4.And Beyond | tiethestrings

It had been years since I last visited Paris.

I think it was the same season back then.

In June, the sunlight in Paris is strong.
Stronger than expected, and the heat lingers through the day.

June 2023.
On the bus from the airport into the city, I realized I had forgotten my sunglasses.

I remember entering the city through that brightness.

After leaving my luggage at the hotel, I stepped out immediately with my camera.

Paris is not a clean city.
The streets are scattered with trash.
Pickpocketing is common, and demonstrations are part of everyday life.

There is a clear gap between the image of Paris as a destination and the reality of the city itself.

And yet, there is something about this place that draws me in.

Things are not arranged, not refined—
but within that, there is a density of human presence.

As I keep walking, small shifts begin to emerge in glances, in distance, in silence.

Each time I raise the camera, a relationship forms between the subject and myself.

It may last only a moment, but it undeniably exists.

On the final day of shooting in 2024, I met a man.

“Now, you can probably find the same things in Japan,” he said.

“French brands are everywhere.

But doing something here—eating, buying, simply being—
that’s something more than that. It’s an experience.”

“Experiencing things is important. And experiences in Paris are special.”

He smiled, then added:

Now, you have a gift from Paris.

Paris is a city that gives something.

Not something tangible, but something that remains as memory, sensation—something beyond words.

The people I encountered here, the time we shared, and the presence that emerged through the viewfinder.

Each of those moments continues to shift over time, and still lingers somewhere.

Perhaps all of it quietly becomes something we might call a gift from Paris.