The Digital Photography Book

Another Trick for Hiding Tourists

This is Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, France. It’s one of the most amazing churches I’ve ever seen. It has these tall, amazing, stained glass windows on all sides, all the way around the entire church. Everything below the stained glass is gold leaf—the whole place is just stunning. It’s also very small and always very crowded. I’ve shown this shot many times to people who have been to Sainte-Chapelle and the first thing they say to me is, “How in the world did you get this shot without the place being packed with tourists?” Now, one method is to be the first one in the door when they open in the morning. If you shoot ...