First time Paris visitor and photographer needs help with good tour company
 

I want to spend 8 or12 days in Paris and I would like to know which are the best tour companies. I travel solo hopefully will find an interesting group on the tour like Elderhostel. My main problem is the quality of the tour guide, lodgings and food. I have tried to find quality tours that I can afford on the internet but you never know who is making the recommendation! Elderhostel is excellent but I need to find a few others. Globus, Tauck visit too many places in too short a time. It is always convenient when the tour company can book your airfare also.

The lodgings need only be comfortable-not fancy and close to some of the sights of Paris. I hate crowds, especially of american tourists but I guess early september will leave me no choice. Another question: do people in Paris feel intimidated if you take
their picture? I like street photography but I don't want to offend.

Thank you for responding.

If you are staying in Paris, there is absolutely no reason to book a tour IMO. And most any tour would not meet your criteria. They don't generally stay in one city more than a few days, certainly not 8-12 days. And most tours.

"<i>It is always convenient when the tour company can book your airfare also.</i>" Not IME. Booking yourself generally gives you much more flexibility.

I too would pass on a tour in Paris. Paris is easy to get around and has good transport. If you want a guide for a day or 2 I can personally recommend Michael Osman, an Amrican living in Paris and very Knowledgible. I have a website of a photographer who takes people on photo tours, I'll see if I canfind it.

“I hate crowds, especially of american tourists but I guess early september will leave me no choice.”


Oh, really? Brings to mind my favorite line from DEATH OF A SALESMAN – “I know who I am, kid.”

john, the best way to FIND the crowds will be with a tour group. Paris is a doddle for the independent traveller - and there is plenty of advice here on booking your flights, hotels and things to see and photograph. and ways of getting away from everyone else.

first thing to do - book your flight. then with your dates, start searching for a hotel - the price will only go up the longer you leave it. there are several threads here with hotel recommendations, or try Trip advisor and/or booking.com. the planning is at least half the fun, honest.

I think this might be the wrong forum for this question as the majority are independant travelers who have more or less given up on TAs and local tours (not all just generally).

Paris is a relatively easy city to get around. The only odd thing is the language and culture. Fortunatly a fair few Parisians speak English.

My suggestion would be to book rooms independantly but use people like fat tires to give you an overview on your second day

Hi HJ,

>do people in Paris feel intimidated if you take their picture?

Au contraire, they tend to be very miffed if you don't ask permission first.

Enjoy your visit
((I))

If you want to start with an easier booking than choosing a hotel you could book on an airline site for their air/hotel. As for tours within Paris, you could buy the "dedk of cards" tour of walking tours of Paris--or you could look online for many of the same things and print them out.
YOu could fashion a tour of great writers' homes/neighborhoods, etc.
I may have the sense that the OP wants a tour also for the "camaraderie" of a group while travelling solo.
There are many tour guides who could recommend areas for photography--Michael Osman is just excellent.
As for photographing people, unless you are doing a long lens and they are unaware, I consider it intrusive and basically rude, and would never do it without permission. Rather than "intimidated", "angry" might be a better word.
I am often amused by everyone's assessment that Paris is always overrun with American tourists. Who knows, maybe even Europeans LOVE the idea of visiting Paris.

I would add, having re-read that this is a first time visit, you could take a ParisVision day tour of the city to get your bearings and see the major sights/sites. Then you could set your own pace--finding other tours, signing up for walking tours where you'd be with a group, and see more of the city and gathering ideas for what you want to do.
You might even take a tour to Versailles or Giverney--a sort of design yourself tour, hooking up with others along the way.

If you plan to use a tripod, read:
http://www.largeformatphotography.in...403#post201403

@Gretchen

I am a photographer specializing in street photography, which i do using a wide angle lens and a small unobtrusive camera. Actually, I would feel more robbed if i saw a photographer shooting me from afar, using a tele lens. To me that is much more intrusive and backhanded than a photographer who dares to get close to me, make contact with me and is part of the action. I've shot many times in Paris, and I've never encountered hostile reactions, and I never ask for "permission". But I always make contact with the people in the scene I'm shooting.

http://vimeo.com/18127526

"you are doing a long lens and they are unaware"

Just as rude, and sneaky into the bargain.

