Shades of opinion. By Inès LE GOURRIEREC, Manon BOYER & Charlotte GENEIX

City of darkness

City of light

We took the first photo Place de Jaude, in Clermont-Ferrand. We took many photos of our city for the purpose of this essay but we didn’t notice anything special or particular about them at the time; it’s only upon getting home and actually taking a closer look at the photos that we noticed the one above, in which the sky is just beautiful.

As for the second photo, we took it in Paris last year. It was not a staged photograph as we took it by night on our way to a concert in the 18th district.

When we took the photo in Clermont-Ferrand, there was a lot of noise and there were many people around us, but we can’t see them on the photo because of the shadows. I remember that the weather was pretty cold.

The Paris photo was also taken in the winter, so it was cold but definitely not as bitter as in Clermont. By contrast, the street was empty, with no passers-by, no noise at all. That is the reason why this place interested us; it is not common for such a busy city to be so quiet, even at night…

The first photo is a snapshot of the most famous square in Clermont-Ferrand. In the foreground we see many old buildings like the Galeries Lafayette, in the background we can make out the second Centre Jaude, and in the middle of the photo is the statue of Vercingetorix. The photo’s most striking feature is the amazing cloudy-spattered sky. The brightness is so intense that it makes the rest of the photograph look like a shadow.

The second photo depicts an underground car park above which are many lit-up flats. This photo is very dark but the light emanating from the flats and that of the inside of the car park enables us to make out the road leading to the parking lot as well as a large wall on the left.

Funnily enough, these photos don’t reflect our mood at the time we took them; indeed when we took the first one we weren’t very happy and we took the photos without thinking, whereas for the second picture, we were very excited and happy!

We entitled the first photo “City of darkness”, because that is how tourists and people who don’t live in this city sometimes perceive it. People imagine that Clermont-Ferrand is a poor, lifeless city; they believe that Clermont-Ferrand is stuck in the middle of nowhere; there are so many misconceptions about our city!

Our second photo is entitled “City of light”, as Paris is commonly portrayed as the city of love or the city of light and we think that this photo lives up to the city’s nickname because, on the one hand, it’s the light that allows us to see the scene, but on the other hand it’s difficult to say that this photo represents the idea of light as the picture is so very dark! So, for the two photos we have chosen ironic titles, in reference to the cities' epithets.

In the first picture, the element that we can see best is the Vercingetorix statue. Vercingetorix was the victor of the Battle of Gergovia which took place near Clermont. It’s a bronze by Auguste Bartoldi inaugurated in 1903. It has been classified as a historic monument since 1994.

On the second picture there isn’t any specific element that stands out, just a sort of council estate and a gloomy car park.

We are proud of our Vercingetorix statue. Auguste Bartholdi was the man who also made the Statue of Liberty. We are proud to live near the place where the battle took place. In our opinion, our city is beautiful in many ways and it’s what we wanted to portray in this picture.

The second picture is more personal and emotionally charged because we took it when we were going to our first concert and it's a real good memory for us. But despite the memory, we wanted to show that Paris, which is often perceived as being the most beautiful city in the world, can also be sadder than Clermont at times.

The title which we chose is "Shades of opinion". Many people say that Paris is a very beautiful city but when we tell them we live in Clermont-Ferrand, generally people are confused and say "Oh, I'm sorry" like it's a shame to live here and generally those people have never been to Clermont-Ferrand. It depends on your point of view if you like the city or not, on where you live in the city and also if you know the city.

We could say the contrast between those two pictures lies in the atmosphere. In the Paris picture, we feel rather oppressed and uneasy, whereas in the picture of Clermont-Ferrand, we feel almost exalted!

The photos show us views of two cities, their contrasting atmospheres. The picture of Clermont gives a positive feeling because it is a beautiful photo, and people will perhaps want to discover this city because of our photo. The other one, people will feel negative about. It’s dark, and it doesn’t make you feel like going there; Paris is not shown in its best light...

The most beautiful cities are not totally perfect, and the ones you do not know, you often underestimate.