Adjacent to the Louvre is the Palais Royal, with distinctive black and white columns of varying heights at its forecourt. Les Deux Plateaux, also known as Colonnes de Buren, were a total of 260 columns installed by Daniel Buren some 25 years ago for considerable costs. They were recently restored over a period of about a year for an amount close to €6 million.

Each time that I’ve passed by these columns, a few common activities were observed. One, children running around and jumping on and off the shorter columns. Two, people standing on the columns, often pretending to be statues, taking posed photos. Three, teenagers congregating around certain columns. And last but not least, folks with camera trying to find a way to photograph these columns and still do a good job of it. I was in the last group and I’m not even entirely sure if I did a decent job with my shot…