Wandering with my camera

Today, we are back to one of my favorite place in California and probably in the World: Yosemite. I feel blessed to live only a few hours away from this incredible park. Whether you are a climbing, hiker or simply someone who enjoy nature’s beauty, you will be amazed and speechless the first time you get to visit.

Most of the visitors to Yosemite go there in the spring and summer to enjoy the beautiful weather, see the gigantic waterfalls, hike, climb or play in the river… but Yosemite offers a lot during all seasons and winter is quite unbelievable. Since I discovered the park in winter I have been trying to go at least once during the cold season and take photographs and cross country ski.

This past winter, I was able to book a spot at the winter hut at Glacier Point so Alex and I left for the week-end and skied the 10 miles to reach the most peaceful and gorgeous place. See for yourself below:

Glacier Point in Winter, Yosemite National Park, California

The weather was not the greatest for us that week-end and we struggled quite a bit to arrive at the hut and even more to come back to Badger Pass the following day but… what an amazing experience! I definitely want to go back and stay one additional night to enjoy the peace and beauty of the place a little longer.

Filed under:
California, Yosemite by Marylise

Here we are again… 3 days went by and no post. Well, I will take the excuse that I moved this week-end and it was kind of hectic so I had pretty much no time to sit down and write. I still have lots of boxes to empty and stuff to throw away but I am getting back to my blog and my photos for a little bit.

Today, we are not going too far from Paris. I took this photograph in the French country side close to Tours in the Loire Valley. Alex and I were biking around on a gorgeous summer day where his parents have their vacation home. While biking around I could not help staring at all the haystacks all over the fields. They were huge and so cool so I decided to stop to get close to them and take some shots.

Haystack in the Loire Valley, France

I really like this one in black and white. Not only the angle is making the haystack very imposing but the clouds in the background makes it very dramatic.

Filed under:
France by Marylise

Today, while I was wondering what photo I should post, I realized that I have not published anything from my home country yet… so funny as I travel there so much but as it is often for work, I don’t tend to think about it. Anyway, I will post a lot of photographs from France because I have a great collection and I love this country.

The photograph I choose for today was taken in the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris. These gardens are really famous for the typical chairs people can sit on all around the park and the kids playing with the little boats in the water. I didn’t want to take the typical photo so I walked around the park and was suddenly attracted by this huge golden statue… I thought it was amazing so I kept looking for the coolest angle to take it.

Statue in the storm, Luxembourg Gardens, Paris

What I love about this photograph is how the angle makes things so out of proportion. The head is so close that it makes the big buildings in the back look super tiny. Also, the fact the the buildings are not straights creates a dramatic effect made even more dramatic by the dark and threatening sky.

Filed under:
France, Paris, Uncategorized by Marylise

Tonight, I am a little tired after a long day at work so I was looking for a calming photograph… and started to look into my “star trail” collection and decided to publish this photograph taken in Joshua Tree National Park during Thanksgiving 2008 week-end. First, for my English speaking readers, “La tete dans les etoiles” literally means “the head in the stars” and it is a French expression to say that someone is day dreaming… well, maybe I am day dreaming these days about my next trip somewhere in the world…

I discovered night photography thanks to my boyfriend Alex, who is a passionate and super talented photographer. He taught me the technics to set the camera on clear (or not so clear) nights and take amazing shots of the moving stars or moving water at night. Since then, I have simply been obsessed about finding the greatest spots and take night shots.

Joshua Trees under the Stars, Joshua Tree National Park, California

Night photography requires a lot of patience and it can get cold at night when you are waiting for 40 minutes or more to take only one shot. But I find it immensely rewarding. I have a lot of ideas and places I would like to go to take some star trails but it is a long term project as the conditions needs to be there for you and some of the places I am envisioning are simply not so easy to reach…

But for today, let’s talk about what I have: a beautiful star trail above a Joshua Tree. I am so glad I managed to get this shot. Joshua Tree is one of my favorite place in California. It is such a beautiful and peaceful park and I just love the unique shape and look of the Joshua Trees that you only find in this part of the US.

As you can see above… effects can be pretty amazing when you take night shots and it is a great experience… however, make sure that you have at least 2 batteries fully charged, a tripod and a remote, a lot of patience… and a down jacket. 🙂

Filed under:
California, Joshua Tree by Marylise

The photograph I wanted to publish today is one of my collection of macro photos. I really enjoy taking macros and revealing in an image the small world that lives next to us. It is usually amazing and so colorful and different but we just don’t pay attention.

