollbooths, and one tragic missed opportunity at Giverny later, we rolled into Paris. We barely made it into the campground, Paris Est, before reception locked down and threw away the keys for the night. Thankfully, it is a great spot, and one of the absolute few places that lets a crazy photographer roll out of the gates at 3:30 a.m. without asking questions.
Driving that giant van into the heart of Paris at dawn gave me massive reservations. This is a city that collectively believes cars should either be outlawed entirely or built strictly to the dimensions of a baguette.
I white-knuckled it through the sleeping city to my planned location, set up the tripod, and waited for the light to arrive.
It never did. The forecast called for partly cloudy, but sunrise delivered a sky like a densely crocheted granny blanket. The pristine, glowing architectural image I had craved, the one my myopic lens ruined the first time, was officially out of reach. Paris was refusing to cooperate.
So what do you do when the master plan flies out the window? You adapt. You abandon the location, point the giant van toward the Arc de Triomphe, and plan to white out the sky instead.
Traffic was waking up by then, which made parking near the Arc its own competitive sport. I found a spot after circling the block like the Simpsons circled the roundabout, wedged the van into it, and raced across the pavement. Armed with my 10-20 mm lens, I stepped into the dead center of the Arc de Triomphe, ignored the intense chiropractic consequences along with the heavy side-eye from the guard, and pressed the shutter.
Instead of fighting the depressing gray overcast, I leaned into it. I washed out the sky entirely, letting the stark white negative space isolate the brutal, beautiful geometry of the architecture below.
It wasn't the postcard sunrise I chased across three countries. It was something much better: an axiom. A self-evident truth born out of a chaotic morning, a giant van, and a flat sky.
— Sherry (tearing up the roundabouts, 1985 style)
Behind the Lens & Collection Notes
Location: Arc de Triomphe, Paris, France
Recognition: Awarded by 1x.com Curators https://1x.com/keenephoto
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