10 Photos, One City: Paris Through My Lens
Paris rolled out the red carpet for us during our European vacation. This was my first trip to mainland Europe since the year 2000. Back then I was there with my then girlfriend, Jennifer. She and I decided to come back with our three kids and celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. The first stop on our trip was London. I previously wrote about my 10 Favorite Photos From 48 Hours in London.
After taking the Eurostar from London’s St. Pancras Station to Paris’ Gare du Nord we made our way to our favorite hotel of the entire trip — the lovely Hotel Napoleon, which is so close to the Arc de Triomphe that it could partially be see from our hotel room. Similar to the London post, I wanted to share ten favorite photos I took while in Paris. Certainly, I could share about forty or more images that I’m very proud of, but I’m not that keen on writing and talking about that many photos might be a little too much for a simple blog post.
1. Arc de Triomphe Street View / Avenue de Friedland
Why I love this shot: Sometimes my favorite photos are the ones where I don’t have too much time to plan. Obviously, that was the case here as I snapped this one as we were crossing the street. But it’s great because there’s movement in the photo. The cyclist, the woman looking at her phone, the cars slowly inching towards us as the light was about to turn green — and me, I’m moving as well. Whether I’m traveling in Paris or taking photos while at a Georgia football game, oftentimes I’m trying to take the photo no one else is taking. A quick rule of thumb for me that stays in the forefront of my mind when I take a photo of an iconic place is, “Could you easily find this picture on a Google Image search?” If the answer is yes, I try to recompose the shot, but if the answer is no, then I know I’ve got a chance at taking a memorable photo that might end up on my wall, or in a blog post. It is not a hard and fast rule of mine, just an inner voice constantly checking in with me, helping me to get the best possible image. A bonus for this photo, the evening sun really helps accentuate the beauty of this scene. I love it.
Camera Data: ISO 125, f/2.8, 1/1600 | Shot on Canon G7X Mark III | 10mm focal length — had I had more time, or thought about it. This would have been the perfect setting for a slow shutter to blur some or all of the people moving around the scene.
2. The Eiffel Tower Selfie | Avenue de New York
Why I love this shot: You know how it is when you arrive to a new, international city. Unload your bags, check-in at the hotel, move all your stuff and then sit there and ask yourself, “Okay, so what’s first?” This is what we did. Walking out of the Hotel Napoleon, we typed in Eiffel Tower on Google Maps and started walking. A straight shot down Avenue George V towards the Seine River and we arrived at this location. If you saw my airport travel video you’ll remember me saying that I’m always looking for an opportunity to take a photo of someone taking a selfie. Here, this image might be my favorite type of these photos, ever! Perfect smiles, perfectly framed and every time I see this shot, it reminds me of the thrill we were feeling that evening. Pure excitement!
Camera Settings: ISO 400, f/4, 1/800 | Shot on Canon R5 Mark II | 24mm — I carried my RF 24-105mm f/4 lens with me on this trip for two reasons. First, the size and weight. It’s relatively small and pretty light — perfect for travel. The other reason is that I love shooting wide and 24mm gave me plenty of room to compose the shot and not worry that I was going to cut off the tower or their expressions.
3. The Eiffel Tower Part Deux | Quai Jacques Chirac
Why I love this shot: Could you maybe find this picture on a Google Image search? Yeah. So why did I include it? I love the color, I love the light, and I love that little branch that is blocking the upper part of the Eiffel Tower. We continued walking towards the tower, through a small food truck section right on the river, and up to the base.
The Eiffel Tower was closed for tourists that June day because of the heatwave. I think the haze and the yellow reflecting off of the leaves in the trees really helps tell the story of the weather that day.
What a warm evening it was.
Camera Settings: ISO 400, f/4, 1/1250 | Shot on Canon R5 Mark II | 75mm
4. Have You Seen the Mona Lisa? | The Louvre
Why I love this shot: The Louvre is so impressive. It’s massive too, our tour guide said it would take years for someone to see every single piece of art in the museum. We were suggested by Global Escapes to get said guide and it was the best advice we received. In case you were wondering, we booked via Viator and our guide went by “Z” and I could have listened to him talk all day long. Fantastic.
