Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France - I wanted to do something else, but somehow I ended up scrolling through my photos and rediscovered a small series I really like: shopping trolleys. The photos themselves are nothing special. And yet, they instantly brought me back to the weeks I spent in France.
What fascinated me was how everyone seemed to have one. Shopping trolleys everywhere. All colors and patterns—modern, old-fashioned, elegant, practical. You see them with young and old, women and men: at the market, in pedestrian zones, at the train station, everywhere.
On a sunny Saturday morning in April I was sitting in a café watching people come and go, each heading somewhere. After a while I realized that almost everyone passing by had a trolley in tow. I reached for my camera as if I were watching a movie - they kept coming, from left, from right.
You can buy these trolleys everywhere in France, and some of them are surprisingly expensive. I remember discovering particularly beautiful ones in a shop that sells the same design across different products—wallets, umbrellas, pens, and trolleys alike.
If I were to live in France one day, I’m sure I would buy one too.
My mother once said—when she was over seventy—that she would finally buy a trolley. She hesitated for a long time because, in her mind, a trolley meant being old. Later, she was happy she did. It was a modern model, and she used to say: “This is my Mercedes.”
But in France, a trolley doesn’t mean age. It’s normal. Practical. And somehow… very French. At least, that’s how it felt to me.