Time's paces. By Paul BOYMOND & Pierre HOSPITAL

Plus ça change...

Tempus fugit

The first photo was taken Place de Jaude on October 4th at 18:00. The second, at the cathedral, on September 28th at 20:10. We didn't add any effects.

The first photo shows Clermont-Ferrand’s famous square. We were alone on the Place de Jaude. There is, on the left, the statue of Vercingétorix, opposite is the Rue Blatin and some of the buildings surrounding the square. In the foreground, you can see Pierre’s hand holding a tablet computer showing the square in the Fifties. You see a streetcar and a bus of that period. The interesting thing is that the buildings in the tablet and outside match. The weather was rainy that's why it isn't very colorful.  The statue in honour of the famous Gaulish warrior by Auguste Bartholdi dates from 1903. The tramway was designed by a French engineer, Jean Claret, in the late 1890s. It was the first electric tramway in France. In the 50s, the city created a bus network and the streetcars disappeared a few years later.

We took the second picture from a low angle; this makes this strange old clock on the famous cathedral of Clermont-Ferrand look quite impressive. The time is noted in Roman numerals. There wasn't any noise; we could just hear the sound of our steps on the pavement. The evening sky is dark blue. There was nobody else around at that time. It was windy and cold. We could smell the burning candles in the cathedral. We don’t know exactly when this clock was put there. It is like an eye staring at you. The cathedral Notre Dame de l’Assomption was built during the 13th century by the bishop Hugues de la Tour. The architect was Jean Deschamps. It is made of dark Volvic stone, a volcanic material used for many buildings in the region.

Plus ça change is the title of the first photo in reference to the way the town has evolved over the years but has stayed essentially the same. Tempus fugit is the second picture’s title because it is about how time flies…

Taking photos involves many emotions and memories... Our photos may not be excellent but we are quite pleased with them. Paul says: "The Place de Jaude is very familiar to me because every day I have to cross it to go to school. The clock of the cathedral is important for me because it is thanks to this clock that I learnt how to tell the time when I was five. My father and I stopped each day in front of this clock and we read the time". Pierre says: "The subject of Plus ça change is very important to me because I’m really attached to my city and I’m very interested in its history in particular its streetcars. The cathedral clock is very beautiful at night".

Time's paces is the common title of our photos. Both are about how we experience time, both as an urban community and personally. Plus ça change illustrates the slow evolution of a city. We want to make our urban environment better, but, in fact, little does change because we also want to preserve our heritage. Most of the buildings are the same, with the same functions (here, flats, offices and cafés) and the means of transport, though modernised, are basically the same (in fact, the tramline was recently brought back into service). Tempus fugit depicts the fleeting moments we each of us try to measure on our watches...