Lilith in Montmartre
From the steps of Sacré-Cœur to the neon streets of Pigalle, I followed a woman who called herself Daughter of Lilith. Montmartre’s sacred crown gave way to Paris’s libertine underworld a walk that became both myth and memory, captured through my lens.
We began on the steps of Sacré-Cœur, the basilica perched like a crown above Montmartre. Floodlights bathed its white stone in a glow that cut against the black sky. The city spread out beneath us in a sea of lamps, quiet and watchful. At night, the crowds thinned, and the hill felt less like a landmark and more like a threshold the entrance to another story.
She stood beside me, calling herself Daughter of Lilith. The name carried weight older than this church, older than Montmartre itself. Lilith: the first woman in Eden, the one who refused to kneel, who chose exile over obedience. Demonized for centuries, then reborn as an icon of defiance and desire.
We walked down the hill, away from the basilica’s bright gaze. Each step felt like shedding layers of sanctity. The streets narrowed, the light dimmed, and the city began to pulse in neon. Pigalle Montmartre’s other face. The sex shops glowed pink and red, buzzing with electricity. The sacred gave way to the libertine.
It wasn’t new. A century earlier, these same streets fed Paris’s libertine movement cabarets, brothels, and cafés where artists, poets, and outsiders lived as they pleased. Montmartre was where morality blurred into spectacle, where desire became its own kind of art.
Through my lens, she became Lilith’s echo striding past glass windows filled with mannequins, past fluorescent signs promising pleasure, past the old cabaret facades where so many myths had been sold before. This wasn’t the Paris of galleries and salons. It was the Paris of shadows and reinvention, where exile could be liberation.
Lilith was cast out of Eden for refusing submission. Pigalle has long been cast out of Paris’s polished image, dismissed as sin. Yet both endure rebranded, reframed, still magnetic. Myths never vanish; they adapt.
That night, I wasn’t photographing a stranger. I was documenting an archetype, walking downhill from heaven into neon, carrying a story that has been retold for thousands of years and still hasn’t lost its power.
Q: What is Pigalle known for?
A: Pigalle, in Paris’s 18th arrondissement, is famous for its neon lit nightlife, sex shops, and cabarets like the Moulin Rouge. Historically, it was also a center of the city’s libertine movement, where artists, writers, and outsiders gathered.
Q: Who was Lilith in mythology?
A: Lilith is a figure from Mesopotamian and Jewish mythology, often described as Adam’s first wife who refused submission and chose exile. Once demonized, she has since been reimagined as a symbol of independence, sexuality, and rebellion.
Q: Why is Montmartre important for artists?
A: Montmartre has been a hub for artists since the 19th century, home to figures like Picasso, Modigliani, and Toulouse Lautrec. Its cafés, cabarets, and bohemian culture nurtured movements that shaped modern art and mythologized Paris as a creative capital.
If you’re looking for cinematic, story-driven photography that captures moments you can’t script get in touch here. contact@peterkoloff.com
Tokyo in the Rain Shibuya Street Photography & Yakuza Encounter | Peter Koloff
The Prestige Diaries: In 2023, I wandered Shibuya’s neon-lit streets in the rain, camera in hand, chasing the scene I’d always imagined. Just before dawn, I met the Yakuza and walked away with images, memories, and a story I’ll never forget.
Tokyo has a way of pulling you in. In 2023, I spent a night wandering Shibuya’s streets for hours waiting, watching, hoping for rain. The neon lights reflected off wet pavement in my imagination long before the first drop actually fell.
It had been raining lightly, just enough to slick the streets and make the city glow. Around midnight, I met a few people, exchanged smiles, took a handful of portraits. The city felt alive but patient, as if holding back its real story until it was ready to share.
And then I saw them.
A small group of men stood on a side street, looking every bit like they were “connected.” Sharp suits, subtle confidence, the kind of presence you don’t mistake for anything else. I approached, camera in hand, and asked if I could take their photo. They didn’t speak English, and I didn’t speak Japanese until a man stepped out of a black Mercedes, lit by the glow of a streetlight. He became my translator.
“They all work together,” he said, with a knowing look.
One man, clearly the leader, locked eyes with me. He pointed and said something in Japanese. I didn’t understand the words, but somehow I understood the meaning: wait. He removed his coat, then pulled down his shirt to reveal an intricate tapestry of Yakuza tattoos a lifetime of stories inked into his skin.
I raised my camera. Click.
Then something unexpected happened. He gave an order, and suddenly the others began slipping bills into my pockets. I tried to refuse I wasn’t there for money but they insisted. It was surreal.
By 4AM, the streets were nearly empty, my pockets heavier than when I arrived, and my memory card full of images I could never have scripted.
For most of my career, my images have spoken for themselves. As a dyslexic photographer, putting the story into words was always the hardest part. Now, with AI helping me shape and refine my thoughts, I can finally share the scene as I lived it not just the way it looked, but the way it felt.
Tokyo had given me its story. And now, I get to give it to you.
Moments like this don’t happen twice. In 2023, I was lucky enough to capture one now I’m finally telling the story behind it.
If you’ve ever seen one of my images and wondered what was happening outside the frame, follow along I’m sharing more of the untold stories that live behind my lens.
FAQ Tokyo in the Rain Photography
Q: Who took the Tokyo in the rain Yakuza photographs?
A: Photographer Peter Koloff captured the images in Shibuya, Tokyo, in 2023.
Q: Where were the photos taken?
A: In the Shibuya district of Tokyo, Japan, during a rainy night in 2023.
Q: What is unique about these photographs?
A: They feature a rare street encounter with Yakuza members, including one revealing traditional tattoos.
Long before Tokyo, I found myself in Venice at 3AM — alone, with a camera, chasing whatever story the night would give me.
If you’re looking for cinematic, story-driven photography that captures moments you can’t script get in touch here. contact@peterkoloff.com
Venice, 3AM: How AI Helped Me Find My Creative Voice (2017
A sleepless night in Venice became the moment I found my creative voice—years before AI became my tool.
I wandered the alleys of Venice at 3AM with no plan just a camera, a little insomnia, and the urge to create.
That night I captured moments that haunted me for years: a woman smoking alone on a bridge, a man in the distance walking under orange streetlight, and a sunrise over a rain-slicked Piazza San Marco.
But for years, I never told the story because I didn’t have the words. I only had the images.
Today, with AI helping me find language, rhythm, and voice, I’m finally sharing what I saw and what I felt — that night.
This was the moment I began to realize I wasn’t just a photographer. I was a storyteller.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How did AI help you write this blog post?
A: I took the photos in 2017, but never shared the story. In 2025, I used AI tools to help me structure my thoughts and put my experience into words. AI helped unlock the voice behind the visuals.
Q: Does using AI make the story less personal?
A: Not at all. The story, emotions, and memory are mine AI simply helped me express it clearly.
Want more behind-the-scenes stories? Read about the Cannes Film Festival here.