A few years ago I visited Paris with a medium-format film camera and a heavy-duty tripod. The Fuji GX680 is somewhat of a beast to carry around outdoors, but, like a large-format camera, its lens is connected with a flexible bellows that allows it to be tilted left and right and shifted up and down to adjust perspective and focus in ways you can’t do with an ordinary camera. I scouted around for scenes that I could compose into formal views with a lot of detail, and ended up shooting under an elevated Métro Line that has complex structures above, interesting scenes below, and station entries from which I could get elevated views.
Paris’s Métro Line 6 runs in a southern semicircle around Paris for 8 miles, about half of which is elevated above the street. It crosses the Seine twice, near the line’s east end, and near its west end, as well. There it passes close to the Eiffel Tower on a beautiful, elevated crossing at the Pont de Bir-Hakeim. The elegant engineering of the elevated line, designed and built at the beginning of the 20th century, was perfect for my medium-format project. It has lots of interesting detail in the steel and stone columns, the masonry barrel vaults, and the vintage light fixtures hanging from high above.
Métro Line 6 tracks cross the Seine just outside the Passy station, elevated above the Pont de Bir-Hakeim on these elegantly shaped columns. The columns curve out at their bases and flare out above, as well, to meet the rounded cantilevers of the beams that support the tracks. The bridge and viaduct were designed by Louis Biette.
Taken from an elevated landing, this image shows the track support structure of riveted metal beams and brick barrel vaults extending off into the distance on a collonade of Ionic classical columns. The track shelters an airy sunlit pedestrian walkway below.
Rusticated stone columns support a structure high enough in this stretch to allow for a series of basketball courts, enclosed with netting.
At the Nationale station a marketplace takes advantage of the shelter provided by the elevated tracks.
The canopies over the marketplace stalls at the Nationale station reflect bright sunlight up to the bottom of the structure, with its repetitive rows of brick barrel-vaults and silver-painted riveted beams. Indian merchandise on the left, vegetables on the right.
One of the food vendor stalls had a shiny metal security cover, swung up out of the way, that added reflections from above to the interesting patterns of sun and shade in the action below the tracks.
At the Quai de la Gare station, next to the Seine near Line 6’s eastern end, Ionic-inspired capitals are embellished with interesting winged-earth designs. Hinged support pads between the tops of the columns and the bottoms of the beams allow for structure movement.
Just beyond the Quai de la Gare station Line 6 crosses the Seine again, its tracks elevated above the Pont de Bercy on these heavily rusticated stone columns and arches. The pathway below is dedicated to bikes – pedestrians watch out!
Upstream of the Pont du Bercy, this pedestrian and bicycle bridge, the Passerelle Simone-de-Beauvoir, crosses the Seine without any mid-river supports. Métro Line 6 is not above – but the structure is an interesting comparison to the bridge structures of Line 6 that were built 100 years earlier. The 348-foot long pedestrian bridge was built in Alsace and transported via canal, the North Sea, the English Channel, and rivers up to Paris. It was hoisted into place in two hours at the beginning of 2006.
The Fuji GX680 in action at a Métro Line 6 station. At one station one of the security guards was not happy with me!
