Paris on Black/White Film

Paris, France from the lens of my little Pentax 35mm film camera.

Here is a small collection of photos I took of Paris on black/white film.

I first fell in love with Paris when I was about 13 years old. It was after watching the movies Sabrina and Funny Face, both starring Audrey Hepburn. Later on, I also watched Audrey in the movie Love in the Afternoon also shot in Paris. I had never visited Paris at the time, but I didn’t need to fall in love with that timeless, romantic city. Audrey said it herself, “Paris is always a good idea.”

Ever since watching both of those movies as a young teenage girl (and countless times since), it was my life’s dream to visit Paris. As I got older and explored my passion for photography, especially film photography, my dream evolved. I still greatly desired to explore the streets of Paris someday carrying a baguette in one hand and a chocolate pastry in the other while wearing a black turtle neck and beret. That vision certainly did not change. But now, I wanted to view Paris from the viewfinder of my little Pentax 35mm film camera. I wanted to view the city of love the same way Audrey Hepburn would have. I had to capture Paris in the most iconic yet raw way I knew how as both an ode to my love for film photography and the old-time Hollywood Paris I had originally fallen in love with.

I wanted to photograph Paris on black/white film. To photograph Paris in black and white, this was my life’s new mission.

And so, in January of 2019, Robert surprised me. He revealed that that coming October we were going to both London and Paris for two weeks. Fast forward almost a year, I packed my carry-on, a bag of black and white Kodak film, and my little Pentax 35mm film camera, and off we went ”to find ourselves in Paris.” (Not really, but isn’t that why people visit Paris? I believe Audrey also quotes this in Sabrina.)