It has been a very, very grey winter in Toronto. Winter here can be brutally cold and it isn’t my favourite season, even less so since my diagnosis of multiple sclerosis as slippery sidewalks and cold temperatures make it difficult for me to be outdoors. Still, after 38 years in Canada I think I have learned to compose with winter and even love it. I love the light after a snowstorm, the hushed city sounds when the ground is covered in snow, the crunching of snow under my boots and of course, I love stepping outside and having the hairs in my nose freeze instantly (I’m joking about that one).
This year I have struggled with winter. There has been close to no snow, very little sunshine… just a lot of greyness. My mood has matched the colour of the sky. My cameras, both film and digital have just been sitting on a shelf, collecting winter dust and I have mostly just been sitting around too, waiting for spring to arrive and for light to return.
On grey days, I will sometimes flip through old photos and because we have been talking about, maybe, going to France for a few weeks soon, I dug up some old film shots of Paris. I have a love/hate relationship with Paris, which I think is not uncommon in French people who, like me, grew up or live in what Parisians like to call “la province”. When I am in Paris, I love it though and so, here are some film shots from a few years ago. Most were shot with my Canon AE1 and two with my Hasselblad, on Portra 400 or Fuji Superia.
“J’ai quitté Paris et même la France, parce que la Tour Eiffel finissait par m’ennuyer trop”
Guy de Maupassant
Today is a beautiful, sunny day. I am hoping for more of them and the return of inspiration.