Paris Photo 2025 Summary
The Grand Palais, Paris Photo (14th November 2025)
This was my first venture outside of the UK in 10 years which filled me with excitement. Paris is obviously known for its constant bustling, iconic landmarks, and rich heritage. However, the primary focus of the visit was on business and research at the Paris Photo Fair. The concept of mixing business and pleasure was completely new to me. Obviously, going abroad means you feel obliged to act like a tourist which is exactly what I did! But when the important part of the trip comes around it’s important to switch back to that professional state of mind. That’s why I felt the need to summarise the trip as a whole so the whole scope of my experience in France is analysed in relation to the links between the city’s culture and the diversity of the fair.
Thursday 13th November 2025
Crowd Gathering for The Mona Lisa, The Louvre
Day 1 began with a trip to The Louvre, one of the most decorated gallery spaces in the world. This visit came not long after The Louvre heist so security was sharp and the museum was packed. Having never been somewhere with so much artwork, it was quite overwhelming at first to understand what I wanted to see in the limited time there was as it was impossible to cover the entire building in a single day but visiting with my friends made the experience enjoyable rather than stressful.
There were two primary highlights for me from The Louvre trip. Firstly was seeing art in droves from famous painters including Turner, Martin and Wright. Being a photographer and not being in the wider art world has affected my career heavily to this point so I felt embarrassed by my lack of understanding regarding some of the painters but seeing them in person ignited my interest and made me consider the wider context of my work, especially my Dystopia project. It has the capability to cross disciplines in terms of relevance and inspire craftspeople of different arts. It’s hard to imagine if Turner imagined this when he painted his most famous works but the beauty of the times we live in means we can consider social impact now, especially with the internet helping our work reach a wider audience.
The second highlight was of course The Mona Lisa. This has been on my bucket list ever since I knew what a bucket list was and I was far from disappointed! Naturally, the room containing the famous Da Vinci painting was packed with people wanting to get their snap at the front but it added to the grandeur and the significance this piece has had on the world to me. Most who aren’t even remotely interested in art know what the Mona Lisa is which is testament to how it has continued to attract audiences after all this time. It was much smaller than I anticipated - not much bigger than a sheet of A4 - but its presence was overwhelming, like a security drone scouting the room for targets.
Following The Louvre, we visited a Christmas Market located next to Westfield Shopping Centre. It was at quite a remarkable location, situated in the shadow of a huge building complex that eclipsed even the biggest structure in Plymouth. It was an interesting blend of modern and classic coming together to create a quaint, intimate scene which made everyone smile and got people in the festive mood. Worlds away from The Louvre for sure but necessary to unwind, as are general breaks when working on projects for productivity.
Friday 14th November 2025
The Grand Palais, Paris Photo 2025
The events of the visit to Paris Photo 2025 actually begin on the lock bridge, a bridge crossing the River Seine with several love padlocks adorning it. From the bridge was a beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower - another one off the bucket list! - and a view of the sweeping Seine leading through Paris. Being the city of love it felt relevant to stop for a minute and spend some time just soaking everything in. The locks were a reminder of the beauty of human connection, something the world is becoming less accustomed to. It’s quite simply the state of the world we live in as human interaction in person is slowly being replaced by online alternatives, as well as the introduction of robots to do human tasks. There is still value in physical experience though and seeing the Eiffel Tower was a reminder of that, a stunning reminder of human hard graft to build it over two years and persistence for it to survive hardships such as two World Wars.
On from this was the main event - Paris Photo. I really wish I had taken up this opportunity earlier when I was at university as it would’ve benefitted me immeasurably. The sheer size of the exhibition was completely unexpected with photography pouring from everywhere you could lay your eyes on. The show attracted 75,000 visitors this year and featured artist work from 56 different countries making it a melting pot of creativity, culture and representation. There are so many photographers that caught my attention that I have individually highlighted on this research journal and so much more that we missed. The size of the show was overwhelming - we didn’t expect to miss out on so much and could’ve done with the extra day, hence why there is a strong possibility that I will return next year! Spending seven hours completely engaged and locked into photography required stamina and constant concentration but the reward for this was a completely fresh outlook on the discipline. The amount of projects from different corners of photography was overbearing at first because my objective was to hone in on “Imagined Worlds”, which there was plenty of. But it soon became clear that this mindset was limiting and I wasn’t allowing myself to think properly about work that might not appear relevant on the surface but was crucial to my education. We must keep learning to stay on trend as creatives and Paris Photo was the perfect place to do it due to how inviting and open the setup of the exhibits and people there were.
