The Opera building at night is a tempting subject. A big rococo cake, all yellow, sitting in the middle of an orderly and spectacular perspective, a symbol of the old Paris. When I arrived there, it was raining, the streets were shining with colorful reflections, cars were passing by, leaving white or red stripes due to the long exposure. It was better than a postcard. For some reason I compulsively pressed the shutter button. The interesting thing is that every time I cross this place at night with a camera, I do it. And I get always the same fabulous postcard. I probably have a whole collection of these very imaginative photographs, taken at all times, thirty years ago, ten years ago, last year, a month ago, all of them done with different sorts of cameras. So this time I decided, for once, to turn my back on this landmark of our city. I got this heavy, ornate staircase ramp. One more staircase…