As I walked slowly down the Champs-Elysees towards one of Paris’s crowning jewels; the Arc de Triomphe, I wondered just how incredible the view would be. I knew luggin my idiot tripod all over Paris would surely pay off now. Myself and some friends climbed the spiralling steps to the top, emerging into a scence of light an colour – the Champs-Elysees stretched out below on one side, the Eiffel Tower on another. I quickly set up my tripod and attached my D300, ready to take some seriously cool shots. However some douchebag security dick had other ideas…
Aparently you are not alowed to use tripods when photographing from the top of the Arc de Triomphe!! The reason? Tripods are deemed professional pieces of equipment and so you pictures will be TOO GOOD!! I’ standing there with a D300 (which I have a fair grasp of its many functions) and a crappy €20 rickedy tripod, and it’s the tripod that is forbidden for fear of good photos!!
Needless to say I was irked. The few shots I took were handheld, including this one. The shutter speed was 1.3 seconds – not bad!
Technorati Tags: Nikon, D300, HDR, Photography, projectvisual, Paris, night time, night photography, Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Elysees, douchebag
Heh. I got yelled at there for putting my aching feet up for about ten seconds. One of my friends had a little chat with les flics because they thought he was taking a photo of them, but he didn’t.
I thought French people weren’t supposed to be so clamp-assed about everything…
A very nice shot again! Love the colors!
Thanks BioTeck – it’s just a pity that no tripods were allowed, you’d think that tourists taking great photos and showing them to the world would be a good thing!?
Yeah I’ve found the French can be sometimes pretty arrogant about some things – in a cafe a waiter went crazy because we didn’t say Bonjour to him!