The Ographies of Life in Paris
iPhoneography Plus
Yesterday at Parler Paris Après Midi, photographer Michael Honegger had everyone viewing their iPhones not as phones, but as cameras, with as much value as his trusty Nikon. With audience participation, he had small teams (of the overwhelmingly large turn-out) study two printed images — one taken with the iPhone and the other taken with a Nikon — then deducing which was which.
It’s not easy as it turns out. Only a few of the teams were really able to see the difference. The iPhone 4S stacks up against other cameras surprisingly well, and, as Honegger explained, the big plusses are that 1) you can shoot inconspicuously anywhere anytime without being noticed and 2) the thousands (yes, literally thousands) of apps on the market, at under $5 and often free, make imagery diverse and fun.
Honegger handed out a list of his top 10 apps and demonstrated five of them. CameraBag ($1.99) was top of the list, but the one that blew us all away was GroupShot ($.99). You won’t believe this one! I tested it for myself with Michael and a group of friends this past Saturday. When you take a few shots of a group of people, there’s always at least one who is not looking as perfect as the others in one or more, right? But, no matter! This app allows you to replace the bad face with a good face in moments and it’s seamless, fast, easy and totally incredible!
The afternoon was more than enlightening and had everyone awestruck by the photographic possibilities one can achieve with their ‘phones!’ These are amazing times! Aren’t they?
To read all about the afternoon and see the photos, visit Parler Paris Après Midi.
For more information about Michael Honegger’s creative and beautiful photographic works, visit his site at Michael Honegger Photos. And then make you plan to come to Après Midi this coming November 13th when poet, speaker, and storyteller, James Navé, discusses “Looking at Light: From the Imaginative Storm to the Creative Form.” For details visit Parler Paris Après Midi.
Moneyography
A recent change to U.S. regulations has made it difficult for Americans to move their money to and from the U.S. and other countries. Currency specialists now have to acquire state-by-state licenses in order to service U.S. residents. This poses a serious issue for those of us living abroad or those who own property that is funded by their U.S. accounts or wish to make a property purchase!
Until now, we have worked exclusively with Moneycorp and that was worthwhile until the limitations were placed on them. To compensate, we have added a second resource: World First.
At present, Moneycorp is able to make all trades from residents of the following states (incoming and outgoing): Florida, Indiana, New Mexico and Wisconsin.
In addition to this, they are now accepting funds from a U.S. residents non-U.S. located account (such as your French bank account) and return counter currency to the same U.S. residents U.S. based account. To be clear, in this scenario funds must not originate either from a third party or from the clients U.S. based account and funds must only be paid to the clients U.S. based account.
Therefore, subject to the above restrictions, they are now able to allow trades for residents of the following States (incoming from France to U.S.): California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina and Washington DC.
With regards to defining the main residence of a client, Moneycorp can trade normally (incoming and outgoing) for clients who can register with Moneycorp under their non-US address — if they have proof of residency (e.g. recent utilities bill, less than 3 months old).
This means that if you have a visa to reside in France, and have a lease or own a property, then you may be able to trade with Moneycorp.
Because of the difficulties, we have also formed a second partnership with the currency specialist World First. World First has an office in New York and is working hard to expand its U.S. permissions to make the process of sending your U.S. Dollars to France as painless as possible.
World First can currently make currency transfers to and from those resident in the following states: Florida, Indiana, Montana, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Wisconsin.
World First can also make currency transfers between a client’s own accounts (or to and from a Notaire’s escrow account) for another two dozen states. This list of states is subject to change so please contact Tanya Uniacke at +44 (0)20 7801 2371, or email [email protected], for confirmation, specifying which state you currently reside in and they will do their best to help.
Read the full details of our Global Money Services.
Frenchography
Journalist Maureen Jenkins did it again — CNN.com published her latest article “5 cool places to learn a foreign language abroad” in which she features our very own Parler Parlor French-English Conversation Group. Here’s what Maureen had to say:
Parler Parlor Conversation Group in Paris, France
Visiting the City of Light and looking for an easy way to both meet locals and brush up on your French? Parler Parlor offers free-form chats between native English and French speakers three times a week at two spots in central Paris.
Launched 14 years ago by “House Hunters International” favorite and American expatriate Adrian Leeds along with French-language expert Marie-Elisabeth Crochard, Parler Parlor has members (who sign up for multiple sessions or pay a one-time fee) from 45 countries. Equally divided groups of between six and eight English and French speakers spend 45 minutes chatting in one language, then the other.
Says Leeds: “It’s one voice at a time, period. (Visitors) should never feel intimidated because everybody is there for the same reason, regardless of the level.” Another benefit: “I think it’s really therapeutic. Regardless of what’s going on in your life, for an hour and a half you get to talk and think about something else. It can be like a group therapy session.”
If you’ve never attended, then don’t be shy! You can visit our site page for more information or go to Meetup.com and sign up!
A la prochaine…
Adrian Leeds
Editor, Parler Paris
P.S. Put next Tuesday, October 16th at 7 p.m. on your calendar — WHSmith (248 rue de Rivoli, 1st), one of Paris’ longest-running English-language bookstores, is hosting a pre-release author event for Timothy J. Smith’s latest book, Cooper’s Promise. The book will actually be released October 23rd by Owl Canyon Press, but it is available on a pre-order basis from the publisher and WHSmith. Of course, copies will be sold at the reading.
To read more, click the links below.