Today’s theme is experimental and nice Krista let us choose what we wanted so I went for an experiment of mine at the former St Vincent de Paul hospital (aka “grands voisins” until it disappears next Summer; sigh…) In the basement of one of the former hospital buildings there used to be a surgical block. Christopher, a rather nice and excentric American guy, was our host. He is the fourth eye of the “4ème oeil” photo artists foursome. He is the one stepping on the roll of paper. Behind him was Christophe, a — no less excentric — French photographer who had hired the studio too. I had decided to go there to experiment with portraits. I have neither enough space nor kit to do that at my office.

The entrance to the “studio”. I hope they keep this with the new buildings, it’s nice to be able to hire the place for a shooting.

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Meet Sergio Pomodoro (not his real name), an Italian chap I met at a meet up yesterday afternoon. We were sitting on the ground, trying to catch our breaths after an exhausting tour of artists’ workshop in Paris 6th district and he spotted my camera. So he asked whether I could take a mugshot of him for his Meet up and Facebook pages. It was very sunny yesterday and he was quite taken aback when I asked him to pose in the shade in front of a nondescript wall. Of course, shooting portraits in full sunshine will result in ugly shadows, that’s the reason why. Oh by the way, he is into hard rock concerts, but I believe you have guessed as much.

I spotted that guy yesterday while browsing the Saint Ouen “Les Puces” flea market. He was selling trinkets and chit chatting with colleagues around him. On his counter sat prominently a mock speed camera on which there was a “Girlie Speed Camera” label. I asked hime whether he’d been able to pick up some chicks with that trick and he confirmed it had worked well for him. He might not sell many of his trinkets but at least he got something from the job.