When you are somewhere taking a photo, do you keep taking photos until you get caught? Or do you just take photos and then retreat away before you get caught? As for me, always the former.
Daily Photo – The Light
La Sainte-Chapelle is really an amazing place. I can’t believe it took me so many trips to Paris to finally see it. It wasn’t exactly a blind-spot, but I knew it was some place that I had to visit at some point, and I finally got there.
Tripods were forbidden, so I decided to use a tripod to get a shot.
I did manage to squeeze off several rounds until security came up to make me stop. Of course, the only reason I ignore their rule is because I think it is does not have a solid foundation in logic or rational thought. I wasn’t bothering anyone. I wasn’t going to trip anyone because of the configuration of my tripod and body. Everything was cool.
I barely know enough French to get by… and I know smatterings of a dozen other languages… but I don’t have full command of any of them. How about you? I get the feeling there are many multi-lingual people around here!
Daily Photo – Flying in France
I remember when I was learning French at Jesuit. I took four years of it, and one of the first things I saw was a little cartoon in a book. It was two little French girls on a ride just like this. One was saying to the other, “Aiiyeeeee! Sylvie! Tenez!!!!”
Anyway, I always think of that when I see little French children on a ride. I feel like calling it out, but it always seems a little creepy for a stranger to say such a thing.
I released a set of the component photos for this a while ago in the clubhouse… it was very interesting to see the various interpretations. Another good thing about it was people can see how dark the clouds really were! It was one of those strange situations where the objects were well-lit but the clouds were quite dark.
Daily Photo – The Louvre in Heavy Clouds
People are always around this thing! If you’ve been there, then you know what I mean… getting a clean shot is almost impossible, unless you visit just after sunrise.
In this case, I don’t photoshop out the people, but I minimize them… so the photo isn’t really about the people, it’s about the Louvre. But, with a wide angle lens, you have to get right up on the thing.
Time: Saturday Sept 17 at 5:30 PM. Location: In front of The Egg – Google Maps Who: All ages and even families are welcome. Any kind of camera will do… even mobile phone cameras! The Plan: We will meet, say hello… I will say a few words with the plan, and then we will begin the walk! It will be a very laid-back and fun event.
I started a thread on Google+ about this very subject. I recommended Patrick Rothfuss. Go have a full look at that post and the replies — many little gems in there!
See you all at Google and/or the PhotoWalk today!
I give my talk on “Artists and the Internet: Digitally Extending Your Natural Self” this afternoon. It will be recorded so you can see it later, no doubt… As for the PhotoWalk, we get started early this evening… for more info, see this Google+ thread or go RSVP and see the map on the Plancast page!
First Authors@Google Talk
My first talk at Google is below, which some of you may have already seen. I don’t know when the new one will be available, but it will be about a different subject matter… so it stays fresh for y’all!
Daily Photo – Spiralstorm
There are secret vortexes everywhere, no? I think we all find our own, and we keep them secret. No one would ever talk about the best ones. I’m not exactly sure what happens in them. Perhaps there is something where the right and left brain switch sides and everything flows together.
This is another one of my most amazing and accidental finds in my recent explorations… can anyone figure out where this is? I’ll reveal it of course, but I think it is fun when people guess away…
If you still haven’t RSVP’d, you can do so on the Plancast page. My PhotoWalks are free as usual.
Daily Photo – The Secret Workshop of Jules Verne
This is perhaps my favorite find on my most recent trip to Europe. How can a place so wonderful exist in our world? It’s amazing.
I got a recommendation from a close friend that told me I would love this place. And he was right! As usual, to see the full-size image, click on it below and then click Original in the menu that appears when you hover over the image in SmugMug.
This is the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle and is one of the least-known places in Paris. Everyone goes for the hot tourist spots, and this museum sounds rather boring, yes? But as you can see… au contraire!
Google+ Hangout Video and News! First recording with Lisa Bettany now avail!
These Google+ Hangouts have been so much fun. We’re doing another one at SmugMug on Aug 10th at 4 PM PT, and it will be recorded and streamed live like the others. Watch for it!
Here is our first recording… sorry for the low quality, but we will get better and better as we go along!
Since these hangouts are so much fun, we figured out a way to record and broadcast them live! For this first one, I asked Lisa Bettany to join up, and we had a really nice talk. Also, all other sorts of people joined along the way… really really fun stuff… and happy to share it! I owe Keith Barrett a big thanks, since he made this possible. We have a second one we recorded too that is getting uploaded now….
Below is a set of time stamps where you can scrub forward if you see something of interest. Enjoy!
1:17 – I give a little view from Switzerland, where we recorded this Hangout.
4:20 – Chee Chew from Google+ (he manages the Hangout Team) joins us! He may or may not talk about a “secret button” for injecting himself into any Hangout.
