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.

Take-Out Photo Monthly Special: Black and White

This month's assignment at Take-Out Photo is Black and White. Those of you who are frequent readers have already seen these, but I wanted to repost them all together so I can be lazy and not link to Marc's site three separate times.

As always, keep in mind that I'm not really a photographer, I just like to take pictures. And, of course, I just switched these color photos to monochrome in-camera because I don't have any post-production software.

At least I have cool subject matter to work with, right?

Cimetiere Montparnasse

Notre Dame de Paris

Eglise St-Merri

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?

Text + Photo = Laziness on My Part

This month's challenge at Takeout Photo was Text + Photo. Marc did some great tutorials using Photoshop and posted a lot of inspirational ideas. I'm just lazy, if we're going to be honest (well, that and I don't have Photoshop of any kind on my computer), so I used my new-found friend the Mosaic Maker as a creative crutch. This is my interpretation of the theme, complete with punctuation (because I'm just OCD enough about that kind of thing).

Take Out Photo August Monthly Special - Photo Within a Photo

Marc Olivier of Olivier Photography has started a really fun blog called Take Out Photo. He centers his posts around a monthly theme, and gives a photography "assignment" based on that theme. Participants can then post their assignments on their own blogs or Flickr accounts, and link back to his post via a special setup on the comments page.

I thought with so many photographers in the family this might interest some of you... I gave this month's theme (Photo Within a Photo) a couple of tries...


Attempt 1
I walked in to my parents' kitchen yesterday to find dozens of old glass slides and a light box on the counter, as well as a handheld slide viewer on the kitchen table. Dad is doing a big project trying to scan his own paper-mounted slides, and he's trying to capture grandpa's slides without the benefit of a machine for viewing glass slides (they are much thicker and don't scan properly). Right now it's a matter of putting the glass slides on the lightbox and taking a picture of them in macro mode. Not ideal, but if it's the only way to get grandpa's pictures, then it's worth doing, right?
Does anyone know of a better solution for doing this?



Attempt 2
This consists of me bragging about Heather. Hello, Creativity personified. These items were all made by Heather and I think they are great examples of how she uses pictures of her family.

The vinyl tabletop on the boys' little lunch table had ripped, so heather took the table apart, Mod Podged pictures onto the top of the table, and covered the whole thing with a heavy duty plastic(?) before reattaching it to the table base. Darling.

This is a project I've been wanting to do for a while. Maybe Heather can blog about how to make these (or, since she has a newborn baby, maybe I'll just try and let you know the results). They are old board books that are sanded down to remove the glossy finish, and then covered in cardstock/scrapbook paper (using Mod Podge) and turned into custom-made story books. Here is Taylor reading one about going to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point.

This third project a darling way to display photos of your children and the art they make. This would also be really easy to turn into a mini magnet/cork board, a key holder, or a way to display souvenirs and pictures from a special trip, favorite year of high school/college, etc. There are a dozen variations I can think of for this particular project.

The magic ingredients?? Mod Podge, a plank of wood cut to the desired size, pictures, ribbon, a staple gun (or glue to attach the ribbon to the back) craft paint, clips to hold the art (hooks for keys, a strip of cork or metal, etc.), and a way to hang the finished product on the wall.

I hope this has inspired you in some way--I am definitely feeling the need to go find some cheap board books...

And don't forget to jump over to Take Out Photo and look around. Marc's posts are always interesting, his photography is great, and he has just started a series of posts demonstrating how to do helpful things with Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.