Early morning in Paris is very quiet, suprisingly so for a city that is so densly populated – there is almost no one around on the streets until the cafes start to open. I was out one morning wandering along the river and around the Louvre when I took this image . The Seine was very slowly moving along, making it’s long journey out the North. As I passed by on the bank opposite the Musee D’Orsay the sun was peeking through some high clouds brightening the sandstone bricks of the building. As I was considering the reflections of the museum the wind dropped giving me a chance to take a couple of shots of the new home of the Impressionists. This museum is where you can view a wide range of Impressionist paintings from the likes of Monet, Manet, van Gough, Renoir, Gauguin, Degas and Cezanne (to name a few) – an exhilarating experience for any serious photographer or artist. I know, I know, technically the artists I name may not all be Impressionists (van Gough, Gauguin carry the Post-Impressionist label), I don’t care. I’m making a generalization here not writing a critical review of the painting style, influences and heritage. Just go there if you ever get the chance – you’ll be blown away seeing the original works that have appeared in so many books, posters and cards over the past century.

Here’s my offering – an impressionist style photograph of the museum that holds so many masterful works – in tribute to a group of artists who dared to see and show the world in new way.

Taken with a Nikon D200, Nikon 17-55mm, f11, 1/15s.

Notre Dame was built from around 1163 to 1290 and parts of the rose windows date from that time. They are a magnificent site as you visit the ancient cathedral and it is amazing to think these have managed to survive so many years. I found a reasonably quiet area and set up for some long exposures of 2-8 seconds, but it was pretty hard to get an unrestricted view with all the visitors passing by. In the end I used a single exposure as the basis for an image and selected several different RAW exposures to use for a HDR image. Light was hitting the vaulted ceiling of the transept from the rose window and from several windows to the left and right of the image, the longish exposure helped burn some of the light into the sand coloured limestone that is used for buildings all over Paris.