Archive for Culture & Arts from France
Leweb 2009 – Weird stuff
Since 2006, I’m playing the photoreporter role at Leweb, on top of blogging and networking.
This year, I took with me my two Canon reflex cameras (DSLR) with a wide angle lense and a zoom lense. Every year, I learn the way to improve my shootings. This year, I got very nice results with using a mix of high ISO sensors (5D II), wide apperture lenses (2.8), fast speed (1/400s) and with caring about good focusing. My pictures are not retouched at all beyond basic RAW files processing using Adobe Lightroom, with some color balance and lighting adjustments. Despite the gear, I’m NOT a professional photographer. It’s just a hobby!
You’ll find all my pictures from this year’s Leweb here and there. (more…)
With the Traveling Geeks in Paris
Dear reader, this is my first post in English. The reason is I participated recently to the Traveling Geeks tour in Paris and the rule of the game is to publish content that can be shared by its participants and within the Traveling Geeks web site. So, no other solution than English. Time to get really international!
In this first post, I’ll quickly go through the agenda of this tour and then talk a little bit about my fellow international Traveling Geeks bloggers. We’ve spent four days together, two in a local tour and two at Leweb. That was a good opportunity to get to know high-profile bloggers from other countries, not just the USA, and to share some views on digital innovation as well as on Leweb itself. I enjoyed a lot this experience. (more…)
Accordionist and Bassist on the Paris Metro
I have seen so many accordions in Paris, especially on street cars on the Paris Metro. I’m still waiting for one of them to play “Lady of Spain.” This was the first time thought I saw a stand up bass on a train. And I complain about having to drag luggage. I must say the music makes Metro travel a lot more pleasant. Thanks Paris.
Related posts:
Travelling Geeks in Paris: The pictures
The Travelling Geeks are: Eliane Fiolet, Tom Foremski, Robin Wauters, Kim-Mai Cutler, Frederic Lardinois, Matt Buckland, Sky Schuyler, Jerome Tranie, Ewan Spence, Olivier Ezratty, Cyrille de Lasteyrie, Renee Blodgett, Amanda Coolong, Beth Blecherman, Robert Scoble, and Phil Jeudy.
tags: Traveling Geeks
Potentially related posts
Paris Diary: The Joie de Vivre of French Entrepreneurs…
I’m bowled over by the French startups and entrepreneurs I’ve been meeting the past two days. Lots of passion, energy, smarts, and great ideas.
I’m totally surprised because I had a totally different expectation. France has a reputation for bureaucracy ( a French word), for strikes, (the taxi drivers were on strike on Tuesday), and for archaic attitudes such as a strong belief in a maintaining a work/life balance, six-week vacations, a 35-hour week, and making it near impossible to fire a worker (you will receive as much as three years full salary if you are fired).
It seems amazing that France’s economy hasn’t shattered into pieces by now, and the country hasn’t fallen below the waves of the ocean as a modern day Atlantis.
Instead, France has the highest labor productivity levels of all the G8 nations. And the quality of its entrepreneurs (another French word) is excellent.
I will be writing in more detail about some of the companies and people I’ve been meeting, later this week. And I’ll be diving into why there is such a great current of innovation happening in France.
The French model might even become a template for other countries. That’s because people from other countries are coming to France to set up their startups. Other countries risk a brain drain if they don’t act to create a similar environment.
I’ll let you know tomorrow about some of the reasons why France is enjoying an upswing its startup communities. I think you will be as surprised as I was.
[I’m in Paris all this week as part of the Traveling Geeks, a collection of journalists, bloggers, and PR people meeting with French startups and also attending LeWeb, France’s premier Web 2.0 developer and business conference.]
Paris Diary: The International Geek Brotherhood…
[I’m in Paris all this week as part of the Traveling Geeks, a collection of journalists, bloggers, and PR people meeting with French startups and also attending LeWeb, France’s premier Web 2.0 developer and business conference.]
I took the EuroStar train from London on Sunday afternoon and in less than 3 hours I was in the middle of Paris. That trip always amazes me and it is so much nicer, (and greener) than flying.
When I arrived it was raining off and on but that didn’t matter because I was back in Paris after a ten year break.
I had to find my hotel, about a couple of miles from my terminus at Gare Du Nord but being short on cash I decided to walk in roughly the right direction, trundling my wheeled travel bag across cobble stone streets, and relishing being in one of the great cities of the world. (more…)
Karaoke accordionist in Paris
The Parisians know how to have a good time. With a free day just before I met up with the other Traveling Geeks, for our junket through some of the latest in Paris tech and Le Web conference, I took a day to wander around Paris. At a weekly Sunday Parisian street fair, I stumbled across a karaoke accordionist. He had a slew of song sheets out for people to pick a tune. Even though it was raining, a small tent was pitched and the locals were dancing along getting into the tunes. Make sure to watch the other video, Parisian accordionist sings “Just a Gigolo.”
Related posts:
Traveling Geeks in Paris Kick Off
The Traveling Geeks (who’s in?) arrived in Paris today and gathered in a cozy small restaurant in Le Marais to get their first demo from Mobile Globe, a low cost international mobile calls provider. (more…)