Let's get wet!

In summer 2008, I offered myself a trip to Ireland in order to celebrate my 30th birthday. A few friends joined me and we decided to visit the west coast of the island from Killorglin (attending the Puck Fair) to Sligo.

On one of the chilly days, with a storm lurking behind the mountains, we decided to stop and have a swim in the ocean.
We found a little path down to an empty beach north of Dingle before reaching O'Connor Pass.

The beach was empty, apart from a few solitary joggers. There was a very light rain and the huge clouds were rolling fast to strike us.
I walked around trying to find a nice spot for a shot. I found this fence surrounding a section of the beach. I just had time to test a few shots before the rain drops became bigger. I had to put my camera away.

I guess we had no choice but to get wet! Either swim or get caught in the storm.

Well, at least I got a cool shot!

Words can kill

Have you ever been told some things that ended up hurting you?

I came up with the idea of this conceptual shot while remembering the harsh words I have been told by someone close to me. Those words really hurt me deeply from inside and left scars that took many years to heal.

We often forget the power of words. Blows can leave physical marks that could take a few days to disappear but words strike you from inside and might take years to heal.
We all have hears stories of teenagers being bullied in schools, parents being harsj with their children, upset friends unleashing their anger over those close to them.. Ugly, useless, Fat, Stupid... those words can really change a person.

To convey this feeling, I wanted to show the violence of the words by using what characterizes violence the most: Blood.
I used a fountain pen and some fake blood and carefully composed the shot. I actually tried many versions before choosing this one. Originally I wanted to add some words on the paper but ended up removing them. The sharpness and blood dripping from the pen shows that words can be used as weapons.

I took this indoor, on a white sheet of paper with an external flash bouncing on the wall.
I shot this at 1/15s, ISO 200 and f/5.6 (I don't know why I chose to shoot at such slow shutterspeed! Have to be more careful).
I then processed the photo a bit in Photoshop to adjust the levels/curves and add the frame/title.

I was glad to see that this photo reached many people as it was a daily feature on DeviantArt.
Be careful people, words are weapons sharper than steel.

Long absence

Hello everyone!

Happy belated New Year and best wishes for a 2009 full of Love, Health, Laughter, Joy, Abundance and Dreams.

Sorry for the long absence and lack of update. I have been kept busy during December and went on holiday to France.

I am back on track now and ready to post new photos very soon.

Thank you for following and have a great time!

Cheers!

Photography quote of the week

“To me, photography is an art of observation. It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place... I've found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.”

~ Elliott Erwitt ~

Shelter

I have spent this year the best vacation and "adventure" so far. Going trekking for a few days in the middle of Nowhere in one of the most magical countries in the World, Iceland, was pure bliss.

I went there with 2 of my friends for (originally) a 10 days hike. We ended up doing just 6 days.. Why rush when you can go slower and enjoy the scenery?

With our 30 Kg backpacks, we headed from Gullfoss towards the Glacier North-West.
While our first day was quite nice and sunny, it very fast became colder and windier with loads of rain.
On our path, we every day stopped by some shelters that are used by shepherds during wintertime. Most of these shelters had minimum accommodation, bunk beds, sometimes gas (for heating) and leftover food (often expired).

Each shelter we stopped was better equiped and cleaner thn the previous one.
After a long day under the rain and facing wind, we stopped at this shelter overlooking a large field of moss and surrounded by mountains. It was truly a beautiful scene.

We spent the night there and in the morning, tried to heat the place by using logs. unfortunately, the chimney was clogged, resulting in a lot of smoke inside the room!

But the Sun decided to shine at that moment and I jumped on the occasion to take the shot!

I shot this at 1/13 sec, f/8 and ISO 100. The photo was then processed in Photomatix, tonemapped and adjusted in Photoshop for contrast.

I wanted it to have an old abandoned and dirty look with the rays shining through the window as a sign of hope and renewal.

That day as indeed a very beautiful day!

The Tower

First of all, Hope you'll excuse me for this week absence. Had many things to attend to and had no time to update.

This summer, I went on a trip to one of the most beautiful countries in the world: Ireland.
I spent the first few days of my trip wandering around in Dublin. It's an old nice city full of Life (can't say that Irish people don't know how to live ;) ).
I also liked the monuments all around the place, you never get bored walking and shooting everything around.

I went visiting the Trinity College with one of my friends. Once there, equipped with my Wide angle lens, I just wanted to take nice dramatic shots of the old buildings around.

It is amazing how sometimes getting up close and filling the frame with just one part of a building can change the whole perspective.
This shot is actually the corner of one building. It's not even a tower! But by filling the frame and using my wide angle lens, I was able to give it a dramatic Tower look.

I shot this at 1/250 sec, f/10 and ISO 400. The photo was then tone-mapped in Photomatix and processed in Photoshop to give it a dramatic and menacing look.
I also played a little with dodge/burn to highlight and darken parts of the photo.

So next time you are wandering around town, go up close with your camera, take parts of buildings and fill the frame, you might have some good surprises !

Photography Quote of the week

"The job of the photographer, in my view, is not to catalogue indisputable fact but to try to be coherent about intuition and hope".

~~Robert Adams ~~