Nevertheless, as we entered The Louvre I was trying to figure out how I was going to photograph our experience. I went to my natural tendency to try and take the photos others weren’t taking. And this is a great example. Did I get a photo of the Mona Lisa? Of course, but I was more interested in taking a photo of other people taking a photo of the Mona Lisa. In fact, the painting behind the crowd is way more impressive than the smallish Mona Lisa. You can see another angle of the world’s most famous painting in my lead Instagram photo in this post.
Camera Data: ISO 800, f/4, 1/60 | Shot on Canon R5 Mark II | 24mm focal length — make sure to check your shutter speed. I had a few images while touring The Louvre that were blurry in a bad way (not intentional blurriness). 1/60 worked here because most people were pretty still since they were mesmerized by the Mona Lisa.
5. Galeries Lafayette Haussmann | Chaussée d'Antin Neighborhood
Why I love this shot: The Galeries Lafayette is a department store in Paris. There are a couple of locations, but the one at Haussmann is the main spot. I like this shot, but I did not like being there. It’s a mall. There are a ton of shops from high end to basic retail. But it is crowded and not laid out very well. Also, we had previously, in London, visited Harrods and Harrods department store blows the Galeries Lafayette out of the water. I included this photo taken from the 7th floor, because it is a gorgeous, old building — most places in Paris are old, but this photo helps show how massive this place truly is. It’s worth a visit, but a quick one.
Camera Data: ISO 125, f/1.8, 1/500 | Shot on Canon G7X Mark III | 10mm focal length — typically when I’m inside I like to be a little more incognito when I shoot photos. I used the G7X for this photo, but because of the smaller sensor I try to keep the ISO as low as possible. It’s great, but once the G7X gets up to about ISO 1000, the photos, especially indoor photos, begin to show a little too much noise for my liking.
6. Canon Connect Paris Self Portrait | Montmartre
Why I love this shot: I’m not in many photos. I’m also fine with not being in many photos. During our European travels, I tried my best to take one or two photos of all five of us and this was one of those occasions. If you’ve ever visited Paris, you’ll know about Montmartre and the Sacré-Cœur Basilica. You can see it from many places because it sits at the highest elevation in the city. We chose to walk all the way from the Galerie Lafayette and it was lovely, but be warned, it is all uphill, and pretty tiring walk — we just happened to do it during a Paris heatwave. This photo helps tell the story what we had gone through just getting to this little nook near the basilica. We’re smiling through the stifling, uncomfortable heat. Notice each kid has a shaved ice, there are three water bottles on the ground, and Jennifer has a fan.
We had been sitting for a while, so I placed my R5 a few feet in front of us. I tethered it to my phone via the Canon Connect app, which allowed me to do anything I needed to (except zoom) to get the perfect settings for the photo. You’ll notice my phone prominently featured because I was looking at the lens while trying to remember where exactly the shutter button was on my screen. It came out great and we have already printed this and it’s currently sitting in our kitchen proudly displayed in a 5×7 frame.
Camera Data: ISO 320, f/4.5, 1/500 | Shot on Canon R5 Mark II | 33mm focal length — connecting to the phone is such a useful tool that Canon provides. It’s one I don’t use nearly enough and I bet other Canon shooters neglect as well.
7. Supercar Row | Avenue George V
Why I love this shot: “Hey Siri, show me something that stops you in your tracks.” This is why I love touring big, expensive, world-class cities. You never know what you’ll see around the corner when it comes luxury. Like here, the type of automotive luxury most of us will never personally be able to own, but can certainly appreciate. We were walking to our next attraction in Paris during our second day and saw this obvious promotion with a row of wrapped supercars. I see a couple of Porsches and I’m guessing the other two are Lamborghinis. Paris is so extravagant and I love that about the city — it leans into its extravagance. I’m guessing this is a hotel or business that matched the cars’ wrap with its awning. Typically I’m not a fan of the burgundy color because being a UGA fan, I prefer a true bulldog red color for cars. But this looks so polished and I love how the building color works so well with the car color in a similar color palette. You’ll notice other people like this setup — as two young photographers are either filming or taking shots of the display. The juxtaposition of the old world building and the cobblestone street with the elite sports cars is the perfect touch. Nice job, Paris.
Camera Data: ISO 80, f/1.8, 1/2300 | Shot on Canon G7X Mark III | 10mm focal length — I don’t need to tell you that I surely had my little G7X in my pocket, saw this scene, powered on the camera and photographed it without even looking at my settings. The good is that I had my camera accessible to grab this photo. The bad is that I didn’t take a second to dial it all it and I also could have used my R5 for a better outcome. But still, I got the shot and it is print worthy in my opinion.
