Wandering with my camera

Mykonos pelicans is back with one of my favorite shots from my trip to the Greek islands.

I find this photograph interesting for its composition as well as its subject. This pelican that we saw multiple times in Mykonos is an incredible animal and it makes by himself an incredible subject… especially when he was sitting on this pole. He is so perfect that he almost looks fake.

But, what I really find interesting about this photograph is how well its works as a square. I usually try to avoid cropping my photographs to not loose the resolution and keep what was originally taken. However, for this shot, I think the crop works very well. It puts the pelican in the foreground and attracts the eye but he is not overwhelming the photograph and leaves lots of space to show the village behind him.

If you are interested in looking at the original shot, it is posted at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/marylise2008/4030407392/in/set-72157620877629801/

Pelican waiting for the tourists, Mykonos, Greek Islands

So, the quick conclusion for me today is that even if we should not over use the great flexibility given by digital photography to enhance our photographs, sometimes, it is really worth it and provide great results!

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Greece by Marylise

Last night, I took my cousin and his girlfriend for a night tour of San Francisco which gave me some inspiration to go back out and take night shots when it gets a little warmer. That’s why I wanted to publish one of my night shots today.

This photograph was taken in the little village of Nicasio about 45 minutes north of San Francisco. Alex had spotted this church while biking and thought it would be a great night subject and he was definitely right! We went up on a warm spring night and sat up our tripods to take the church with the stars spinning above it. I really like the result. It is such a pretty church and the surroundings with green rolling hills are amazing. We also had the chance to be there while the moon as rising. You can see at the bottom right end corner of the photograph and it is a nice addition to the shot.

St Mary’s Church & Moon Rising, Nicasio, California

To make this photograph, I opened the shutter for about 16 minutes. I used my wide angle lens and I love the fun effect it creates on the sides of the photograph as it makes the church and the sign look like they are tilted.

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California by Marylise

I like this photograph not only for the composition of it but also because it can be interpreted in several ways. On one side, Alex is making a funny face behind his glasses and I think he is really looking funny. But, on the other side, he has somewhat a scary look due to the fact that I over worked the definition of the photograph which makes the lines on his face very defined… more defined that they look in reality.

Alex in Central Park, New York

My conclusion for this post is that I usually try to not overwork a photograph to keep the essence of it but in some cases, it is nice to make an exception as the result can be fun!

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New York, Uncategorized by Marylise

I took this photograph during my recent trip to Paris. It was a very short trip and I didn’t get a chance to hang out much but I am glad I took my camera with me when I went wandering around with Flo, my sister in law. We had just finished a delicious and fun dinner at Chez Janou in the Marais and were looking for a fun bar to get a last drink. While walking around in this windy fall night, we walked by this broken bike attached to a pole. It was just perfect in the scenery. Laying there, broken and lonely in the middle of the night covered with yellow leaves. I just thought it was perfect illustration of a fall night in Paris.

Taking the photograph was not easy as it was dark and I didn’t want to use the flash (I hate using the flash in fact and try to avoid it as much as possible). I used my 30 mm lens and opened the aperture to 1.4 and increased the ISO (which I don’t like doing either as the photograph gets very noisy). I was happy that bikers passed behind me while I took the shot. I am happy with the result and hope you enjoy it too!

Broken Bike, Le Marais, Paris

As a side note to this post… if you ever go to Paris, you should definitely have “Chez Janou” (http://www.chezjanou.com/) on your list of restaurants to try. The ambiance is super nice, it is reasonably priced, they have awesome wines and 50 kinds of different Pastis and the food is delicious!

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France, Paris by Marylise

This photograph was also taken during our walk in Central Park. It uses very simple subjects but I really like it for many reasons. First, I like the contrast between the vivid color of the balloons against the dark bench. Then, there is the lonely atmosphere of the park in the fall late in the afternoon… the balloons look like they are the only ones left after a fun party. Laying there in the cold waiting for the night to come. By looking at them, I can picture little kids running around and playing with them a few hours before.

