Category Archives: Art

Musee des Arts et Metier in Paris – Part 3

In the final part of the visit to the Musee des Arts et Metier in Paris, we’ll look at some of the more industral objects and end with a room setting.

There were some truly wonderful and historical objects in this museum, but the largest percentage of them were enclosed in glass cases for their protection since they are quite valuable and culturally significant to the history of French design. However, since the museum galleries are splendidly well lit, that made it practically impossible to take a picture without some sort of glare or reflection, so I’m sticking to a few last pictures of things that were not encased in glass.

I don’t often share pictures of industrial objects, but they do quite often make me say “Oooo!” out loud. And there’s something quite wonderful about the technology of the early to mid 20th Century that I find especially appealing. Here are two examples.

The first one is a 1910 airplane engine — the inside — the structural elements that hold that set of propellers in place as the power zooms through the engine. I just think it’s gorgeous.

Close-up sideview of 1910 French designed airplane engine.

Then there’s this early sound system for a movie projection set up in a cinema. The French were pioneers in film technology and they were quite early adopters of this new form of entertainment.

An early movie theatre sound system.

Finally, we were surprised to see just how many schoolchildren, from primary school age through high school age, were in the museum on the weekday that we attended. The museum is a fantastic educational resource for these students to learn about the wonderful inventions through the ages that their fellow Frenchmen have been either involved in or directly responsible for.

Students at a lecture inside the newer wing of the Musee des Arts et Metier in Paris.

Musee des Arts et Metiers in Paris – Part Two

In this second part of our visit to the Musee des Arts et Metiers in Paris, today we’ll take a peek at some of the LARGE items that are displayed within the converted medieval priory portion of this extraordinary museum.

Designed to mimic the shape of a bat’s wings, this very early airplane by Clement Ader was designed between 1893 and 1897. The very fragile piece of engineering is suspended from the rather ornate ceiling inside the stairwell.

Very early aeroplane (airplane) designed by Clement Ader between 1893-1897

Ornate staircase in the Musee des Arts et Metier in Paris.

The high vaulted ceilings and ornate arches of the old church create the most impressive of the exhibition spaces. It’s quite stunning to walk into this vast area and look up to see several vintage airplaces hanging from the ceiling. On the floor below are old steam engines in a variety of sizes.

Planes above, trains below, automobiles in tiered racks on the side.

On the side of the large chapel are several levels of metal platforms, reached by stairs, which contain a variety of vintage automobiles — all perched high above the ground floor below. It could be a bit of a challenge for anyone with vertigo!

Vintage cars on suspended racks high above the floor below.

A timeless glimpse into the past.

Hope you have enjoyed a peek at this wonderful museum which should be on everyone’s ‘must see’ list when they visit Paris.

Musee des Arts et Metiers in Paris – Part One

One of the best days out we had in Paris was at the glorious Musee des Arts et Metier. This wonderful museum opened right at the end of the 18th Century in what had been an abandoned medieval priory — Saint Martin des Champs. The museum has been expanded, most notably with a more contemporary addition in the 1990s, but the elegant old priory contains some of the most beautiful of the displays under those ornate and vaulted ceilings.

Musee des Arts et Metiers in Paris, France. Housed in a converted medieval priory, this is one of the landmark museums of Paris. Made famous by the novel The Da Vinci Code, it contains a Foucault pendulum.

One example of the treasures within is the room that houses a Foucault Pendulum. I know that the former purpose of the space was reverential, but it still maintains an air of ‘sacred space’ in that hushed room with the pendulum right in the center.

Foucault Pendulum beneath the vaulted ceilings of the Musee des Arts et Metiers in Paris.

The Foucault Pendulum within the Musee des Arts et Metiers in Paris.

When we were there, I noted that the glass table which has the pendulum suspended above it and the glossy flooring all around it appeared to be quite contemporary. That was a bit of a surprise. But as I was doing the research for this article, the information that I discovered explained all of that.

In 2010, the cable that held the pendulum snapped, damaging it badly and shattering the ancient marble floor beneath it. So the more contemporary appearance is a result of the reconstruction in the museum.

All of the photos above are available in my ZENFOLIO PORTFOLIO You may find them in the Portfolio tab under FRANCE — then under PARIS.

Enjoy!

The NEW Website for Photo Sales is LIVE!!!

I have to say, this past month or so has been both thrilling and exhausting. And it’s a whole other kind of learning curve to be creating a new website that is not WordPress based.

Expresso in the Cafe Horta in Brussels, Belgium.

For quite a few years, people have been asking me where they could buy prints of my work. Due to all of the moving around we have done, especially since 2010, I simply didn’t have the time to set up an entire new site with a Shopping Cart and then deal with all of the banking aspects and photo printing.

