When It’s Hip to be Hip(ster)

This week we’re looking at photos all from the same trip, a weeklong trip to Paris in 2017 with Grant. Normally my posts are more temporally spread out, but there’s some cohesion to the photos in this trip I wanted to highlight. These pictures are all from a rented Leica Q (I rented the model twice before buying it to make sure it was the right choice). This was the second time I’d rented it, so I mostly had the hang of it. I took a ton of pictures to keep experimenting, so a lot of them are really casual ones.

I showed all the photos from the trip to Mandy, who immediately commented that the photos have a “hipster aesthetic” and that’s what we’re going to explore. I think the biggest contributor to the look is the sheer number that I took candidly, and a general mood across many of them is a slightly disaffected, “trying to look carefree” look.

In my opinion, none of these are worthy of the classic “Look at this Fucking Hipster” Tumblr, which is probably for the best, that was sooooo last decade. But anyways, on to some hipster af photos.

March 2017. The Louvre (Paris, France)

Grant in his travel outfit: Indiana Jones hat and Enchroma shades. I think part of what makes this shot is that you know it's the Louvre with its iconic glass pyramid, but that’s out of focus, because Grant is the subject. It’s like “look how cool we are for ignoring the Louvre.” Look at this fucking hipster.

March 2017. Paradis Marguerite (Paris, France)

I had an afternoon to explore on my own, so I found this veggie-friendly restaurant (that looks to have closed since then, RIP). The bright yellow tables and light wood tones and all the plants are cute and light and friendly, and not classic Parisian style at all, you could find this restaurant in any hip neighborhood in the world. The Dutch angle adds to the casual-but-not-too-causal feel. I mean, just look at this fucking hipster restaurant.

April 2017. Seine River (Paris, France)

Grant is back in his travel outfit, walking past some graffiti. Grant’s carefree posture, just going for a walk, is second to this “edgy” graffiti. The classic Parisian architecture in the background, the Seine, make it clearly a vacation photo, but not a typical one. Just look at this fucking hipster.

April 2017. Seine River (Paris, France)

I really like how this photo turned out, this photo is on my list of shots to print out and hang. It’s from the same walk along the Seine as above, just a few hours later. I was really impressed with the sharpness of a picture like this at night. Something about the frame and angle of the bike, contrasting against the bridge with its out-of-focus lights just makes it work. I think the most hipster part of this shot is the bike itself, which, come on, look at this fucking hipster bike.

Thanks as always for reading! I love hearing any feedback and look forward to hearing whatcha think!

XOXO,
Margs