Hi,
just a very short one as I won't have leisure to deal with the pictures for quite a while.
We had a massive serial failure last night - plan A we had but entered when we immediately got done by two beefy security guys with a very large dog (strategy: walk toward them, put on a huge smile, shake their hand, and start asking them questions), plan B was unfeasible, plan C was a massive dump, and so, kids, that's why you should always have a plan D.
A friend of mine was nice enough to take me down into a network in the South-East of Paris, not connected to the GRS but still the second-largest in Paris.
As it's not nearly as popular, there is way way way less graffiti and trash, and although there aren't nearly as many installations until you get well inside it, there are some good clean shots of the galeries and signs. Generally, it's very well maintained, and while there are a few flooded sections, it's a comparative cakewalk.
Playing with my new sort-of-fisheye:
We entered via a manhole in plain view, spent about two hours knocking around underground (and found a mushroom farm! Mmmm, mushrooms! And you will read that in Homer Simpson's voice), and exited right in the middle of a group of bemused gangbangers (the reason I didn't feel like breaking out my camera at the point of egress).
Also, a blatant plug for aforementioned friend's book. Even if you don't speak French, it'll make your coffee table look way more sophisticated than the pile of empty banana crates that it is. Very well done and lit (although unfortunately he hadn't foreseen that they'd publish the pics in such large sizes, so some are very slightly grainy). Well worth the investment, though.
just a very short one as I won't have leisure to deal with the pictures for quite a while.
We had a massive serial failure last night - plan A we had but entered when we immediately got done by two beefy security guys with a very large dog (strategy: walk toward them, put on a huge smile, shake their hand, and start asking them questions), plan B was unfeasible, plan C was a massive dump, and so, kids, that's why you should always have a plan D.
A friend of mine was nice enough to take me down into a network in the South-East of Paris, not connected to the GRS but still the second-largest in Paris.
As it's not nearly as popular, there is way way way less graffiti and trash, and although there aren't nearly as many installations until you get well inside it, there are some good clean shots of the galeries and signs. Generally, it's very well maintained, and while there are a few flooded sections, it's a comparative cakewalk.
Playing with my new sort-of-fisheye:
We entered via a manhole in plain view, spent about two hours knocking around underground (and found a mushroom farm! Mmmm, mushrooms! And you will read that in Homer Simpson's voice), and exited right in the middle of a group of bemused gangbangers (the reason I didn't feel like breaking out my camera at the point of egress).
Also, a blatant plug for aforementioned friend's book. Even if you don't speak French, it'll make your coffee table look way more sophisticated than the pile of empty banana crates that it is. Very well done and lit (although unfortunately he hadn't foreseen that they'd publish the pics in such large sizes, so some are very slightly grainy). Well worth the investment, though.
