France 2014

Last October, Nancy & I had the opportunity to go to Paris for an accounting conference.

We booked a bus tour of Normandy, Brittany and the Loire Valley and then spent a few days before the conference in Paris.  Thanks to some clever conference scheduling, we had the opportunity to see more of Paris and area outside of meeting hours.

Of the over 5,000 images, you get to see just over 50.  I liked how the light struck the subject in many of these shots. Many of you know my love of "street photography.  Shooting from the hip is great fun in crowded area such as the Montmartre section of Paris.

Pt Bruce, yet again.

I couldn't blame you if you are getting tired of my fascination with Pt Bruce, in winter.  I won't promise that this will be the last post of snow and ice from there.  To me, it's such a great place to go.  Only a few minutes from home but once there it's like another world.  Today's shots were sunrise, not sunset.  Thank goodness for the colour of the sun as it was a very grey morning otherwise.

Back to the Beach

It's been about two weeks since I had my little adventure on/in the ice at Pt Bruce.  Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day and the forecast for today was cloudy and snowy.   What better time to plan a return visit to the beach, right?

Pt Bruce Beach

OK, so it's been very grey out lately.  But not last Thursday.  Bright blue sky.  Cold and windy though.  That's OK.  I've gone out in worse conditions, so I checked out of work on time.  A quick change into warm clothes and off to the beach. 

I got there and the sun was starting to set.  Its colours were warming nicely.  This image of the pier and lighthouse was made about 5 minutes after leaving the truck.  

Then, the reality of the weather set in.  The wind was causing my forehead and nose to burn.  My heavy gloves were no match for the cold.  While I could have operated my camera's controls with the gloves on, my fingers were so numb I couldn't feel the buttons.  

I was on the beach alone.  Just me, my camera and other people's footprints in the snow.  As I shuffled up one icy snow/ice dune my left leg fell out from under me. I was suddenly down to my crotch in a chasm.  My other knee was folded tight, like it hasn't been bent in over 10 years.  While I squatted there, I realized that I did have my cell phone in my pants pocket.  If needed, I could get it out.  I know there is a signal there (usually).  But, big but, my fingers were so cold I doubt whether my phone's screen would have reacted to their touch.  I hauled myself out of my hole.  Took this shot and shuffled back to my truck.  Total time out of the truck; about 20 minutes.  Total time of comfort out of the truck; none.  It's funny how some days we can handle the cold and say "Bring it on.  I'm ready for more".  Thursday, I guess, I was just tired.  But at least I went out and got two shots.  It's now more than two days later and my "bent" knee is still letting me know that it didn't like our little adventure.

Who wants to visit a machine shop?

Silly question.  A bunch of photographers, that's who.  All the following were taken using existing light - no flash or special lights.  You learn to appreciate the randomness of a shop, the precision of the product and the patina of the old machines.

Weekend Concerts

On Friday, we went to the Aeolian Hall in London.  It's a great little 300 seat theatre located in an old fire station.  We've been there several times and so far flash free photography is overtly allowed.  We bought our Jill Barber concert tickets well in advance and got front row seats, albeit quite close to the extreme edge of the audience.  Maybe the house allows photography because they know what challenges their presents to photographers.  Usually "ghoulish" lighting comes from below.  No so on Friday.  With two strong spot lights on the star of the show, it was only when light reflected up from the stage that the overall lighting was adequate for images.  FYI, for those of you who may be interested my ISO for the following three shots was 1000, 6400 and 3200 and all were hand held.  As for the music, Jill Barber is a jazz singer.  She and her 5 piece band play mostly her own songs.  Watch out for her, she's very good.

As I said the lighting was a challenge.  Fortunately, I caught this near black out moment.  I liked it instantly.

On Saturday night, we were at the Aylmer Old Town Hall for an Aylmer Performing Arts Council production of Danny Michel.  The Old Town Hall seats about 200 and has absolutely fabulous acoustics.  I'm always amazed at how much sound gear some bands bring and don't use simply because they don't need it.  Anyways, the lighting for this concert was very conducive for photography.  The music was good too.  A singer songwriter who now plays with International Space Station Commander Chris Hadfield.  (Does Major Tom - Ashes to Ashes come to mind?)  Too bad we didn't have the Commander in the house last night but the drummer and base player filled out Danny's sound quite well.  Technical stuff - all images were at ISO 3200.

Port Burwell

Last night I got out all my coldest weather wear...long johns, two pairs of wool socks, snow pants, wool sweater, down jacket, snowmobile mitt/glove combo, hot packs for mitts.  Saturday's high was -10.  Up before dawn on Sunday and the temperature was -4.  What to do?  I put on all the stuff.  I was headed to Lake Erie where in the past week, winds out of the south had been driving sand so hard that visitors just stayed in their cars.  This morning was supposed to be sunny.  Well Mother Nature thought that I needed an overcast morning in which to shoot.  The winds were pretty strong but no sand was blowing nor water as the lake was frozen for as far as I could see.

Now grey skies present problems for photographers.  "When shooting in cloudy conditions, compose your image to limit the sky to a minimum."  Well I thought that the speckled sky gave me just enough contrast and a little bit of blue to break that rule.

Sadie

This week I had the opportunity to photograph Sadie Maltezo, a great model.