Talking Pictures

Technical Info: Nikon FM2, Tamron 28-200mm lens, Kodak Royal Gold 200 film. Film scanned on a Canon FS 4000US film scanner. Printed on an Epson 1280. Negative slightly cropped; Levels, Curves, and Unsharp Mask applied in Photoshop 6. © 2003 Chris Bradford,All Rights Reserved

It was my third day in Paris...I was exhausted from miles of walking, the temperatures had dropped to near freezing, and all I wanted to do was get back to the hotel. I had seen this advertisement numerous times around the city but, for some reason, had not photographed it yet. However, when I saw it again with the Pompidou Center in the background, I couldn't resist. McDonald's symbolizes everything the food loving, fast food culture hating French find so "distasteful." The Pompidou Center also represents, along with the Louvre Pyramid and the Grande Arche de la Défense, a type of architecture that is still controversial in Paris.

But there was that bride smiling her enigmatic smile, and only the day before my wife and I had gotten engaged on the oldest bridge in the city, so I felt compelled to take the photograph. So, for me at least, the picture has the obvious wedding motif, juxtaposed with the two anti-iconic symbols. I also liked the color of the pipes and the long shadows of a late winter afternoon in the most beautiful city in the world.
--Chris Bradford
Mt. View, CA