Frédéric François Chopin

While in Paris two weeks ago, I was mostly shooting black and white film.  I had a couple film backs for the Hasselblad loaded with very old colour stuff but didn't realize when I had shot them.  Such is the nature of a 'surprise'.  This turned out to be a very pleasant surprise.  When I developed the roll and scanned it, I fell in love with it.  This was also a large stroke of luck, as the film roll had expired in 1998.  The other rolls did not come out anywhere near this, one even being unusable - I got enough shots of the Eiffel Tower anyway, so no great loss.

Here we have the grave of Frédéric François Chopin.  1 March 1810 – 17 October 1849.  Admired by so many, still to this day.  That is impressive.  I waited for a good fifteen minutes for people to leave so I could get close enough for this shot.

Looking at, and photographing, death, makes me think more about life.  It makes me want to do more before I come here and stay here.  That inspiration is quickly lost in my when I get back outside and step back into my daily life, but while walking through a cemetery, my mind slows down, and quiets down, and really listens to the rest of me.  Mostly, the heart.  All I want is to enjoy this simple life  while I can.  So much in our lives is just useless junk, but in today's society, we're trained to see things as if they are essential to daily life.  Some people can get away from that, but then they are labeled as the bad guy for thinking outside their box.  I think that's a discussion in itself....   Anyway, seeing this shot come out as well as it did inspired me to do more colour photography.  I enjoy black and white very much, but I'm adding some colour film into my bag now too.  Who knows what it will see.....