Sunday, October 26, 2008

Le Pont Neuf

The Pont Neuf, or New Bridge, is the oldest bridge in Paris. It's also one of the most beautiful, situated at the downstream tip of the Ile de la Cité. The equestrian statue of Henri IV watches over everyone who crosses here.

Le Pont Neuf and l'Ile de la Cité.

The park at the tip of the island is often filled with people basking in the sun, watching the boats move up and down the river. It's a magical place, except when it gets too crowded.

The bridge has been recently renovated; new stone replaced old acid-worn bits, the rest was cleaned of years of soot and grime, and new lighting was installed.

I took this photo before that renovation began. It's another of those old slides from the late 1980s that I had rejected. I have so many photos of this view, taken from the Pont des Arts, and this was just one more and it wasn't very interesting. But again, I used Photoshop to crop it and change the colors a bit, and now I like it just fine. That's the original slide there on the left.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Walt,

    I'm enjoying your reclaimed slides --it's so interesting to see what you've done with PhotoShop. I just compared your shot with a similar one I took from pretty much the same spot. It was in March, when I was on my way to visit you and it looks very much like the same boats, or at least boats with same masts, were anchored to the right of the bridge. The more things change, eh?

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  2. susan, glad you're enjoying these! Like I said, I have a whole bunch of this shot from different trips, different angles, and in different seasons. Whew!

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