Paris

When you turn through these pages of Paris, you will see a lifetime of love for Serge Ramelli's hometown. A city where he has both seen the small details and captured them at epic scale. Only Paris offers the inimitable stage that can turn every photo into a film still. In its architectural splendor, its wealth of churches, palaces, parks, and grand boulevards, the city is peerless in its beauty and allure. Add to that a long, rich, and influential history, and this coveted capital is art in its purest form. From the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre, to Montmartre and Saint-Germain-des-Pres-the traces of painters and photographers and echoes of actors and movie directors can be found all over the city. In this exquisite Paris photo book, Serge Ramelli pays tribute to this unique legacy of art and culture, capturing the city's poetic flair. As in vintage postcards, with glowing street lights or only certain details in color in a black and white panorama, Ramelli accentuates particular picture elements to create a modern, 3D effect, while retaining a close connection to Parisian history. Vivid in one's memory or perhaps imagination, Ramelli collects rapturous moments with his camera-a brilliant firework display in front of the Eiffel Tower or the sight of the Pont Alexandre III amidst freshly fallen snow. In the beguiling blue hour, or a nuit (the magical light at sunrise and sunset), the photographer shows a kaleidoscope along the Seine that will delight all who have lived and loved in Paris. On April 15, 2019, one of the greatest emblems of Paris and a world cultural heritage site, the Notre-Dame cathedral, suffered a devastating fire. This photo volume was about to go to press immediately before that fateful moment at which the images it contains of the church became a record of the past. We consciously decided to leave them in place in the hope that one day, Notre-Dame will shine again in its former splendor.