Notre-Dame Cathedral at Night

       NotreDameNightBis           

This is the Cathédrale de Notre Dame de Paris, as it appears in the evening from across the Seine River.

The cathedral is lit by floodlights at night, but much of the surrounding area is not, so the contrast in lighting is pretty dramatic. This photo looks almost surreal, but I can assure you that it looks just like this in real life. The mysterious glow that seems to surround the cathedral is nothing more than the light of the sun below the horizon behind the edifice; this was taken about half an hour after sunset in summertime, when the sun sets behind the cathedral as seen from the river, and the effect is impressive.

On the near side (Left Bank) of the river in the foreground, you can see restaurant boats that remain lively far into the night, especially on an absolutely perfect summer evening like this.

I shot this photograph with a Hasselblad, and in the original scan you can read the clock on the cathedral (good luck even finding the clock in this greatly reduced image).

Photographed on July 22, 2002.