Mother's Day Flower

I got a peony at the end of Sacrament Meeting last Sunday, because I am a future mother and it was Mother's Day in France on the 7th.

I'm relatively certain I missed US Mother's Day. That makes me kind of lame.

Giving peonies makes my ward really cool, though. Peonies. Not carnations, and not even roses, but beautiful, beautiful peonies.

I'm also a fan of ranunculus,

Anemone,

and Poppies.

What are your favorite flowers?

Peony photo = me. Other photos all from him.

Street Photography

Street Photography is the topic of the month for April at Take-Out Photo.

Paris is definitely a great place to get some street photography in... and since my family was headed out to a few different places over Easter break, I kept this theme in mind and tried to get a few pictures in.

Some are more loose interpretations of street photography, and some offer a more traditional approach. I tried to use only manual settings, because one of my goals over the next year is to really feel at ease using manual exposure settings on my camera. As a result, some of them are not exposed quite right (or not at all right), or may have white balance issues, etc.

So here they are, sorted by location:


Paris: Charles de Gaulle Etoile (roundabout by the Arc de Triomphe)

The Champs Elysees. What better street to get a picture of traffic? Or, at least the lights of passing traffic...

Giverny (Monet's stomping ground)

Salzburg, Austria

This street in Salzburg requires the stores to have a special stylized store sign made up that hangs out perpendicular from the storefront. Even good ol' McDonald's had to design one.

A lil' game of chess in a square in Salzburg (but we walked through so many interconnected squares, I don't know which one this is.)

Prague, Czech Republic

In Prague they were still having their Easter Market and an Easter festival, so there were all kinds of booths out, including this guy who was weaving scarves, bags, blankets, and shirts. I bought myself a lil' teeny messenger-style bag. Then I went back and bought a bigger one.

Another artisan at the Easter Market was this blacksmith who was making ornate doorbells. Actual bells to hang outside your front door for visitors to ring. Very cool.

The pictures above and below were taken within the Prague Castle museum area. The music was really fantastic, and we bought a CD. I love how enthusiastic the flautist (I think that's a flute) is in the picture below. It was so fun to watch.

Vienna, Austria

Walking through the grounds of one section of the enormous Hapsburg palace in Vienna, we came across a lighting crew. Obviously there was some kind of photo shoot or filming going on inside... but we couldn't figure out what it was.

Then in the art museum (also built by the Hapsburgs) I came across this man who was creating a replica of the painting by his right shoulder. It was amazingly accurate, but a bit brighter, which I loved. What talent. And patience.

Hallstatt, Austria. (Such a cool village. More on that later--it gets its own post.)

Hallstatt is the dead-end of a road that snakes around the lake you can see below. It was a mining town, and is built up the side of the hill. So, staircases like the one pictured above, are the streets. Incredibly charming village, but I'm thinking it would be less charming if I had to lug groceries or -- heaven forbid -- something like a washing machine to my house.

Tourist season wasn't quite in full swing when we were there, and I liked how this cafe looked somewhat deserted. You can see the orange lanters above that hint at what the ambience must be like on a calm summer evening... but not in early April. :)

Strasbourg, France

Free hugs in Strasbourg!

Dresden, Germany

I thought it was kind of cool that this guy was just dancing away in the street, headphones in his ears. My dad thought it was odd.

I think this guy did, too. (I actually didn't even notice that he and his daughter were going to walk into the frame--but I think it makes the picture even better to see someone else's reaction to the dancing.)

Thanks, Marc, for having such a cool Monthly Special for April! It was a lot of fun to try my hand at street photography.

Take-Out Photo : Foregrounds

This month at Take-Out Photo, Marc is focusing on the different effects the foreground of a picture can have on the overall image.

Here are some of my recent pics that I thought were somewhat appropriate for the topic.

Front gate of Versailles looking in towards the chateau.

The Stravinsky fountain and the St-Merri Cathedral

In the Parc Monceau

I wasn't too sure about this last one... but I figured it's basically ALL foreground, so... go big or go home, right? ;)

It's a picture of the staircase leading from the main garden entrance at Versailles down to the Orangerie. I just like the fact that it looks like a big staircase to nowhere.

