Both (Huawei P30 Series Launch and Eiffel Tower) may seem unrelated but both share a common location, Paris. I always wonder why Huawei chooses to launch their P Series in Paris. And finally, I have the answer.
I am not that clever to guess why Huawei wants to launch their P Series in Paris. I got this document that explains why. I will extract some interesting paragraphs. Are you ready?
Excerpt (in blue font) from the information that I have.
Why did Huawei choose to launch the P30 in Paris?
It has to do with a little thing called love… of photography
It would seem to be like a no-brainer. Paris is “The City of Love”, “The City of Lights”, and “The Fashion Capital of the World”. As the city that became the centre of beauty, culture, art and history since the French Renaissance, it makes sense to pick as the spot for the introduction of the Huawei P30, the latest offerings of the Huawei’s flagship series that have been shaking up the smartphone camera field for the past few years.
However, considering that the Chinese tech giant has chosen other major cities such as Barcelona and London for its previous flagship launches before, there might be more to the fact that both P20 and P30 has set foot in Paris, and it has something to do with its high-powered camera features that famously comes with the Leica lenses.
Yes. Leica is a German brand, but do you know that the historic city of Paris has a deep entwined connection with the development of photography as well?
Home of some of the earliest invention of cameras
The oldest known photo in the world was taken in Paris. The picture of Boulevard du Temple, Paris, was taken by a French artist Louis Daguerre, who is also credited as one of the fathers of photography and the inventor of the daguerreotype process of photography. The daguerreotype process was the common photography process used until the 1860s and was mostly used to capture portraits or landscape scenes.
MIT scholar Catherine Clark, who has published a book “Paris and the Cliché of History”, once said to MIT news that “The French think of photography as their own invention, and there is a national heritage element to it.”
While Paris was also known as the City of Lights, do you know that there were also two famous “Light” brothers in Paris that were crucial to the development of photography technology?
The Lumière (French for light) brothers Auguste Marie Louis Nicolasnd Louis Jean had patented the Autochrome Lumière (Autochrome Light) technology in 1903 and invented the colour plate that is crucial to the advancement of the field. They were also one of the first filmmakers with their own patented cinematography and did their first public screening of ten 50-second short films in 1895 at Salon Indien du Grand Café in Paris.
Home to the world’s largest photography-themed art fair
The city of Paris is also the host of the world’s largest annual international art fair dedicated to photography, Paris Photo, which was founded in 1997. In 2017, over 64,500 visitors attended throughout the 5-day-fair, which was attended by photography collectors, professional photographers, artists, and enthusiasts. In 2018, Huawei also exhibited the winning photos from the “2018 HUAWEI NEXT-IMAGE Awards” at Paris Photo 2018.
Home of legendary professionals and prominent collections of photography
Since the birth of cameras, Paris has been one of the popular subjects of photography. Famed photographers such as Robert Doisneau, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Man Ray had works related to the Paris. And you could also visit some of the established photography museums in Paris such as the European House of Photography, Musée Carnavalet and e Jeu de Paume.
Home of “photogenic” landmarks
As one of the top tourist destinations, Paris has many monumental landmarks that attracted tourists and photography enthusiasts alike. From the Louvre Museum, Notre-Dame Cathedral, the Arch of Triumph, the Champ d’Elysee and the beautiful were the perfect spot for people to capture great photos, and it is no wonder that P30 will be launched in such a place that offers endless opportunities to take a shot.
OK, I think the above information is enough to let us know why Huawei chooses Paris. And now, on the topic of why it is illegal to take pictures of the Eiffel Tower at night.
According to the information, the lights installed on the Eiffel Tower is considered an artistic expression which means that it is copyright protected. So technically, if you take pictures of the light installation at night and distributing them, you might be getting yourself a copyright lawsuit.
However, if you are at Eiffel Tower and taking night shots of the city, it is fine. Anyway, seems like no one had been handed a court case for this copyright violation.
Back to the topic of HUAWEI P30 Series, you can watch the live stream from these two sites on 26th March at 9 pm SGT: –
YouTube
or