Strolling along the Champs Elysee...

My father shot this in Paris ca. 1962 or so. My favorite shot of his time overseas. The colors are super vibrant, and people are dressed so well, enjoying the city of light. I first saw this photo when my cousin, who found the slides had them scanned. My mouth hit the floor. What a beautiful piece of a long lost time and place...Enjoy!

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Nice. My wife was born and raised in Paris, and I've spent enough time in Paris over the past 50 years to appreciate this even more. Remember, this was only 17 years after the end of the WWII today, that would be looking back at 2004 as an example) and France was still enjoying that sense of being French, and living in Paris was the dream of almost every French person, and many of us born elsewhere. This is a fantastic shot.

You can't beat Kodachrome, which this seems to be?

 

It makes you nostalgic, as you say, to see people all dressed up.

 

From 1976, there is - on the other hand - this GAF 500 slide film image of the street at night.

Hand held with Nikkor-S 55mm f/1.2. Yes, it's been massaged a bit with NIK to eliminate golfball-sized grain.

France was still enjoying that sense of being French

 

Hate to bring reality into it, but the Algerian war was coming to an end and the French were exhausted by the terrorism and brutality of that, and yet assasination and assassination attempts in mainland France were still in progress. Many French were not enjoying being French due to a war quite as bad as the US Vietnam war. Tourists are often the least observant visitors. When is comes to Paris, no people seem quite as gullible as Americans.

France was still enjoying that sense of being French

 

Hate to bring reality into it, but the Algerian war was coming to an end and the French were exhausted by the terrorism and brutality of that, and yet assasination and assassination attempts in mainland France were still in progress. Many French were not enjoying being French due to a war quite as bad as the US Vietnam war. Tourists are often the least observant visitors. When is comes to Paris, no people seem quite as gullible as Americans.

Gee, modern day France has none of that! Lol I’m sure if you asked the average Frenchman where he’d rather be, today, or back then, I’d bet he/she’d say back then! But what do I know? I’m just an American tourist.

France was still enjoying that sense of being French

 

Hate to bring reality into it, but the Algerian war was coming to an end and the French were exhausted by the terrorism and brutality of that, and yet assasination and assassination attempts in mainland France were still in progress. Many French were not enjoying being French due to a war quite as bad as the US Vietnam war. Tourists are often the least observant visitors. When is comes to Paris, no people seem quite as gullible as Americans.

 

Proof that you haven't spent much time in France Robin, and perhaps are not terribly observant. I'm not American, and I've spent a lot of time in France with my wife's family, and doing business there. The French joie de vivre is not dampened by things like war, and politics, and even rampaging gilets jaunes or 60's radical students barricading the Sorbonne. They are French, they believe it's the best place in the world (they just might be right) and when they decide to enjoy life they do so.

What's interesting to me is the photographic aspect of the question of this photo and the French. Can we, from a tourist snapshot of a well-known street in a country, draw any reasonable conclusions about the people in that country as a whole? My answer would be, very unlikely. What we may be prone to do is use the photo disingenuously to confirm our prejudices and/or stereotypes.

 

Now, that's not to say there aren't some very significant iconic photos that seem to many of us to "capture" the "essence" of Americans or French. Much more often, a clearer picture of a country's people would come from a book or series, keeping in mind that even a book or series that purported to capture the essence of American or French would likely not capture many, many significant aspects and perspectives of the population in all its diversity.