JOSEF SCHOMBURG
Josef's passions—for photography, design and history—have made him into something of a local character. For example, he knows more than anyone else about the "Petite Ceinture", a rail line circling Paris that fell into disuse before WWII. Some of the railway's trenches have been covered with concrete caps sporting parks and roadways, but, amazingly, most of the line still exists! Josef is publishing a book about it, "Paris autour de la Petite Ceinture".
Then there's Josef's expertise on Paris Dirt. Soil, not scandals. What lies beneath. How did a Canadian fashion photographer with a Japanese girlfriend become so intimately acquainted with Parisian substrata that he knows in which arrondissements you can mine for gypsum, in which for sandstone?
Josef has lately begun putting his gifts to practical use with a complex website called www.paris-promenades.com. And it's an ongoing project: you could join Josef on his explorations!