35mmfrog

Favorite Corner

May 2008 – London, UK

As mentioned in one of my recent previous post,this was my favorite corner for that race. All the cars seem to catch up before the hill and fight for a better position arriving up here!

Failed painting

May 2008 – Brand Hatch, UK

I can understand some people may find this photo too blurred and it could be taken as a “bad” photos… but that would be missing several points… :)

Those points can also appear quite far fetch, in which case, someone may really hate that photo!! :o)

After watching many cars going through and a few of them narrowly missing getting ejected off the track I decided to focus that photo on what is important, the outside white line, of which a driver must not cross… The background is blurred almost like a painting, which contrast with the outside white line making it appear more real… more dramatic… there is a story t tell, a car coming full beam/full speed, many blurred skid marks, many cars went through the same path here before… I waited for that car to be right at that position, as it then disappeared at the bottom of that small hill for a few seconds… it would not have worked the same, in my eyes, If I had waited for the car to be on the top of the hill, for 2 reasons:

1. It would then have been too big, and not blurred enough

2. There is a green line (grass) coming from the top left corner and tracing a line right in the middle of the first tier of the photo, where the car will appear, at the point when it will have to steer in the turn and avoid that, oh so important, outside white line…

Quite a lot of talking for a simple line and mostly blurred photo indeed :o)

When I think about it…  I remember going to some modern art exhibitions and being less than impress by some of the paintings… they were so simple and ugly… all that seemed to justify the price as the non sense the artist was writting about what one should see in his/her paintings…

Well… I am not an artist, I still think those modern art painting are bad (slightly less though now ;)… and I still like that photo! even if not everyone sees why I took it this way! :o)

Behind you

May 2008 – Brands Hatch, London, UK

Those cars were going quite fast and the great think about that race track is that it isn’t all flat… you can get on the top of a hill and with a zoom good enough you can get some interesting shots! :)

Glassed auto

May 2009 – New Forest, UK

As I stopped in one of the many little villages in New Forest I noticed that toy for sell in a shop window… appart from the rather expansive price I just loved that mini “statue” of an indian auto… not only do I like that style but it also reminds me of the madness of taking taxis in India ;)

Indian Paparazzi

June 2008 – Bangalore, India.

As I was coming back from Mysore to Bangalore my driver was following a truck for a few minutes. It was a huge truck transporting lot of sands and… and a man on top of all that sand… it was quite windy and I watched this poor old man battling to protect his face with his clothes… it felt as if I was an indian paparazzi!

Any more room?

June 2008 – Bangalore, India

You can actually see this kind of scene on the roads very often. Those workers go and come back to their work in those trucks and there isn’t much room for everyone… I wonder how this would work in the western world with all those health and safety non sense!! ;)

Sea you soon

March 2009 – Mauritius

As I was enjoying walking in Grand Baie and taking photos of the different shops on the street I noticed the reflection of the “lagoon” on this take away van… I just loved the idea of taking this away… that picture of the perfect lagoon… yeah… I am probably seeing too much into this… but that reflection was right were the food to sale was on display… ;)

Anyway, I had to wait a fair bit because there was always some customers paying for some food… in fact you can jsut about see the reflection of a girl on that photo who was buying some … how do you say again? pourie?

Blurred BMW

May 2008, Brands Hatch, London, UK

Those cars are fast and make a lot of noise!!! A friend was actually racing there, he was in the white BMW you can just about to see in the background.

Looking in Different direction

Bangalore, India, June 2008

This photos was taken while on my way back from Mysore to Bangalore. Although this photo isn’t really pretty, it has made my bestof because of all the symbols I saw in while taking it.

Let me explain, and then you will realise that I probably think too much of my photos! (again! ;)

To me this photo highlight the sharp contrast in India between poor and rich. Both are living together but everything opposed them. In this photo there is an advert for Jewlery with a pretty woman looking on the right. There is also a workman, sitting on an old truck coming back from work, this person is looking left. I waited to take this photo so it would almost look like they were looking at each other, and yet they look in different direction (well… you kind of have to look in different direction to be able to look at each other, but hey… that’s not the point! ;)

Also, he is sitting, she is standing. He is moving, she is still. He is real, she is an image. I could go on, I know it is easy to “see” what ever we want to see in a picture. Of course I did not think about all that when I took the photo, I just had the time to see a billboard in the distance and notice the working man at the back of that truck, I asked my driver not to take over the truck just yet and waited for that moment.

Then I also like the fact the truck says “Tata” which is one of the biggest car manufacturer, yet this is an old truck. And finally, it looks the only way possible to go is where the woman is looking at. This is emphasized by the road turning in that direction and the arrow also pointing in that direction.

Now, I assure you, I haven’t been smoking while writing this ;)

Again. You see what you want….

Taking over

Bangalore, India, June 2008

Those little taxis are driving like mad all over the place in Bangalore! The weird conic shape of that little yellow taxi make it looks like the image is slightly stretched/deformed. In fact it is just a slight optical illusion.

Beginning of Chaos

Bangalore, India, June 2008

This photo is again very typical of my daily journey to work. They are building a giant highway to connect Bangalore city center with the electronic city town… this car journey is as chaotic as it gets! cows roaming freely, people walkin everywhere, etc… This part of the road is my favorite… this is a slight calm moment before chaos goes full scale! because this is were the traffic really goes mad!

It is from there you need to hold your breath, grab your sit and enjoy the beginning of the ride!!!! :o)

A Yellow Line

Bangalore, India, June 2008

This is a typical sight… those yellow taxis are everywhere, they are the crasiest driver around. Driving in all directions. One thing I have noticed if that if they have to do a uturn, they will not wait to be at an intersection. They will either do a uturn right there and drive against the flow of cars, or just cross all the driving lanes dodging traffic and forcing cars to a standstill to reach the opposite lanes.