Boutique Ceiling, a photo from Ile-de-France, Nord

Photographer's Note

This is a photo I took today in a boutique on the Champs-Elysée. It is actually a collection of several boutiques in one long hallway. It has these amazing ceilings with all sorts of different lighting fixtures all around. In France, most stores are not open on Sundays, due to a national law. Certain stores which pay high taxes do, however stay open Sundays. The Virgin Mega Store on the Champs-Elysée was one of the first to go through all of the procedures in order to stay open on Sunday. Nowadays several of the businesses along this largest avenue in Paris are open on Sundays as well. Also the law does not apply to entertainment such as cinemas or restaurants.

Postprocessing: I used the distort tool to pull the whitish window bording in the lower left corner farther down. I was unable to achieve the proper positioning with my camera and still include the light post naturally. Also I adjusted the levels, raising the white point.

guyfortier, davecall, nwoehnl trouve(nt) cette note utile

Critiques | Translate

kooreman (321) 2004-05-23 17:19

Nice shot. You have captured the mood of the boutique well I think. Pitty that the right and top lamps are not as sharp as the one on the bottom. How can this be as the ceiling appears sharp and the bottom lamp also looks sharp?
Nevertheless I like this shot.

davecall (575) 2004-05-24 2:03

This is a very well composed photo; the kaleidoscope-style patterns and the pastel colours combine to make it a winner. Nice work!

nwoehnl (122) 2004-05-25 14:37

Very aesthetic shot, Michele, and also a fine graphical impact from the different shapes and lines of the decorative glasswork and lamps on the ceiling. Good colors, and the shot is also pretty well cropped.

The thing with stores being closed on Sundays (and on not staying open very long at night during the week) is the same in most of Western Europe, I guess. Whenever I'm in the U.S. I go to a supermarket after midnight, just for the hell of it, to confirm that they're actually selling stuff at any time of the day :o)