Saturday 15th November 2025
Le Duc Des Lombards Jazz Club, Paris
Saturday saw a well balanced day of pleasure and culture! The first order of the day was a trip to a French Flea Market which also saw our first and only rain of the trip. Luckily, it wasn’t so bad that it would deter us. I’m not going to confess that my knowledge of French antiquities is top drawer - actually, it’s pretty much zero - but it was interesting to see the comparison in quality between these and their British counterparts. Much of the sale contained furniture, lamps, and carpets which were all beautiful in their own rights (despite me not quite understanding all of it) but there were some absolute gems in the piles of items. We found a stunning print worth much more than it was being sold for but was still unfortunately out of our price bracket. We found classic jewellery that put a lot of plastic British equivalents to shame and (perhaps not interesting to the others but definitely to me), a silver chromed paperweight in the shape of a duck. I’m sure there’s value in everything on offer there but the most value I found was in a hot McDonalds post-exploring.
The evening was much more magical though. A pre-planned trip to a Jazz Club in Bastille to see GRAMMY nominated American artist Christine Dashiell turned into an emotionally charged evening. I’ve generally overlooked the jazz genre when scrolling through what to play on YouTube Music but her enchanting voice captivated me from the start. It was everything I expected from Paris in terms of entertainment. The audience was stuck in time from her amazing vocals and the talented band that accompanied her, split between moments of enjoying a Honey Mocktail as she spoke about her upbringing and inspiration. A worthy excursion and one I will never forget.
To finish, we stopped off at a Cat Café to get our hit of feline cuteness. The beauty of this place was that all the cats were rescues which felt satisfying to know. The cats lazed about and enjoyed the guests playing with them as we sipped on hot chocolate (for me) and wine (for my friends) thinking about the magic of the trip. There have been struggles in all our lives to that point but it all seemed inconsequential in each other’s company in the centre of a foreign country surrounded by cats.
Sunday 16th November 2025
The Eiffel Tower, Paris
On the final full day in Paris, I had an epiphany. We’ll come to that.
The idea of Sunday was to squeeze in as much as we could in a few hours. We really needed a few more days to experience the city some more but that didn’t deter us. The first trip was one I had been aching for since we arrived in the city which was a visit to the home of PSG. The Stade de France is also the French National Team’s stadium which had hosted France vs Ukraine just a few days prior. With an 80,000 capacity, the dome shaped design of the stadium was a sight to behold for someone who is so accustomed to Plymouth Argyle’s 17,500 capacity ground! Next time a match can hopefully be watched there.
Our second stop was the Champs Elysees, which made me feel extremely out of place financially! It was also a mecca for Street Photography with aesthetic side streets and expensive brands adorning the classic buildings (other than a giant brief cased Louis Vuitton store). My only purchase this year was some nice smelling aftershave but the main attraction wasn’t the shops. At the end of the street was another feet of French architecture, the well known Arc de Triomphe. Taking 30 years to complete, the project was initially started to commemorate Napoleon’s birthday but his abdication slowed down construction. Similarly to the Christmas Market, this classic structure was a reminder of how Paris has the unique ability to evolve in accordance to modern expectations without completely dismissing its historical roots.
My epiphany came in the evening on a viewing platform looking directly at the lit up Eiffel Tower. Recommended by a friend, we stepped off the Metro and we were met with one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. It was grand in the day but lit up, with an orange hue igniting the night sky against the backdrop of the bustling city was unexpected and emotional. It hit me as soon as I reached the front of the platform though - everything I’d ever been through or done in my life had led to this moment. A moment surrounded by friends, where I wasn’t alone, in a stunning location and the weight of the world lifted from my shoulders, even if it was just for a few minutes. I could’ve watched it all night and I wouldn’t have wanted to admit this a few years but it brought a tear to my eye. Thinking about adversary and loneliness compared to the utter joy I felt in that moment was worlds apart and, since I’ve returned to Plymouth, I’ve tried to carry that feeling through to a more positive outlook on life.
