In the moment, remembering Paris
Written by W.D. Thigpen
June 25, 2008- Published online at www.Helium.com for Paris Set Me Free
Word count- 435
Beaming with happiness, Maureen recalls Paris with a flurry of poetic emotion as she shares her
love of the city.
Like millions before, Maureen developed a special affinity, at a young age, for this brilliantly
colored city, rich with history and exciting adventures down every street, or “rue” to be more
French.
A true lover all of things Paris, she shares that her childhood was filled with hours at her local
library pouring over glossy magazine images of France. Growing up in small-town America, the
library became a sought after refuge for Maureen. She fantasized about the City of Lights as an
escape from her “one- dimensional, homogenized, monochromatic, corn-fed Midwestern town of
flatness.”
Dreaming of a land so far away, Maureen says she “craved images” and began collecting photos
in hopes of creating this world a little closer to home. Generating a mental map of street names,
yet to be pronounced, Maureen was filing them away for the day when she could stroll down the
Champs Elysée or Boulevard St. Michel and smell the freshly baked baguettes.
Finally, after years of dreaming and planning, Maureen visited Paris. Barely able to contain her
excitement, she says, “the city’s beauty rushed into me, cutting my life in two.” From that point
forward, Maureen refers to her life as B.P. (before Paris) and A.P. (after Paris.)
Although she had memorized guidebooks and fashion magazines for years, she wanted something
different to preserve her Parisian holiday. As she put it, “not the travel magazines gauzy tributes
to faux magic, but something sincere, and real.”
She found this with an extraordinary photographer and tour guide, Sab Will of Paris Set Me Free.
As soon as Maureen saw the artistic and thought provoking images on Sab’s site,
ParisSetMeFree.com, she knew that he could help her preserve the Paris she adored.
This was no ordinary tour. Sab actually gives his tour clients a crash course in fine art
photography. Maureen said traipsing around Paris with Sab for a few hours, learning about his
life, and his city, was more than she could have hoped for.
“When you are either too nervous to hold the camera to your face because the lens gets in the
way of the beauty, or when you are swamped with the emotion of a war monument, Sab is a
thoughtful guide – helping you make sense of what you witness,” says Maureen.
Maureen was able to develop more than photos on her holiday; she developed a friendship with
Sab Will, “ photographer extraordinaire.” And she added, “Paris Set Me Free really lived up to
its name, and set me free.”
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