Street Photography in France
Summer is great for street photography, probably in any city and any country. But summer in the Mediterranean is amazing for street photography. Looking through the photos from our trip, despite flamingos and horses and red lakes, the street photos are our favorites.
A lot of everyday life is happening outside, and because the Mediterraneans are used to this being a possibility most od the time of the year, they live a lot of their life outside (contrary to Scandinavians who love being outside during hot summer days, but who still have their everyday items and routines inside). Also, most people are friendly and laughing and ready for a chat or having their photo taken. (Does this paragraph sound familiar? We wrote something similar about our trip to Lisbon - seems like we’re positively surprised every time!)
We mainly were in Arles which happened to host a photography festival during the time. Everywhere in the city, small photography exhibitions were held. While we were not there because of the festival, it was great to just pop into a random backyard to be greeted by a small private exhibition.
The city is sprawled along the Rhône and has a charming city center with an amphitheatre and a lot of small alleys. Unfortunately, we visited exactly at a time where no horse or bull event took place. They’re scheduled throughout the summer, so if you want to experience some of the famous events, make sure to check the dates before planning your trip!
A lot of people were sitting outside alone reading.
Balcony life just is different down south.
One of the evenings, the part of the city where we were eating dinner in a restaurant, had a power outage. While there was a bit of confusion (especially among the tourists and thus us), it did not really bring down the mood or vibe. The restaurants actually stayed open, only offered food that could be prepared cold or over open flames, the waiters walked around with lights and most customers seemed unperturbed. A big challenge was the payment though, as we had to dash to an ATM in a different part of the city (without power outage) to get some cash.
Festival d’Avignon
We happened to visit the Camargue during the annual Avignon Festival which is a festival of arts. We didn’t particularly plan to visit the festival, but wanted to visit Avignon for one day. As it turns out, a traditional, big art festival is perfect for street photography!
The city was packed (we won’t write about the struggles to get a parking spot …) and there were street artists, advertising theatre groups and interesting looking people everywhere.
We didn’t do anything else in Avignon but wander around, take photos of people and eat ice cream.
The kindness we and our cameras were greeted with, everywhere.
This nice hat salesman was a photographer on the side as well and we acquired one of his street photo books about Avignon. Check him out: Alexandre Brétinière
Proud puppy mum!
Street artist preparing his makeup. It seemed to be his regular spot as there was a lot of rust-colored paint splattered on the wall which looked really cool.
Yes, there was a goat. It was just standing there with its humans like any regular dog would. I mean - why not?
How are your experiences in different countries with street photography? What’s the best country for it?