Love Triangle at "Au Rendevous des Amis"

Having mentioned Kiki de Montparnasse, I just remembered this little story of three people of whose entangled little love story we just happen to share at a cafe in Paris. Not having anything else better to do, Ben and I were playing chess at this little cafe, (preciously) called Au Rendevous des Amis while sharing a jug of beer. There were groups of people occupying the other tables, but most particularly two girls and a guy were sitting at a table right next to us on my left. The guy and one of the girls, the red, curly haired one, were sitting next to each other and were acting like a couple, kissing an cuddling now and then, and at times engaging in lively conversation with the blonde-haired girl (who Ben and I thought was the prettier one). The guy was wearing a black turtleneck, which Ben thought was very French of him; I thought it added to his later-to-be-more-evident suaveness.

The blonde girl seemed quite drunk, kneeling towards the guy and saying stuff in French, then switching to English and Dutch at times with the red-haired girl. At some point, she stumbled out of the bar, most probably to have a cigarette. With her fortunate absence, the couple started making out passionately. At this point nothing is wrong, and it's not like we're watching the couple make out you know, it just happens to be in our visual periphery while we were playing an absolutely fun game of chess, which I was shamefully losing.

So after a while the blonde girl came back, the couple stopped making out, and for some reason this time the red-haired girl decided to leave, I'm assuming to have a cigarette(?). All the while the suave French guy didn't move, he surprisingly didn't need any cigarette breaks (although he's French-stereotyping? yes.), and thus he became the very vertex of a feisty love triangle. During her friend's absence the blonde girl started flirting with the guy, kneeling towards him in drunken demeanor, mumbling stuff, which in my imagination was something like: "I'm so jealous, I can't stand the way you are so cuddly in front of me with her." And the French guy replied: "Oh, don't worry, you're always on my mind. She just happens to be my girlfriend at the moment." And boom! All of a sudden they started making out like there's no other. At this point, their table was not the bewildered focus of only our table, but of the table next to us, and of the other standers-by at the bar. The new couple went on and on, until three minutes prior to the red-haired girl showing up, who was completely oblivious to the betrayal that's going, literally, behind her back.

The red-haired girl took her place next to her supposed boyfriend and without any words spoken they start kissing. The whole thing became even more strange when the blonde-haired girl started sleeping on the table with her head covered between her arms, and the couple continued making out as if she did not even exist. Not paying attention to the apparent misery of the blonde-haired girl, the couple went on and on for about ten minutes. Finally, prodded by some conscience, the red-haired girl asked her friend if she was okay, to which her friend curtly replied, "I'm fine." Not satisfied with her friend's half-hearted answer, the red-haired girl urged her boyfriend that it's in fact time to go. They left the cafe, the red-haired girl holding her boyfriend's hand, and the latter holding the blondie's hand. And as I watched them leave, I wondered if the whole thing- the longer than necessary cigarette breaks, the turtleneck guy never leaving the table- was actually a little plan with more unscrupulous and perhaps more scandalous intentions on the girls' part.

Kiki de Montparnasse

Aesthetic and witty in many ways, Man Ray's photo of the Parisian model more famously known as 'Kiki de Montparnasse' is one of my favorite 'body' photos. The cleverly painted F-notes on Kiki's back is a symbol for how Kiki's body is an instrument, in this case a violin; thus the title of the photo Violon d'Ingres. Kiki does not have the second name Ingres. The attribution comes from her looking like the subject of a painting by a nineteenth century artist named Ingres. On a side note, Ingres was also an amateur musician. So you can see the many underlying themes and jokes in this simple but elegant photo.

Source: Photography by John Ingledew

Photography Project

It's been a long while since I last updated my blog, mainly because I was busy with projects near the end of the Spring Term at Sussex and then I just flew off to travel right after that.

But I'd like to share my Final Project for my Photography Class. It's a portrait of the people in an area called the North Laines in Brighton. In my opinion it's the most exciting place here, since the district is full of hundreds of independent stores and always bustling with the most interesting characters you will ever see. I decided to mainly focus on the store-owners, although there are a couple photos in there of people who just happen to be standing, or sitting right outside the store. We had to choose 6-8 photos for the project, so here is my final 8.

The lady at the second-hand clothing store To Be Worn Again. I feel that I owe her a lot, since after asking her my meek attitude in asking people to pose for me transformed into a more brave one.  She acquiesced right away and posed in this incredibly self-confident attitude. I love how her red sweater contrasts with the blue background.

The veteran man who was sitting right outside the tobacco shop. I walked past him and I really wanted to take his photos but was too shy and intimidated to ask. After taking a turn to another street, I decided to go back and ask him. 

The guy in front of Amps and Guitars

The owner of the music store Borderline

The pink haired girl in the second-hand store

The guy who works at Dirty Harry

The hair-stylist from Mr. Toppers... Great Haircuts

My buddy from juggling store Oddballs. I call him my buddy because I always stopped by at this store whenever I went to North Laines to take photos. All the people that worked here were incredibly laid-back and quite fun, and would always ask me how my project was going.