Help, We're looking to photograph Paris Metro signs/entrances

I just googled paris metro deco (images) and it returned quite a few for starters.

Sounds like a project that would make a good on-line album (hint-hint).

The Abbesses metro station in Montmartre is one of the originals designed by Hector Guimard.

I don't know where you live, but you can actually find an authentic one by Guimard in Washington DC - in the sculpture garden at the National Gallery of Art.

I just tried a quick google search. It resulted in many images but few specifics. I'm posting now so that I'll remember this thread in the event that I do run across the info you would like.

I've taken similar photos but it was simply by saying "Wow.... look at that... I should take a photo since I'm here." Very scientific, eh?

I just read an article on this last month -- I think it was in a French newspaper, I'll see if I can find it. There were a lot more of them still existing in Paris than I had thought (probably dozens)--at least some parts of them. There are only a couple that still have the canopy, that is the unusual part. Abbesses is one of the most wellknown that is still existing, and I think Porte Dauphine. Some others without the canopy are all over Paris -- Raspail, Bastille, St Michel, Place d'Italie, Monceau, etc. Other than the ones with the canopy, they aren't that different, except for the names. YOu need to look for something by Guimard, he's the architect who designed them (and they are not Art Deco, but Art Nouveau).

The only other original one( besides the Abbesses) by Guimard is at Place Victor Hugo. Unfortunate the rest were stupidly torn down.

Just a thought, and it might be way off base. But with the extra security due to the bombings in London I wonder if it is a good idea to be photographing transportation entrances etc. as I have read that Europe has much tighter security now around their transportation stations.

The entrance at Porte Dauphine waaaaaaay out on the west side is one of the Art Nouveau entrances. If I remember correctly, the Pere Lachaise entrance was too (might have been the Phillippe August). The entrance for the Palais Royale station is unique and worth a look, but probably should be photograph on color film.

All line 2 entrances, from Nation to Belleville, are Guimard originals, though less known, since tourists normally don't roam around Avron or Couronnes. But it would be fun to take a picture with a kosher food shop or a Tunisian bakery in the background! To remain on the original side, you might also consider photographing some of the elevated lines, at Gare d'Austerlitz, Bercy/Quai de la Gare (another Guimard BTW), or the new ones on line 14, such as Bibliothèque de France.

I agree with LoveItaly. You could end up in a potentially nasty confrontation with security. It's just not good timing.

If a sign looks like this:
http://www.artandarchitecture.org.uk/images/conway/3ccb6440.html

...it is a Guimard. There are two covered entrances, however there are many simpler entrances still standing.

I found a website once that had a list of them - here is the list:

Abbesses
Alexandre Dumas
Anvers
Avron
Bastille
Blanche
Boissiere
Bolivar
Botzaris
Bréguet Sabin
Cadet
Campo Formio
Chardon Lagache
Chateau d'eau
Chatelet (Rivoli)
Chatelet (Ste Opportune)
Cité
Colonel Fabien
Couronnes
Crimee
Daumesnil
Denfert Rochereau
Eglise d'Auteuil
Etienne Marcel
Gambetta
Gare de Lyon
Gare du Nord
Kléber
Louis Blanc
Louvre
Ménilmontant
Mirabeau
Monceau
Mouton Duvernet
Nation
Palais Royal
Parmentier
Pasteur
Pere Lachaise
Philippe Auguste
Picpus
Pigalle
Place Clichy
Place d'italie
Porte Dauphine
Porte d'Auteuil
4 septembre
Raspail
Réaumur Sebastopol
Richard Lenoir
Rome
St Marcel
St Maur
St Michel
Temple
Ternes
Tuileries
Victor Hugo
Wagram

The Algerians got their independence. What security threat?

Yeah, well, that's true...

excellent, Travelnut--that does look like the list I saw in the article, only it had more information on them and several types of categories. I remember there were some metro names I had never even heard of.

this is an interesting photography related post...why not keep it that way? i think there was enough security related rubbish posting over the weekend. we don't need any more opinions about this.

Iluvparis. Buy the book by Susan L. Plotkin: "The Paris Metro"(a ticket to French history) The cover has a lovely drawing of the Abbesses the one of two only remaining fully covered entrances of Hector Guimard.
If you have time, look for his Castel Beringer.

IluvParis: LoveItaly's post is spot-on, and kudos to her for mentioning it right off the bat. You absolutely MUST be aware that this could be a problem right now in Paris. And you don't fool around with the French police-they'll take you in a red second if you try to give them any lip or protest what you're doing.