Yann Arthus-Bertrand

One of the blogs in my Google Reader is Paris Daily Photo by Eric.
Today Eric shared about a meeting he had with Yann Arthus-Bertrand, a well-known photographer (and the genius behind Earth From the Air, one of my favorite series of photographs).

Eric also shared the link to 6 Billion Others, a massive project being done by Arthus-Bertrand. I think it's an incredible project: very personal and detailed, but global and eye-opening at the same time. And the BONUS is that they are going to have an exhibit in Paris from January 10-February 12th. I'm definitely going to make an effort to get the exhibit. (School doesn't start until February 10th, so after the first couple days of getting settled in, I'll be off on some fun adventures, doing some exploring, and going to several museums.)

Check out these two projects. I think they're both fascinating. Arthus-Bertrand seems like a man with BIG ideas and the ability (and resources... wow) to see them through. I wonder if he needs an intern... :)

A Personality Pie Chart

I think this Personality Pie Chart from Marc at Take Out Photo is a brilliant idea. I think this would be a really fun series to do with several individuals displayed next to each other (Teachers of the Week, a display at a family reunion, celebrities, random people who are being judged solely on their appearance...).

It would also be cool used in some kind of advertising (sort of a spin on the "Priceless" MasterCard commercials). Whaddaya think?




Plus I just love the look on this guy's face.


If you had to reduce your personality to five of the most representative traits, what would they be?

Super Secret Photographer, Double-Oh Sarah

I would love to have one of these. From the Photojojo Store.

I love candid shots, and I would especially love to use this with those charming nephews of mine... for those moments when they are not so happy about being in pictures, and thus a tad less charming than normal. Ooh, or a cousin on my dad's side of the family who refuses to let her picture be taken (she's incredibly gorgeous, I don't know what the problem is). Ha! She'll never even see it coming!!

The lens is basically just a fake, and there is a hole in the side (see above) which has a mirror placed juuuust so... which sends the image into the image sensor to be recorded. So, you can take a picture of anything that is at a ninety degree angle from where the front of the lens it pointed.

There's a short video on the Photojojo store page if you want to see it in action.

Maybe I'll buy one for myself when I sell my house. Then I can take pictures on my people watching adventures in Paris and no one will be the wiser.

Plus, I think it would just be cool to say, "Hey, So-and-so, I'm going to head out and take some pictures with my Super Secret Spy Lens. Don't be jealous."

Cross Processing of Photos and Films :: the Creepy Cotton Candy Effect

I have never been able to figure out what crossprocessing was actually called until TODAY. I always called it the "creepy cotton candy" effect because of the eeriness I feel it lends to the photo or film, while at the same time really intensifying the colors.

This is one of my favorites from the Cross-processing group on Flickr. By John.

Reminds me of the Fabuleux Destin d'Amelie Poulin. Interesting movie. I got a CleanFlicks version just before they went under if anyone ever wants to borrow it.

It's also possible to get this same effect through Photoshop, apparently (one day I'll own it).

What do you guys think of this particular effect? Is it creepy to you at all, or is that just me? I tend to associate it with "flashback" moments in movies where someone is remembering a traumatizing event they experienced as a child. I also associate it with clips or pictures of eerie-looking deserted carnivals. That must be where my homegrown "creepy cotton candy" name came from.

20x200

20x200 is a GREAT website that offers two different pieces of artwork each week. One photograph and one "work on paper" as they call it.

They run three different editions of each piece at three different price points:

200 small prints @ $20.00 each
20 medium prints @ $200.00 each
2 large prints @ $2,000.00 each

They are pretty varied as far as the style and subject matter; I always enjoy looking at the different pieces that are being featured that week. I haven't purchased anything yet, mostly because I am always too late to get the ones I really like (plus the fact that I am selling my house, so it's not like I would even have anywhere to hang them).

I like their website and concept, regardless. Go check it out.

The Center for Fine Art Photography...

has a great website highlighting their current and past exhibitions. You can also subscribe to receive e-mail notifications about calls for entry. I'm not quite good enough to do that, but I think there are some people in our family who are.

Check out their website. There are some really gorgeous photos there.