The Magic of Montmartre.

Few places hold mystique around every corner like the streets of Montmartre. This image held for me one of those moments.

Montmartre allows visitors to walk the same cobblestone streets as Monet, Renoir, Degas, Picasso, and van Gogh. For photographers, it can harken back to the days of Henri Cartier-Bresson roaming in search of the decisive moment with his Leica in hand.

On this March evening, I was making my way down Place du Tertre towards my favourite Parisian outlook. Classical music playing in the distance caught my ear, I followed the notes around a corner to a scene from a Jean-Luc Godard movie. This street performer balancing in perfect rhythm to Prelude & Fugues. An audience of one, a character dressed the part in his long coat with a bowler hat and a slight smile stands silently captivated by the performance.

I took this in, it was magic, I lowered myself, composed, and waited for that “decisive moment”, a single frame from my Leica capturing this moment in Montmartre.