If I wanted to do this, I would FIND a policeman and ASK AND EXPLAIN what it was that I wanted to do, and request permission FIRST. That could save you a lot of grief, and possible arrest, in the long run.

And by the way, the French have been doing an excellent job on the anti-terrorism front-this country's intelligence services work with theirs hand in glove-and they have been an ENORMOUS resource-contrary to what so many think about US-French relations.

Love the one at St. Michel

Here's a sampling of what to see:

http://www.paris-eiffel-tower-news.com/walk-in-paris-guimard-land.html

It's perfectly legal to photograph Métro entrances. You don't need permission from a policeman or anyone else. Nobody is going to give you a hard time about it. France is not yet a police state.

Inside the Métro, transit authority ordinances technically forbid photography without permission. This is not a security issue, it's just a routine restriction that has existed in the Paris Métro for years and exists in most of the world's subway systems. I've never seen anyone bothered because he was taking pictures, however; enforcement against ordinary tourists and others is very light. But if you pull out a tripod or spend an hour photographing a station interior eventually someone is likely to ask if you have a permit.

No permit of any kind is required to photograph the exterior of Métro stations.

A number have been posted on pbase.

http://search.pbase.com/search?q=paris+metro&b=Search+Photos&c=sp

thank you AnthonyGA, for employing commonsense and fact where others have used conjecture.

tedgale dear, if you are referring to me I said "I had a thought and it might be way offbase".

It was a statement of fact, just a thought that went through my mind due to the problems that have occurred.

Take care.

Actually it was NOT a statement of fact, LOL. Sorry I ever brought up the thought!

It was not you I had in mind but another poster on this thread who previously reamed me out mercilessly, in tones of post-9/11 hysteria.

Well, folks, I hate to tell you, but LoveItaly's remark is NOT off base. We were just in Dallas and went downtown one evening to photograph some of the beautifully lit buildings. A guard for one of the buildings (a bank, I think) came outside and told us we could not photograph for security reasons.

Mind you, we were standing on a public sidewalk, and if we had been staying in a hotel across the street, or working in one of the offices nearby, we could have taken all the photographs we wanted without anyone even knowing about it. So it made no sense, and it was not a matter of a permit. The guard was nice, but determined.

I'm not particularly paranoid about this sort of thing, and I would go ahead and photograph. However, given the recent London bombings, I think it would be prudent to at least be aware that one might be questioned by some authority when photographing Metro entrances. Unless you are fluent, it might be handy to learn a few French phrases to explain what you're doing.

Mirabeau is one of my favorite metro stops to photograph. Not only is it classic Art Nouveau style, it's on a quiet, leafy corner (nice cafe as well) where you can snap away to your heart's content, getting the angle and light just right without hordes of other tourists around you. Also, you're a short walk from the bridge where you can shoot the small scale Statue of Liberty as well as some other interesting bridge artwork--and get a good shot of the Eiffel Tower.
The inside of Mirabeau station is interesting as well, as it's one of the few Metro stations where the trains only go one way (trains heading the opposite way go through but don't stop).

Hi ILUVPARIS,

I was thinking of the same thing! I'm going to Paris in September and want to take pictures of unique metro stations as well. I'm going to see if I can locate the best ones before I get there so I can be prepared.

Please write to me at wrigleycamp_21@hotmail.com and maybe we can help each other out.

Regards,
Tim

Hi Marilyn, welcome home!!

Well now I don't feel so bad that I posted my thoughts The reason I did is that I have had some comminications with friends in Italy and from what they have said security is really getting tight. Not a shock of course.

And then I remembered the gentleman who was visiting SF and was seen taking photos of the TransAmerica Pyramid from Columbus St. and got hassled by the SFPD and arrested. He was later released. Do you remember that story? I haven't had a friend from Italy that has not taken photos of the TransAm Bldg and various other buildings in SF as many of them are really in to photography and take very beautiful photos. Since 911 they don't even bring their cameras as they just don't want any hassles. Rather sad isn't it. Sorry about your and Phil's experience. And actually if the law enforcement were thinking it through it would seem they would take photos of the people taking photos??? Being sarcastic of course but as you said anyone with an evil intent could and no doubt would take photos from a location where they wouldn't be observed. Take care.

The first thing I thought of when I read the heading on this thread, is that they are asking if they might get in trouble due to the current climate. Agree with Marilyn that LoveItaly was on target in her opinion. Not trying to scaremonger, stir up problems, it's just sad but true the world is no longer the same, and whether or not some of these so-called security measures make sense or not (many don't) they are in place.

