Sunday afternoon, Boulevard St-Michel, Paris
View From My Paris Sidewalk
31 Responses to View From My Paris Sidewalk
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Phil says:
Perv. heh jk. No seriously though, kind of creepy to take that. What would you have done if she turned around when you took the picture?
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Rod Dreher says:
What would you have done if she turned around when you took the picture?
Nothing. So what? She walked down one of the most heavily trafficked boulevards in Paris dressed like that. Bless her heart.
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Evgeni says:
Lovely hat.
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Scott says:
I love Paris.
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Roland de Chanson says:
Cuisses de grenouille. Gueule de grenouille aussi sans doute.
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Lord Karth says:
Very nice. Very nice indeed.
Some sights are just made to be captured on film.
Your servant,
Lord Karth
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Sands says:
Y’all find that attractive? She’s got the shape of a starving snake.
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MikeCLT says:
I take it Mrs. Dreher was not with you.
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Mr. Pickwick says:
It’s a sad commentary on the state of our culture when Rod takes flak for a picture like this.
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MH - Secular Misanthropist says:
What would you have done if she turned around when you took the picture?
Rod’s a tourist, he’s supposed to be taking pictures of random street scenes. Conversely this woman lives in a city which is a major tourist destination, so she’s probably used to tourists.
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Clint says:
If ya told her she had a nice body, she might hold it against you.
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Will Thomas says:
Thank you, God.
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John E_o says:
Ooh la la indeed!
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JonF says:
One wonders if Mrs Dreher reads Rod’s blog.
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Beyng says:
Only slightly creepy. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
And really, Mr. Pickwick? An unauthorized (by which I mean Rod presumably didn’t seek permission) and intentional photograph of a scantily-clad girl’s/woman’s posterior–posted publicly on the internet, no less–doesn’t constitute something that just might be labeled a tad inappropriate by some reasonable folks? If she were wearing even slightly less clothing, I think very few of us would find it difficult to call the thing voyeuristic.
That said, I’m not greatly exercised. It’s an, *ahem*, beautiful picture. I’m just sayin’.
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Peterk says:
nicely done
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B. Minich says:
She almost looks barefoot! Which makes the picture all the more interesting.
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And really, Mr. Pickwick? An unauthorized (by which I mean Rod presumably didn’t seek permission) and intentional photograph of a scantily-clad girl’s/woman’s posterior–posted publicly on the internet, no less–doesn’t constitute something that just might be labeled a tad inappropriate by some reasonable folks?
Dude … she was walking down one of the busiest streets in Paris! Some of y’all are acting like I hid in her closet and photographed her undressing. Honestly, the scrupulosity on display here is confounding.
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Funnily enough, I see far more lewdly dressed young women every time I go to the mall in Baton Rouge than I have in Paris. Granted, the weather is cooler here now, but still, it’s been my observation that young American women dress with far less taste and discretion than their French counterparts. And truth to tell, when I walked past this woman in the photo (she was walking with her mother and father), I thought I detected them speaking some Scandinavian tongue.
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Anyway, I think this woman was chic, and that’s that.
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Re: Honestly, the scrupulosity on display here is confounding.
You’ve trained us well, Rod.
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So tell us, what did she look like, frog face or Norse goddess?
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J.J. Gonzalez says:
Chaq’un a son goutes!
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Rod,
Sure, I see lewd, scantily-clad women every time I venture out-of-doors during the summer (and, heck, winter) months. In fact, my father would probably label them “hussies,” as he is wont to do. (Is this outfit less lewd because it’s in Pa-ree?)
But I highly doubt any of these lewd ladies would appreciate a middle-aged man intentionally focusing his camera lens on their barely-concealed posteriors, no matter how busy the street. I mean, it’s not like you were attempting to photograph the building and she just happened to get in the way–which is demonstrated by the fact that you specifically posted this particular picture on your blog.
Again, I’m not offended by the photo, or even upset. In fact, I mean this primarily in fun. But I think you’re being deliberately obtuse about why some folks might find the picture a bit disconcerting, given the context. My wife, for one, would have a few questions for me if a photo like that turned up on my camera. But maybe she’s just too “scrupulous.”
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I nothing prurient about the picture and it’s quite nice for a spontaneous composition taken on a busy street.
You have the bright light in the distance, the shadows close up, and the streaks of light from lens flairs across her hat. The subject is almost monochrome except for her bright red hat as an accent. I agree that she almost looks barefoot which add to the image as well.
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J.J. Gonzalez,
I doubt she was that beautiful!
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But I highly doubt any of these lewd ladies would appreciate a middle-aged man intentionally focusing his camera lens on their barely-concealed posteriors, no matter how busy the street.
You think I was looking at her skinny butt? Guy, it’s the legs. The legs! But mostly it’s the fact that it gets the itty-bittiest bit warm in Paris — even in late October — and a pretty young thing struts down the boulevard in that. It was pleasing to the eye. That’s why this is Paris, not Wheeling.
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Rod,
Speaking of which, when we were in Scotland a few years ago, it happened to read 70 degrees one July day. Apparently, the natives consider such weather positively sweltering, as a non-neglible proportion of the males traipsed about in public shirtless all day.
And you’ll agree that this sort of “lewdness” isn’t even common in the armpit of the South in July except when one is mowing one’s lawn.
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Beyng the Scots invented the bagpipe, is there anything worse they could do after that?
Nice creepshot, troll.
/kidding.