paris, tour montparnasse
Day 3 of the Paris workshop had us spending a good portion of our day just outside of the city in La Defense, the city’s financial district. As you can imagine it’s full of modern architecture and one of my favorite areas to photograph. First, some details from Bassin Takis.
la defense, Bassin Takis
A short walk from here is Raymond Moretti’s La Cheminée, a 32-metre-high “chimney” made up of hundreds of colored tubes. It was fun playing with the warped reflections in the surrounding buildings.
la defense, Le Moretti
la defense, Le Moretti
Not certain which buildings these are, but liked the tones and shapes.
la defense
Just across the plaza is Tour Majunga. A great angled facade makes for some fun.
la defense, Tour Majunga
la defense, Tour Majunga
Along with the interplay among neighboring buildings.
la defense, Tour Majunga
This bench was a nice unexpected find!
la defense
la defense
Now, onto Tour EDF by the same architect who designed the Louvre pyramids, I. M, Pei. He also designed the Hyatt Center in Chicago. For those of you familiar with this building, you’ll likely see the similarity in the designs. The disc-like awning is a lot of fun to photograph. And the tones of the metal are great!
la defense, Tour EDF
la defense, Tour EDF
la defense, Tour EDF
la defense, Tour EDF
Bouncing back across the plaza is an unmistakable Alexander Calder sculpture. This one is called L’Araignée Rouge (the red spider).
L'Araignée Rouge, alexander calder, la defense
Below you see two versions, the color and the black & white. Usually, I don’t like this sculpture in black & white since the color is so amazing, but for some reason, I felt like it worked this time. The harsh light, shadows and blown-out sky seem to make it work in a more graphic way. What do you prefer?
L'Araignée Rouge, alexander calder, la defense
L'Araignée Rouge, alexander calder, la defense
A couple more B&W versions…L'Araignée Rouge, alexander calder, la defense
L'Araignée Rouge, alexander calder, la defense
Then this skeletal facade of the Les Quatre Temps Mall.
la defense
Next, the Grande Arche. The light was really pretty that afternoon and there was a bluish cast that worked well.
la defense, grande arche
la defense, grande arche
At its corners some harsh light and geometric shadows.
la defense, grande arche
After a little break we headed to Fondation Louis Vuitton designed by Frank Gehry. Such an amazing space, we could’ve spent hours here. One of my favorite areas is the lower level with the wall of mirrors and reflecting pool.
fondation louis vuitton, frank gehry
fondation louis vuitton, frank gehry
fondation louis vuitton, frank gehry
From the outdoor, upper level you can get some good abstracts of the building’s structural features.
fondation louis vuitton, frank gehry
Looking like a double exposure by shooting through the glass of one of the billowing “sails” of the facade and the structure behind.
fondation louis vuitton, frank gehry
From ground level of the exterior, more ways to play with abstracts of the structure.
fondation louis vuitton, frank gehry
fondation louis vuitton, frank gehry
fondation louis vuitton, frank gehry
fondation louis vuitton, frank gehry
After a stop for dinner we lucked out with the most amazing sunset from Tour Montparnasse.
paris, tour montparnasse
And because I have a thing for clouds I couldn’t pass up a detail shot of these beauties!
sunset
In case you missed Day 1 & Day 2. Also, all the pics from this workshop here. Stay tuned at Photography Unfolded for the next Paris workshop coming in June 2019, registration opens very soon!

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