12:30 – Lisa talks about how she has switched almost entirely to Google+
15:05 – Lisa starts talking about how she wishes Canon had a wide angle lens like Nikon
20:50 – Lisa asks me what stuff I take with me when I travel…
24:00 – A videographer in the hangout tells us about his Kata bag
26:30 – Sara Collaton joins the hangout! We talk a bit about street photography with her. And then we go off on a nice street-photography tangent… and I share a tip I learned from Alfie Goodrich
38:00 – Horror stories with Lisa.
46:30 – Lisa asks me how I arrange these trips (secret hint moment)
49:00 – Mitch asks me who writes my apps (it is +Mark Powell )
54:10 – Lisa asks a technical HDR question
1:01:30 – We talk about post-processing, eyes, truth, and other dreamy-sounding things…
1:03:20 – I talk about a strange RAW image discussion with +Neal Stephenson
1:09:00 – Someone in the hangout asks us about what line we won’t cross in Photoshop
Your favorite websites of artists?
Do you all follow any artists online (not photographers)? If so, who are they, and what is the website? I think we’d all like to see what you are into and make some new discoveries for ourselves!
Daily Photo – Arriving at the Grand Opera House
I went the wrong way, but I ended up here.
It was a little embarrassing, to be honest… I was taking Tina to the Arc de Triumph and I was quite sure that I go this certain direction… we were plodding along, and I look up say, “Oh bother, we’re at the opera!”
But, no matter. The light was good and I had the rig up and ready to shoot in no time! And, after this foible, we went to the real Arc de Triumphe.
Sometimes things on the map look really close together… and then you start walking and get about 25% of the way there and you become quite shocked at how far it actually is. This feeling can be a little defeating, until you realize of course that you are in a beautiful city like Paris and there is fabulous stuff all around you. And then, you remember you are a photographer with a ridiculously easy job, and everything comes right back in perspective.
And, speaking of that, believe me… I am super-grateful for this strange life I have. I never take anything for granted, and I get excited like a little kid on all these trips… love getting on planes… love the adventure… all of this sort of stuff. I know a lot of jaded people out there that do this stuff, and I just don’t understand them.
Where is your favorite secret photo spot? Perhaps someplace that a few people know about, but it’s generally kind of an out-of-the-way place that no one would ever know about.
Hmmm… if there was only an app for that… hmmmm… maybe your friend Trey has something up his digital sleeve…
Daily Photo – Time Traveling in the Steampunk Subway
Here is a new one from a discovery I just made here in France! Thank you for the inside tip on this amazing place from Friend X.
This incredible subway station under Paris has undergone a full Steampunk conversion, thanks to the mind of François Schuiten, a comic book artist from Belgium. Each tiny circular window lining the edges is a portal to another world. This is all influenced by Les Cités Obscures, where humans live on the counter-Earth. A wonderful concept… I think many of us on Google+ already feel one with the idea of the counter-Earth.
If you’d like to visit this stop someday, pull up a huge subway map and find your connections to the Arts et Métiers stop. It’s kind of out of the way, but just bring your camera and your imagination, and you’ll be there soon enough…
I know many here in the community know my Google+ Profile, but I think everyone would like to know yours too, so feel free to put it below! Still having trouble getting in? The communinty here is doing a great job paying forward invites after they get in. Check the Facebook Page to see if there are some openings!
Google+ Explosion?
So, I posted the Paris photo below about 24 hours ago exclusively first to Google+. It spread very quickly and I woke up to see I was in the top 25 of all 15+ million Google+ users. This is really crazy, but it has been very fun!
See the Paris Photo post here in Google+. It ended up getting shared by many people, and, sort of like a virus, the follower count shot way up. It swamps Twitter and Facebook…and has been really interesting to compare. But no worries, the blog here will always be my mothership, where I put long-form thoughts and the daily photo…
Daily Photo – Reflections on the Eiffel Tower
Isn’t it romantic? What could be more perfect than a beautiful sunset here in Paris?
There was a big storm all day long, but I could see the clouds were beginning to break up a little to the west, and I knew there was a possibility the sun would dip into an opening beneath the heavy clouds. So, with that intense possibility, I headed over to the Eiffel Tower area hoping the light would turn out right…
I also made a behind-the-scenes video. Since you guys have been so nice over on Google+, I’ll share that video exclusively there first, so be sure to stay tuned… I’m still editing the thing together!
I really wanted to do a PhotoWalk in Paris while I am here, but I just don’t have time… I’m in Europe for several weeks, but just a few days in each city. They take a lot of time to figure out and plan and all this stuff. Anyway, you understand. I would like to properly plan one soon.
Daily Photo – Deep in Paris
To get a photo like this, you need a wide-angle lens but not necessarily a fish-eye lens. The 14-24 on the Nikon looks like a fisheye because it is so bulbous, but it is not. The fisheye does that extreme warping that can be quite artistic and nice. These wide angles, however, while warping, do not make the final image so abstract as to be almost unrecognizable.
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