Atrium, Galeries Lafayette – Paris, France

Galeries Lafayette is an upscale French department store chain, the largest in Europe. My wife and I visited the flagship store on Boulevard Haussmann near the Opéra Garnier, seen here. We bought some souvenirs, but our primary purpose was to see the magnificent atrium at the center of this 1912 building.

It’s challenging to capture the scale and grandeur, but I attempted to do so across three images. I’ve been to some grand department stores in New York City and Philadelphia, but the Galeries Lafayette is at an entirely different level.

A glass catwalk on the right, almost hidden within the architectural details, was closed, which would’ve offered even more spectacular angles on this central structure.

My all-purpose Fujifilm 16-80mm offered a 24mm to 120mm equivalent focal length. This single-lens solution offered much flexibility, but this was one of the few times I wished I had a wider zoom. Shooting in a portrait orientation provided a more expansive perspective, although not enough.

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