19 Jan 2012
December 2011 – France, St Etienne
On a cold winter day I went for a walk with some friends and their kids, we walked by some horses in a field who ran towards us. Far from being afraid the kids also ran towards them to touch and feed them. There were two horses and that little girl really liked this one, she was fine giving it some grass which explains her dark fingers, but was still a bit cautious and nervous to touch its nose. I almost missed that moment… I was busy taking photos of something else and was trailing behind as a result. when I saw the horses + kids + light from the sun going down, I ran towards them while setting my aperture and ISO. My first few shots of the group of kids and horses were all either too bright or too dark, they were running around and it was difficult to focus on anything… so I focused on the horse, and based my lights settings on its face. As I did that I noticed she was coming back to touch it and I chose to compose the photo so you would only see part of the horse head, the main subject being the little girl and her gesture towards the animal. I like how you can see a mixture of joy and apprehension on her face, the colour of her hair in that light also match those of the horse. What made this even cuter was the fact she was whispering to the horse, having some sort of conversation with it, and after everyone else had left and being called by her parents to leave for the last 5 minutes she did so and said a very quiet “good bye horse”. That photo was taken just moment before she left, as I said, I almost missed it…
18 Jan 2012
January 2012 – France, St Etienne
Taking photos of kids can be difficult, and this was no exception! that little kid was full of life and running around with his toys. I must have taken 50+ photos and most of them were blurry! He loved his wolf costume and I liked that shot, where you can see him playing on the breakfast table and his dad looking at him in the background.
13 Jan 2012
October 2009 – France, Loire
This photo was taken in the Loire valley in France, I was visiting an old monastery and as I walked around the outside walls noticed that flower in the sunshine. It makes you want for the wind to blow :)
10 Jan 2012
July 2009 – France, Chamonix
After a long walk it was time to go down, this part of the mountain looked surreal, as if it was out of a cinema set. As if you were in a Lord of the Ring movie trying to reach that evil castle on the top of that mountain in the background… probably too much imagination after a long and tiring but very enjoyable walk :)
9 Jan 2012
December 2011 – France, St Etienne
This little boy was in his father’s arm and the sun was shining outside the window he was moving his head all the time and it is one of the rare occasion I had when I managed to catch his attention. One disadvantage of having a heavy camera is trying to take a shot from one hand and moving you hand above your head with the other! In the end I liked how the lines on his father’s jumper continues with his little left arm, I feel it helps to give some depth to the photo.
8 Jan 2012
December 2011 – France, Lyon
The french band Edge was playing in an old pub in Lyon, in between the drummer and the two lead guitarists there was this old Guiness advert under that old lamp… basically everything felt old and as I was waiting in this corner to get the right shot of the drummer, I thought this view summed up a lot of old pubs I have been too in England where music band where playing…
7 Jan 2012
December 2011 – France, Lyon
Another photo I took from the same corner I was hidding from, I liked the pints of guiness by the feet of the musicians and all the guitar cords paper wraps. I liked you could also only see the feet of the musicians, but someone with this photo you get all the information you need to know what is happening and where you are. I took a few shots which are more close up, but in the end I prefer that first shot because I feel the legs brings something to the photo by making it slightly off centered and, for me, it almost feel as if you are seeting with them!
6 Jan 2012
December 2011 – France, Lyon
This is the drummer of a French band called Edge, I liked the expression on the drummer’s face as he looked he was having as much fun as all the people dancing in front of the stage!
5 Jan 2012
December 2011 – France, Lyon
These are the musicians of a french band called Edge, most of them, if not all of them are also part of another upcoming Pop Experimental French band called B R OAD WAY (www.youtube.com/user/vjraize). There is a lot I wanted to “say” with this photo, first I wanted to capture the lead singer doing something else than singing, here, in between two songs and tuning his guitar it somewhat feels more personal, especially with this wodden pillar in front of him which gives a feel of a stolen shot. I also wanted to capture the whole band, hence the wide angle. A few shots before that one, I tried not to include the video projector screen on top of them, but in the end I liked how it seems to draw a line above all of them, almost giving some kind of perspective to the photo. Finally, I noticed the Beattles’ flyer and I thought it could be a nice “clin d’oeil”, with only the lead singer in focus it helps draw the attention to it. If there is anything I am not completely happy with this photo is that I would like for the wodden pillar to be straight… but then again it does work with the video screen on the ceilling… And if you want to see a very far fetch sign in the photo, you could say that the pillar + video screen + arm of the singer forms an F, which is the first letter of his name, Fabien… in fact I can see most of his name letters around him! but, no, I didn’t think of that when taking the photo! ;)
4 Jan 2012
December 2011 – France, St Etienne
This was the owner of a great little restaurant in the old part of Lyon. He was a great character, his food was excellent and the decor really special, being an old medieval architecture. As we were leaving he offered a “verre de l’amitié” which you can’t refuse, never can you refuse the second or third one! :)
If you ever have a chance to go there, I highly ecommend the Rasberry and Cherry one! and anything which is on the menu!
3 Jan 2012
December 2011 – France, St Etienne
This was quite a dramatic moment, at around 5pm on Christmas Eve there was a huge fire in St Etienne. It was a cartoon box company I believe. It required 150 firemen and over 50 vehicules to stop it! The flammes and smoke was quite impressive. I could see many cars going closer to it, but I chose to stay right here. As I took a few shots in about an hour, the sky was getting dark (and my hands were freezing!!), and I started to noticed those christmas illuminations, providing another point of focus in the photo; and more importantly a sureal contrast between the quiet of the street with a festive theme and the nearby danger and misfortune for some people the day before christmas. I also chose this shot because this is when a person came out of the house, not aware of what was happening. It took him a few minutes to first notice the smoke in the sky and then look back on the right corner of his house. There was no casualty, so that’s the positive thing out of it.
2 Jan 2012
December 2011 – St Etienne, France
Walking in the St Etienne Country side on a cold day I noticed those plane trails in the sky all leading to the sun. As the sun was low, although it was still very bright you could start to make out that “comet” look. I therefore decided to take a photo with a high shutter speed to accentuate that illusion. In the end it does look as if a failling star was about to hit earth…
