Photo of the Day – A Photo of The Mona Lisa – Louvre Museum – Paris, France

Growing up as a kid I held the belief that the famous Mona Lisa painting was protected behind all sorts of secret lasers making it impossible for the average peon like myself to see it in person. As I grew older the laser fantasy was replaced by the idea that one could see the Mona Lisa in person but under no circumstances were you allowed to take a picture of it. I knew that The Mona Lisa was well guarded and the punishment for blinding her eyes with your camera flash would be severe.

Last December while touring the Louvre Museum in Paris, I surprisingly walked easily into the room housing the Mona Lisa and was shocked at what I saw. There were no visible lasers protecting Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece. Furthermore there was a huge crowd of tourists snapping away thousands of photos of her. Security didn’t even blink an eye when the camera flashes lit up The Mona Lisa!

Without the lasers and strict security, all that was before me was a small (less than 2×3 feet) and rather boring (in my opinion) painting hanging on the wall with a bunch of tourists standing around taking pictures. Being a photographer I was happy that I was able to get a clean shot of the painting, but the rest of the experience was…bleh.

Don’t expect much from seeing The Mona Lisa in person. You will surely be let down.