>>>>>
The first thing I thought of when I read the heading on this thread, is that they are asking if they might get in trouble due to the current climate.
>>>>>

but when we actually open the thread, we see that is not the question at all. we see that the OP is interested in travel and photography, not a debate on terrorist hunting techniques.

walkinaround, God help some of the posters on this forum if no one did anything but answer the exact question!

I think ILUVPARIS got a ton of useful info here, along with a few other considerations to think about. If she's pissed off, she can say so herself.

ILUVPARIS - We've taken a lot of photos of Hector Guimard's work in Paris including many of the Metro system. Here is a website with great photos of all of them. It's in French, but it's easy to go through, since the photos are organized by Metro line and by name.

Here's the URL: http://www.parisinconnu.com/guimard/

MM, the url didn't work for me. Did it for anyone else? Do you have your photos on line? We'd love to see them.

Oh my gosh, thank you everyone!!! It's late and I haven't had a chance to check out all the links but I'm just blown away by the # of responses.

Travelnut--you are WONDERFUL to post that list! WOW, just what I was looking for! Now if only someone knew what direction all these signs face so we'd know what time of day to get there!

Okay, you asked for it. If you go to

http://www.ratp.info/orienter/plan_telech_quartiers.php?partenaire=


you can download street maps of the neighborhoods surrounding every Métro station in town. They are extremely accurate, and survey north is always at the top of the map. Have fun computing the time of day corresponding to the sun angle you want.

Timing is everything, huh?

I was out shooting photos today of a new building under construction in my home city (in the USA) of 900,000 people and a security/parking person across the street came over to check me out and asked about my pictures. She recited my auto license plate # and may have written it down for somebody else.

I told her thank you for being sharp.

Cigale - am not sure why the URL didn't work for you. I just tried it and had no problem.

You might try the home page instead. It's http://www.parisinconnu.com/

From there, click on "Edicules Guimard" or the photo of the Metro entrance at Porte Dauphine.

The site contains photos of all the Guimard Metro entrances. (Our photos aren't available online.)

<but when we actually open the thread, we see that is not the question at all. we see that the OP is interested in travel and photography, not a debate on terrorist hunting techniques.>

Perhaps the OP didn't consider the possibility of getting in trouble. Not debating anything, let alone "terrorist hunting techniques"; merely pointing out what "could happen" so it might save the OP unnecessary hassles.

Please forgive me WA for not following the correct criteria as you see it!

Interesting to see that when people wanted to make their point about the danger of photographing public buildings, they cited examples in Dallas and SF. Who cares? Hello! We are talking about Paris, Anthony is absolutely right: I often go to Abesses, even recently, and I think I have never got out of the station without seeing at least 3 tourists taking pictures of the Guimard entrance. I know that French police have a bad name among some Anglo Saxon media, but so far nobody has been pumped 8 bullets by the police for jumping the turnstiles at a Paris métro station...

Art, I would not normally compare a US city to Paris (there's a joke in there somewhere), however, I can't imagine there isn't increased security awareness in all major European cities following the London bombings.

FWIW, the Mirabeau station sign faces northeast. Because of the trees around the station, it doesn't get full sun.

The other thing you could do is a tour in the 16th of some of the buildings designed by Guimard. I did not do the tour (sister did), but I have seen some of the buildings, would be a nice complement to the metro pictures.

One I found:

http://www.parisdigest.com/guidedtours/walkingtours.htm

bookmarked - there are some excellent sites given.

If you are in the 16th indeed and like Guimard, there are other metro stations with the old entries : Chardon Lagache and Porte d'Auteuil, and there are some private alleys along rue La Fontaine with his work and a fontaine Wallace place Jean Lorrain (metro Michel Ange Auteuil)

You should know that the Abbesses station is closed for renovation until December. So if you want to photograph it, you will do it after arriving on foot from Pigalle or Blanche.
The most unusual metro entrance is the Palais Royal one made out of colored glass balls -- part of the millennium artistic festivities.
The easiest canopy entrance to find is the Sainte Opportune exit at Châtelet. It is totally fake and was created a few years ago.

Of course, the Abbesses entrance is also not the original -- they brought it from another station and installed it for tourist reasons. It's all written on the sign there.

Here are a couple of Paris metro stations photos (and frim other metros)
BTW : you are perfectly allowed to photography metro entrances, bus stops and lamp posts in France (there are some restrictions inside the stations since you are not supposed to photography people without their consent)

It's better with the URL http://mic-ro.com/metro/paris.html