A year later and I still ache for this city. I don’t know if I will ever stop aching for it. Every time I see these pictures I am taken right back to the smells, the chill in the air, the light, the laughs on the metro, and how the city just felt so alive. Paris, truly won my heart in our 4 weeks there.
I thought that since it has been one year since our travels there it would only be appropriate the reignite the inspiration this city left me with by not just sharing some images but also finally really opening up about the work we did while we were there. Surprise! We were not just hanging out all the time in this beautiful city…we were actually working.
This trip came about in the craziest way. Our friend Jonathan Grant, The Culture Keeper, suggested that we help our Alma Mater, Asbury University to promote their new Paris Semester program that would allow students to come live, experience, and work in Paris for one semester. I couldn’t think of a better way to give to a place that taught me so much than to help more students have similar amazing experiences as I did.
So the 3 of us were offered our trip in exchange for giving them all the pieces they needed to show off Paris. We were asked to create beautiful pictures they could use and also to shoot a short little film that would display the experience of what it was like as a student in Paris.
So, the whole time we were enjoying our time in Paris we were also working to snap pictures, show off this beautiful city, and capture the true inspiration and importance of Paris. Since we had never been we added on an extra week on the front and back end to really enjoy ourselves. Jonathan was already in Paris when we went last year so it was really fun for him to show us around.
Each day we would tour the city, look for locations and then come back and schedule time to shoot with our lovely student, Lucy. It was one of the first times I got the chance to really do work as an on-site art director. I helped cast the vision, Jonathan made sure each shot was well styled, and Mike shot and edited.
I really couldn’t have asked for a better team of people to work with on this. Each day was full of creativity and adventure as I am sure you could see by our 16 posts from our days there. We learned so much about Parisian culture and how to blend in.
I remember the first day (only a week there) I was asked for directions in French. It made me really proud that somehow in just that week I had become so comfortable with the culture there that others thought I was local to the city. Such a compliment especially in such a beautiful city.
Those 4 weeks were pivotal in our business. I have shared that before, but at that time Mike and I were not officially working together yet. This trip solidified that decision for us. Seeing how we worked every day as a team showed us this was what we were meant to do.
So, to this day each picture holds such weight and emotion to me because they are all slices of what has transformed me in to who I am right now. Amazing what can change in a year…even now the video we did for them feels different from even our work now, but I still felt it was great to show.
One note was that we had to carry the school’s branding on to the video. We could not custom design the brand for them, but it was still a real treat and a lot of fun. I hope ya’ll enjoy.
If you are a student and want to find out more you can head here and apply. It is an amazing program headed by one of our favorite professors at Asbury. A seriously amazing opportunity!