8. Way Bigger Than You Think | Arc de Triomphe
Why I love this shot: Staying so close to the Arc de Triomphe, it felt like we visited it or walked close to it multiple times a day. Talking about an impressive and historical landmark — it’s also one of my favorite spots in Paris. The tomb of the unknown solider is there, and some personal history. My grandad rode down the Champs-Élysées as the Allied Forces liberated Paris at the end of World War II. We walked around the base of the arc and eventually climbed all of the steps to the top. Pro tip: the top reveals the best view you can get of the city of Paris. Definitely worth the price of admission.
You think it is big, but it is way bigger once you stand next to it and underneath it. Truly the best way to photograph this landmark is with your smartphone on the wide angle (0.5) setting. Otherwise you would need to take multiple shots and then compose a panorama using editing software.
Camera Settings: ISO 50, f/2.2, 1/120 | Shot on iPhone 17 ProMax — I’m a camera snob and my last choice is always to shoot with my iPhone. However, the 0.5 wide angle lens on the iPhone is a special bit of technology and for a shot like this it remains undefeated.
9. Views of Montmartre | Top of the Arc de Triomphe
Why I love this shot: There is no debate on what the highest point in Paris is. Montmartre and the basilica stand out almost like the Eiffel Tower does. You get peeks of it from different corners and avenues all throughout the city. I mentioned earlier in the post how we walked to Montmartre. It doesn’t look like it from this vantage point, but it’ll test your endurance with the steep grade in elevation change. But this image was shot from the top of the Arc de Triomphe. So many people book tickets to the top of the Eiffel Tower, or The Louvre among many other tourist spots but I feel like climbing the steps to the top of the Arc de Triomphe is not talked about enough. If you want 360° views this has to be a stop on your itinerary. Make it even better and go in the evening. You’ll get golden hour photography opportunities and if you wait until the sun sets, the Eiffel Tower will light up at the top of the hour and sparkle, which makes for some stunning photo and video opportunities as well.
The climb up is not the worst part when going to the top of the Arc de Triomphe, it’s the fact that you have to take a spiral staircase and if you don’t lock your eyes on a certain point you will be pretty dizzy when you get to the top.
Camera Data: ISO 320, f/10, 1/200 | Shot on Canon R5 Mark II | 105mm focal length — Don’t fall into the trap that I sometimes fall into when I forget to change my aperture for landscape photos. When I’m taking a photograph such as this, I want the foreground and subject all in focus. The RF 24-105mm is usually sitting around f/4 for me when I’m on the street or taking family photos. But for a shot like this I’d recommend living somewhere between f/7.1 and f/11.
10. The Morning We Left Paris | Hotel Napoleon
Why I love this shot: We were blessed with our vacation accommodations. I handed our itinerary planning over to the pros at Global Escapes and our travel agent, Christine booked us at the Hotel Napoleon. I think it’s safe to say it was our favorite hotel of all time. The location is one thing, you can see the Arc de Triomphe in this photo I took of my sons. Staying here places you right where you want to be as far as getting out and exploring Paris. But the attention to detail that the hotel maintains in their common areas and rooms, the flower boxes outside of the window, the views, the breakfast — oh my gosh the breakfast was superb, and the friendliness of the staff made our stay even better.
We are a family of five and need two rooms. I loved how without asking, the hotel put us in rooms on the same floor that allowed us to be across the courtyard from each other. I could not have asked for a better experience.
Camera Settings: ISO 125, f/4, 1/1600 | Shot on Canon R5 Mark II | 24mm focal length
It’s safe to say that we don’t travel enough as a family. And, the sad part is those days of taking vacations as our original family of five are probably coming to an end soon. With two college-age sons, and a daughter who is starting her junior year in high school, we’re all busy and not together as much. It’s already been about a month and a half since our European vacation and I find myself looking through the photos I took feeling nostalgic already about the wonderful time we had in Paris (as well as London and Switzerland).
Scott Duvall is the owner of Jawavi Films, a photographer and videographer based in Oconee County, GA. He works with clients across a range of industries, helping companies create standout social media content, and is a proud graduate of the University of Georgia. You can find Jawavi Films on Instagram.