Lyon, France

Lyon was founded as Lugdunum by the Romans in 43BC on a hill overlooking the confluence of the Rhone and Saone rivers. A major commercial center in the Renaissance, it has been variously a center of silk weaving, printing, and banking. It is here that the Lumiere brothers invented the modern motion picture.

From 1992 to 2000, I had an apartment in "Vieux Lyon", the old renaissance quarter, restored and made a pedestrian area in the 1980s. It's quite agreeable, and photogenic when you can get a bit of decent lighting in the narrow streets.

This first shot was made at dawn, looking out of the window over Place Neuve Saint Jean. I happened to catch the last seconds before the streetlights turned themselves off. I was struck by the resemblance of the scene to Magritte's "Empire of Light".