Can you tell we’re excited to be heading to Paris this fall?! Today we’re sharing another great location we’ll be photographing: the Institut du Monde Arabe. This museum, featuring artifacts from the Arab world, was designed by Jean Nouvel and is located in the 5th arrondissement.

You can get great abstracts and mid-range takes on this impressive design. Plus, there are some interesting cityscape views from the rooftop.

On the southwest side of the building, there’s a plaza where you can see the interesting metallic façade with its geometric motif. These motifs actually open and close to regulate how much light is allowed into the museum; much like the aperture of a camera 😉

Photographing straight-on creates some nice leading lines from the stonework on the ground through the lines in the building’s façade.

Using a longer lens and focusing your attention on only the façade, you can capture some reflections of the clouds. This creates a nice contrast between the softer natural environment and the hard lines of the building.

Heading inside to the rooftop, you get some great views down the Seine and of Notre Dame. Including a portion of the Institut du Monde Arabe creates context.

For a more fill-the-frame type of cityscape, you can narrow your focus to the reflections of the Seine in the buildings façade. This creates a layering effect; the Eiffel Tower, seen through the corner of the building, also adds to that layering.

Back inside, I turned my attention to the grid created by the structural beams, all the stairs intersecting and the façade in the background. These elements also create a layering effect.

One more shot focusing solely on one of the geometric motifs. The light and the black and white processing gave the image somewhat of a dreamy effect.

If you want to photograph all these areas in the Institut du Monde Arabe, we’d love to have you join us. Just 2 spots remain open, check out all the details here!