I made this image of a man sleeping next to a side entrance of the National Assembly on my first trip to Paris, as a 16-year-old in 1960. I’ve always been pleased with it, but also had many questions, which I’ve explored here in a Gumbo’s World post.
The trip was my first as a “near-adult,” with my father as traveling companion and I with the chance to direct some of where we went and what we did.
And I fell in love with Paris, and with its changing shapes, textures, sounds and moods, and its sense that all centuries are present together. In Allen Ginsberg’s words, “You can’t escape the past in Paris, and yet what’s so wonderful about it is that the past and present intermingle so intangibly that it doesn’t seem to burden.”
