Friday 5 March 2010

Friday Flaneur (2) - Brunch in The Strand


Cradled in the bosom of family, he absorbs the binds between generations. May he appreciate the love of family, the beauty of old places, and the legacy of our forefathers.


Flaneur (n). A person who strolls the city in order to appreciate it.
Are YOU a flaneur - a la Baudelaire or Sontag?

26 comments:

brattcat said...

Soon this will be your family, yes?

Piyush Garyali said...

Love the angle on these shots :)

Lois said...

I like that word! This is such a sweet set of pictures.

James said...

That's an unusual but really cool family portrait. :)

jabblog said...

Marvellous! Did any of them look up and catch you looking down?

Peter said...

a beauty, I love the tiles as a background

Gunn said...

Very nice, both the photos and the atmosphere.

Julie said...

BC, yes I am looking at family gatherings differently with the delicious prospect of a grand-daughter!

JL, I was up on the 3rd floor mezzanine and they had better things to do!

Unknown said...

Flaneur is a new word for me. :)

I could be a flaneur but the person I most often travel with (my husband) doesn't enjoy that as much as I do. Darn!

Joan Elizabeth said...

Funny thing about new words (I hadn't learnt Flaneur until last week) and saw it twice this week! I wonder how many other interesting words walk by unnoticed until someone points them out.

I guess that is what is delicious about photography too. Someone else has done the hard work, spotted the details and points it out.

These little movies are fascinating, this one is like a spot the difference sequence. But how long did you have to hang around to get it?

Jim said...

I really noticed the tiles in these shots too. Sorry, can't help that. I have more of an eye for architecture than people spotting. :)
Sydney - City and Suburbs

Julie said...

Yes, I "worried" over how to present the story until I cottoned onto the "spot the difference" idea. Just lucky that the mother put the baby back in the stroller.

It was a surprisingly short time, aided by the fact that I could do a 360 turn around them. Less than 10 minutes on this grouping, but I was up there all told about half an hour. The view (for a flaneur) is delicious.

Julie said...

Jim, you are forgiven! I have long ago worked out your strengths and weaknesses, but know where to go for details about buildings in Sydney. As I have said, our blogs are complementary which is a very nice way to go!

Bruce Caspersonn said...

More interesting photos, well done. You are the direct opposite to my wife who avoids photographing people at all cost.
Bruce.

Ann said...

That would be my favourite Sydney arcade, although I'm not completely comfortable taking this kind of shot. Maybe that should be I'm not completely comfortable using this kind of shot - I do take them sometimes.

Ann said...

PS forgot to answer your question - flags are near the War Memorial and Pool of Reflection.

Julie said...

Using photographs of people without their knowledge:
This is a contentious issue. Does a person have exclusive rights to their own image? Should a photographer ask permission first? Does it matter whether an image is used in a positive way, or should it not be used. Take yesterday's photo and today's photo, one negative the other positive. Yesterday's photo would not have existed if permission was essential.

In this world, we KNOW we are captured on CCTV numerous times a day and that this image can be used in court against us. People are photographed incidently in news reports every day and these are transmitted world wide.

I guess the decision is an individual one, and each photographer goes with their comfort zone.

raf said...

Wonderful, Julie!
I liked Susan Sontag's take on the street photographer as flaneur armed with camera. Makes me think I are one too. ;) Thanks for the link.
Fridays at Sydney Eye get better yet!

Marka said...

Nice perspective!

Julie said...

Thanks, Raf. It might be worthwhile to include the Sontag quote here:
The photographer is an armed version of the solitary walker reconnoitering, stalking, cruising the urban inferno, the voyeuristic stroller who discovers the city as a landscape of voluptuous extremes. Adept of the joys of watching, connoisseur of empathy, the flâneur finds the world 'picturesque'.

I regard myself as a "connoisseur of empathy" endeavouring to wrap my subjects in a form of love and regard.

Anonymous said...

Hi Julie:
An Award is awaiting for you at my blog, you just have to follow the rules.
Have a good day my friend.
Serge

Jilly said...

Always loved the word. Even had a blog called that but didn't use it.

Wrote a reply to your message on Menton, Julie but basically I am an Australian citizen as well as a Brit. I think I must have assumed because I worked and paid taxes in Australia that it didn't matter what my nationality was - that I could vote regardless. Having read your words, obviously not and it's the same as in France. Thanks for that, Julie.

Julie said...

Sounds to me, Jilly, that you are a citizen of the world! I suspect I think a little differently from Nathalie - and probably from the vast majority of Australians. I don't have a kenedyesque view of "my country right or wrong: ...

Unknown said...

I think I am a sort of flaneur but I do it from A Toyota.

Julie said...

*chuckle* ... a sort-of ... mmm ... okay.

Killara girl said...

how sweet...love the tile.