Garbage

Something particular to Paris, from my experience at least, is the stunningly bad smells and presence of garbage in a city that is often referred to as "picture perfect." That in itself is a loaded phrase but I won't go into that right now because I'd rather focus on garbage and smelly Paris.

There are times when I walk through this city and I can't believe the amount of dog urine and waste I see all over the place. There are stagnant pools of water and cardboard boxes covering them. There are smells so bad I have to hold my nose closed. I don' t remember Chicago smelling this much...or do I.

I started thinking about the places we live in and our expectations for them. I realized that maybe it is not that Paris is smellier and dirtier than Chicago, but that I might expect more cleanliness of Paris. When I go back to Chicago I am sure I would be able to take just as many pictures trying to indicate the smelly feeling of garbage I get there just like in Paris. It is just strange to me that it took being abroad, in this romanticized place to realize that I should be more aware of the details in my own home town. Apparently I am not the only person who overlooks their own town's ability to be photographed because Sontag quotes Berenice Abbott saying about the same thing. "If I had never left America, I would never have wanted to photograph New York. But when I saw it with fresh eyes, I knew it was my country, something I had to set down in photographs" (67-68). Maybe that will be a project when I get home.

In the meanwhile I tried to take a lot of pictures in places where I felt almost gross. I think living in a place is about experiencing it in its entirety and so I want to show not only the "picturesque" side of Paris, but the gross parts too.