David Enzel

FR : À Montmartre, près du Sacré-Cœur, cette illusion d’optique fait croire que l’immeuble bascule. En réalité, c’est la butte qui est en pente — mais l’effet visuel amuse toujours les passants et les photographes.

EN : In Montmartre, near the Sacré-Cœur, this optical illusion makes the building appear to lean dramatically. In reality, it is the hillside that slopes — but the visual trick never fails to amuse both passersby and photographers.

EN: The Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial at Colleville-sur-Mer overlooks Omaha Beach, where more than 9,000 American service members are buried. Row upon row of crosses and Stars of David bear silent witness to sacrifice, freedom, and memory.

FR: Le Cimetière Américain de Normandie à Colleville-sur-Mer domine Omaha Beach, où reposent plus de 9 000 soldats américains. Rangée après rangée de croix et d’étoiles de David témoignent en silence du sacrifice, de la liberté et du souvenir.

EN: The sun sinks into the horizon at Cabourg, painting the beach and sky in soft evening light.

FR: Le soleil disparaît à l’horizon de Cabourg, teintant la plage et le ciel de la douce lumière du soir.

The Eiffel Tower glows beyond a quiet street, framed by lit windows and the moon breaking through clouds. A nocturnal Paris, both intimate and grand.

Opened for the 1900 Exposition Universelle, Pont Alexandre III is Paris’s most ornate bridge, built as a symbol of friendship between France and Russia. Its gilded statues and Art Nouveau lamps shine over the Seine, linking Les Invalides with the Grand Palais.

Eiffel Tower at Blue Hour

From inside I.M. Pei’s glass pyramid, the historic Louvre rises through a web of steel and sky. Opened in 1989, the pyramid transformed the museum’s entrance into a symbol of Paris itself — a meeting point of classical grandeur and modern design.

This is the Salle des Séances, also known as the Hémicycle, the debating chamber of the French National Assembly. Located in the Palais Bourbon, it was completed in 1799 during the turbulent years following the Revolution. The semicircular design, inspired by ancient Roman theatres, symbolizes openness and equality among deputies. Above the speaker’s rostrum hangs a monumental painting, The Oath of the Jeu de Paume by Jacques-Louis David, commemorating the pivotal moment of 1789 when deputies swore not to separate until France had a constitution. Today, the chamber remains the symbolic heart of French democracy, where laws are debated and the government held accountable.

Silent statues and stone façades, watching over the Louvre’s courtyard as they have for centuries.

During Blue Hour

A fiery sunset after a summer rainstorm. The clouds parted just long enough to set the Eiffel Tower against a dramatic sky, with the Seine reflecting the storm’s fading glow.

The interior of Notre-Dame de Paris, reopened in 2024 after years of painstaking reconstruction following the devastating fire of April 2019. The restored nave once again reveals the soaring Gothic vaults, chandeliers, and stained glass that have inspired worshippers and visitors for centuries, marking the cathedral’s return as a spiritual and cultural heart of Paris.

The vast Gothic interior of Église Saint-Quiriace in Provins, France, begun in 1160, towers above the medieval town that grew wealthy from its great fairs. Despite its incomplete construction, the church dominates the skyline and offers a strikingly large scale for such a small community. On August 5, 1429, Joan of Arc attended Mass here alongside King Charles VII, linking this sacred space to one of the most storied moments in French history.

The French tricolor hangs beneath the Arc de Triomphe at dusk, its colors framed against the illuminated stonework and the evening sky. Commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 and completed in 1836, the monument honors soldiers who fought and died for France, and today stands as a national symbol of remembrance at the top of the Champs-Élysées.

On Rue Saint-Dominique in Paris, the neon glow of the historic Thoumieux restaurant meets the golden sparkle of the Eiffel Tower in the distance. A classic Parisian evening scene where everyday life unfolds under the city’s most iconic silhouette.

The Assemblée Nationale in Paris, seat of the French Parliament, stands illuminated at blue hour. Built in the 18th century as the Palais Bourbon, its neoclassical façade was added under Napoleon I. For Paris 2024, the steps were temporarily transformed with vibrant rainbow colors as part of the Olympic cultural program, symbolizing diversity and unity against the backdrop of France’s democratic institutions.

The Vasque de Paris, designed for the 2024 Olympic Games, now serves as a landmark in the Tuileries Gardens. Shaped like a monumental balloon, it was first lit during the opening ceremony as the Olympic cauldron. Here it glows at sunset beside the Ferris wheel and the historic Louvre, blending sport, tradition, and Parisian spectacle.