Lonely Balloons in Central Park

I am sure other people will feel differently about the photograph but I find it amazing how still life subjects can inspire a mood and in fill so much of the space.

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New York by Marylise

Here I am!!! Back on the blog! It has been a while since my last post and I don’t have any good reason besides the fact that I am lazy. Ok, I did travel quite a bit which was good to take new photographs but doesn’t really give me a good excuse as I had internet access most if the time. I hope you will still visit the blog as I am going to try to post regularly again.

This photograph was taken during my recent trip to New York. Alex and I were hanging out in Central Park on a beautiful fall afternoon. The colors were simply amazing with all yellow, orange, green and red leaves and it was great to observe the people around enjoying the park after work. We found this area where a man was creating huge soap bubbles and the kids were totally fascinated by them. They would follow each bubble, pointing their little finger hoping they could touch them before they burst…

Catching the big soap bubble

This little kid spend so much time and energy running after the bubbles… just reminded me how great it is to be a kid and discover a new thing everyday… I tried to capture that in my photograph… I love kids energy and amazement about pretty much everything around them. Makes me smile.

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New York by Marylise

I took this photograph in June this year during our trip to the Greek islands. Alex and I had just gone off the high speed boat and were walking along the sea shore to try to find a hotel in town. While walking with our big bags, we saw this huge pelican land on the sand and peacefully look at the water.

Many people approached him and some came way too close to bother him which annoyed us quite a bit. I think local animals deserve to be left alone and people should not come too close. I manage to grab this great shot before the pelican took off because he was fed up with the tourists.

Pelican looking at the city, Mykonos, Greece

I love his peaceful and thoughtful expression from the back… he looks as i he is looking at his home town and planning his next stop there. What a beautiful bird.

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Greece by Marylise

Nothing crazy or artistic about this photo… just wanted to post a photograph of my best friend Eugenie today because we met in the plane on October 14, 1999 when we both moved to San Francisco…
I took this shot during a week-end we spent in Marseille together last year… it was a great week-end!

Eugenie, Marseille, France

I feel blessed that we sat next to each other in that place and are still very close even if we live so far apart now… life is so amazing sometimes.

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Europe, France by Marylise

One thing I have always liked is too take close-up shots. You have seen that in my previous posts of macro photos and it is a recurrent theme I seem to naturally follow and get excited about.

When taking climbing shots, it is easy to simply focus on the full climber and forget that the most important asset of climbers are their strong hands. I have always found it to be a great point of focus but it is usually hard to photograph them unless you can find yourself above the climber on top of the cliff or the rock they are ascending.

Climbing hands, Cala Gonone, Sardinia

I really like this close up for the composition of it. The hand is in clear focus with a lot of chalks on it. Then, we can see her arm blurry in the back and the water below her… she has not reached the top of the rock yet which makes us hope she will eventually grab it before falling in the water!

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Europe by Marylise

I am starting to dig into my old photographs now as I finally uploaded them to my new computer… not that they were hard to access but I had enough in my recent work to publish for a while. I had not browsed my old photos for a while and it was quite cool to look at them and sort through the best shots. I guess, it was one of my goals when I started this site… to remember… and it works and as it made me smile to open my archive.

I took the photographs below in Sevilla, during a Flamenco dance show. It was hard to take good shots as we could not use the flash and the dancers were moving a lot. I really like the 2 shots below and can’t choose between them so I will post both because I find them equally interesting. Would love to know which one your prefer!

Flamenco, Sevilla

Amazing Look!

I love the one on the left because it shows how classy and beautiful Flamenco is and this dancer was quite amazing. In the one on the right, I was able to catch her incredible look and I think it is what makes the photograph great… even if it is a little dark. However, in some ways, I think the darkness of the photograph goes well with the darkness of her look. If you have a chance to visit Sevilla (which I highly recommend), try to make it to a Flamenco night, you will not be disappointed!

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Europe by Marylise