I agree in part. For me it isn't the person, because I really do think it is rude, but a part of a picture of a street. I think if you have to cross a street to ask, there is somewhat no "expectation of privacy".

Thanks for the great advice. I just wanted to add that if you tell someone you are taking their photo you might as well not bother because the picture looks "posed". American tourists are mostly ok but in my experience many would ask me information. You can talk to me for 3 minutes and realize I don't know the territory.
I try to take pictures of attractive women and then workup a nice portrait with a few programs I have. Most of the photo club people I know love to take pictures of buildings and flowers!

BORING!
I am grateful for your responses; helps a lot.

<i>Another question: do people in Paris feel intimidated if you take their picture?</i>

Officially, if the person becomes aware that you are taking her picture, she can ask you to remove it from your camera. Given that today Google decided to celebrate Robert Denois 100th birthday by posting some of his street pictures, the question is apt and perhaps unnecessary. There have been recent claims that is photo of the man & woman kissing was actually posed and is not a sirendipitous (sp?) street shot.

correction: "claims that the photo of the man ...)

"I try to take pictures of attractive women and then workup a nice portrait with a few programs I have."

Do you, or do you not, get permission? After you take the picture will work if you delete the image if permission is not granted. Otherwise you sound like a stalker...

@Michael: in my understanding that is not how the law frames it: if a subject has an interest against publishing a photograph, she can demand suppression of the photograph. A right to deletion of a photograph from a photographer's camera is not how the law formulates it, imo. So say for instance, a photographer has me in the frame in a street walking in front of a certain type of bar, say in the Rue St Denis. Weeks later, that photograph, with me in it, has been used to illustrate a story about prostitution. In that case, I can ask the photograph is taken down and not published. There have been a number of such cases in the courts, with limited success in effecting suppression.

And yes, sounds a bit stalky to me

Why would a photographer want to go on a tour and shoot where what all the tours shoot? If it is for your personal annals, that is one thing, but if you want to sell another shot of the Eiffel tour, how many shoots from every angle, weather conditions, and people combination have been taken?

Stock companies love releases. And even though there is an expectation of losing one's privacy in a public place, it can create a problem.

"do people in Paris feel intimidated if you take their picture? "

Not sure what your goals are but model release is a reqirement for professional photos. I enter a competition with the National Portrait Gallery and they require permission to use the person's photo.

Yes, always be polite and ask first but have them sign a release if you are a pro and plan to make some money with their visages.

"do people in Paris feel intimidated if you take their picture? "

I find that people in Paris are very approachable and it's easy to take photos. Half the people you'll take photos of are tourist with a camera in their pocket anyway.

If in doubt just give them a big smile ;-)

Another suggestion would be to buy one of those passes on the city bus tours that let you get on and off at will(well at designated stops). You are provided with earphones to listen to the commentary as you ride. One of the companies also includes a boat trip on the Seine and has eight stops to get on and off. The one I took in early September, 2013, had four routes which intersected at various points.


Another trip you can do on your own in a day is take the train to Chartres. As well as a wonderful cathedral with its plaza in front which is wonderful for people (and dog) watching, there are medieval streets for wandering. On Saturdays there is a farmer's market with lots of people going about their business and interesting goods for sale. I saw a few vegetables that were not familiar to me.

Sorry you find architecture and flowers boring, but perhaps you could find a new way to capture them and show your camera club a thing or two.

Anyway, have fun! Come home with some great photos and post some of them on one of the sites to share with us.

This poster never got back to us.

>>the poster never got back to us << . . . Two years ago.

He is still waiting for the perfect shot.

If you are actually taking a photo of just one person - then I think you must in all fairness ask permission and not shoot if the person says no.

There is a huge difference between a person or people that are included as part of your shot of a street scene - and shooting individual people - esp in any sort of close up.

Agree that the way you describe it sounds pretty much like stalking to me - and I think those women would have a legitimate right to complain. Unless one is a public figure there is an implied right to individual privacy even in public places.

nyt . . . look at the threads above yours . . .

This <B>old</B> thread was topped by someone who has since been nuked - (was probably advertising on other threads)

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...m#last-comment

a Parisian Fodorite is also an excellent photographer who has snapped many interesting aspects of Paris - click on his name at the top to see many photo shoots of Paris to give you ideas for your photo passion!

Jeeze . . .