Prologue

The pictures on this blog were taken in the fall of 2007, in Paris and Provins. Over a period of months afterwards, I worked on them in the computer's virtual darkroom... posting them on this blog as I finished them. More recently (2011), I tore the blog down and have rebuilt it, with only slight alteration to the images and text. The major changes were to resort the posting order, so that it goes from front-to-back, like a book, and to make all of the pictures larger on the screen. I have also added some more.

This was our sixth time in Paris. I had fallen in love with the city, the light, the age of its facades (unlike nearly all other major European cities, Paris did not get heavily bombed in either of the World Wars).

Over time, I managed to set aside my old anger at the French for what they did in Indochina as, with age, I have learned to lump all countries' politics with the rest of human stupidity.

I was in Paris to look and see.

I should warn you, though, that the images on this blog are not photographs in the sense of accurate, objective records of what was in front of the camera, nor are they intended to communicate anything—no statements, social or otherwise, or Pursuit of Beauty; forget Truth.

In addition to pictures, I have added bits of text: both quotations and personal comments, in hopes of increasing the viewers' understanding of what this is all about.
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I very much dislike being forced to look at small pictures on the Internet, so I have made mine as large as reasonably possible. The size of your computer monitor will affect how large the image will be when you first view it in your browser. You can then get a larger view by clicking on a picture (and sometimes make it larger still by clicking again, if you have a small monitor). To return to the blog post, just click on the browser's back button.
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This is now what I call a 'blog-book'. As you see it now, it shall remain—no new posts. And it reads from front-to-back (top-to-bottom), just like a book. There are only three posts ('sections'):

• The Prologue (what you are reading now)
• Pictures, Part One (the main body of the blog)
• A Day in Provins (to get there, go to the bottom of the main body, then click on "Older Posts")

That's it. Take your time—there are more than 350 pictures on this blog; don't try to do it all at once.

Addendum: To make this easier, I have placed numbers below and to the right of each image, as bookmarks. When you are ready to stop for a while, just record the number of the image where you stopped. Then, to start again, open the blog to the section you were in (probably Pictures, Part One) and use your browser's 'find' command to enter that image number.