For a decade now, I’ve also had a steady trickle of digital sales to publishing houses — producers of everything from textbooks to travel guides to retail non-fiction. I’ve also been selling images through advertising agencies that are used on packaging and which have been in magazines and brochures.

Working with various photographic agencies in Europe, the UK, and New York has been convenient, but those agencies take a hefty chunk percentage-wise. Now I have the ability to deal directly with publishing clients because there will be a new one-stop-shopping site for digital files as well as retail goods.

You’ll be seeing a lot of tweaking in the week ahead — both here and over on the new Zenfolio site — as I link things back and forth. Then over the coming weeks, you will see lots of new images appearing on the photo site as I continue to wade through thousands, seriously thousands of images on my hard drive.

There has never been one specific genre that I stuck to — so you’ll notice that my images contain everything from art and architecture to travel and tourism to human interest to ‘just because’ sort of shots. There are about 400 images on there currently with many, MANY more to come.

So for now — tah-dah! Just click on this link below and have a look around.

Enjoy!

Deborah Harmes Photography | A Wanderful Life

Totally Terrific Toulouse — Part 1

Stepping into the time machine a bit, here’s a bit of reporting on the lovely city of Toulouse in the Midi-Pyrenees of France. We spent several days there this year to celebrate my birthday and I thought I’d share some images from that trip over the next few posts.

The Musee des Augustins is housed in a large former Augustinian monastery built in 1309. The former home of 200 monks during the Middle Ages, this is a truly beautiful conversion of a set of buildings into museum space. Cloistered walkways surround a central courtyard and sweeping stairways take you to galleries on two levels. These contain architectural remnants dating back to medieval times, elegant sculpture, and several large rooms of paintings.

Entry to the Musee des Augustins, the fine arts museum in Toulouse.

Medieval tower of the former Augustinian monastery.

The small but elegant courtyard garden of the Musee Des Augustins.

Cloistered walkways surround the garden courtyard.

Historic gargoyles on display along the cloister walk.

The wonderful collection of gargoyles seen above was salvaged from another convent/monastery from the 1300s, the Couvent des Cordeliers, prior to its destruction and preserved here in Toulouse. These gargoyles are now displayed on pedestals beneath the covered roofline of the cloister walkways.

Did you note the distinctly pinkish tones of the bricks that the monastery is constructed of? Toulouse has long been known as the ‘Pink City’ for just that reason.

Part 2 coming soon!

Scaling Up and Going Grander

I’m scaling up size wise and going grander with the number of photos included. As a result, the next book will be a bigger and more expensive book. Print books can still be produced quite inexpensively but that is certainly NOT the case for colour photo print books unfortunately!

The book that I am currently editing is evolving into a much larger project than anticipated and I’ve made a few key decisions. As a result, it may or may not be ready for publication prior to Christmas. I’m hoping to be done by the end of this week, but if it ends up being a better product by waiting until after Christmas — then January it is!

The topic this time is France. I had planned to do three regional books on the North of France, the Midi-Pyrenees, and Paris. Now they’re going to all go into ONE LARGE book that has clearly defined sections. And I’ll be offering the print versions in 2 sizes — the small square size that I have used for the previous 3 books and a larger one (shape to be determined). There will of course be ebook formats for various types of tablets/e-readers/computers.

I recently became aware that I had over 18,000 images of France alone in my hard drive. Only a tiny percentage of them will make it into one of my books, but many will instead be placed into more travel articles or lodged with whatever agency I actually do continue to work with. And at some point in the future I plan to offer direct sales of prints. One step at a time though…

Interesting dilemma, eh? Far better to have too much to work with than too little. And for now, here’s one pic that didn’t go into the book. Enjoy!

Walking through the medieval walled city portion of Boulogne-sur-Mer in the Pas-de-Calais region of northern France.

An Art Deco Beauty In Cincinnati, Ohio

Another happy announcement! Here’s my latest book — Midnight In The Station — and you can find it by clicking on the title to the left.

Again, this book, like the others, is available in iPad ebook, softcover, hardcover, and downloadable PDF file for any electronic device or computer.

This was a midnight visit to the Union Station in Cincinnati, Ohio and it’s truly one of the loveliest Art Deco buildings I have ever been in. It’s a tribute to that city that it has been restored so beautifully and, in addition to the Amtrak service that still operates several days a week, it also houses several museums.

I have created a new widget on the right sidebar for Ebooks and Print Books. Just click on that link and it will take you straight to the online store! All books may be purchased by either credit card or PayPal.

Enjoy!