I took this photograph during a memorable week-end in Yosemite. My very good friends Emmy & Eric were getting married in a fun hostel close to the park so we all drove to the Yosemite to celebrate with them. We had a lot of fun, did some rock climbing and partied all week-end and on Sunday, before heading home, Alex and I decided to head into the park to take some photographs of the river. While I was walking around trying to find the best angle to take the water, I turned around and so hundreds of ladybugs walking in a pile of grass… it was simply amazing and I got so excited that I had my macro lens with me. I was able to take multiple shots and this one if my favorite of the set. I love the vivid colors, the orange of the ladybugs against the green grass and the fact that there were drops of water still on the grass

Ladybugs and droplets, Yosemite, California

Macros photography is difficult and requires patience if you are trying to take a flying animal or any kind of insect but I find it really rewarding when I get a close up in-focus of one of these small animals who live so close to us but are often invisible.

Filed under:
California, Yosemite by Marylise

Let’s travel back to California today and head about 3 hours North of San Francisco. Lake Tahoe is a enormous gorgeous lake surrounded by mountains where Californian go to ski and snowboard in the winder and hike, chill or rock climb in the summer.

The photo I decided to post today is not necessarily going to show you the crystal clear blue water of lake Tahoe but I just love the angle that I find quite unique. I took this photograph during a week-end I spent in Tahoe with some friends in August 2008.

Bird walking on water, Lake Tahoe, California

It was taken so close to the surface of the water that it seems like the bird is walking on the lake as well as the gentleman in the background. Finally, I think the mountain at the clouds at the back give a perfect dramatic finish to the photograph.

Filed under:
California, Lake Tahoe by Marylise

Today, I will stop with animal photography for a little bit but stay on the Greek islands and share a photograph I took in Paros during a peaceful late afternoon at the beach.

I love this photograph for many reasons. First, because it puts in the foreground our Greek sandals which were our best friends during the trip. I don’t think you can do without greek sandals when you travel across this country! They are everywhere and super comfy and work for the beach or to go out. Second, because it shows how relaxing and peaceful our trip was and finally because it is simply super colorful (just like Greece) and taken on one of the prettiest beaches we stopped at during the trip.

Greek sandals laying on gorgeous beach in Paros, Cyclades, Greece

This shot was taken with my Sigma wide angle lens which enabled me to have not only the foreground of the photo in focus but also the background which is very difficult with any other kind of lens.

Filed under:
Greece by Marylise

As we are on with some animal photograph, today, I have decided to take you to the gorgeous island of Santorini in the Cyclades. During the summer 2009, I travelled with my boyfriend, Alex, to the Greek Islands and we simply had blast traveling around, relaxing and taking amazing photographs full of colors, history and sunshine.

Finding cute cats is quite an easy task in Greece. This country seems to be paradise for them and you will find cats in every town happily hanging out on the sidewalk or sleeping in the shade.

The island of Santorini is quite an amazing site in itself but I think that we see too many of the same photographs from Fira, the main town, looking down at the Caldera. Don’t get me wrong all these photographs are gorgeous but I wanted something unique.

While Alex and I were walking around looking for a perfect sunset spot, this little cat started to follow us and jumped on the wall, peacefully looking down at the amazing view below him. What a great occasion for me… and fortunately, I had my wide angle zoom with me so I was able to capture him and the drastic landscape below.

Cat overlooking the Caldera – Santorini, Greek Islands, June 2009

Hope you get to enjoy the same view as this little cat someday… Santorini is definitely worth the trip and will leave you speechless for a few hours.

Filed under:
Greece by Marylise

Well… so much for posting one photo a day. 3 days have gone by and I have no new post to my blog. Let’s say that I am trying to discipline myself and that the week has been extremely busy!

So, as I missed so many days, I am going to share one of my favorite shots that not only, I had to travel far to get but that also was a last minute chance before I left a far far away country.

I will share many of my Galapagos shots in this blog but this photograph is quite unique to me for many reasons:

The Blue-Footed Boobie of Santa Cruz, Galapagos Islands

First because I love the expression on this blue-footed boobie’s face which makes the photo quite funny. But also because I managed to catch it on my last day and last hike in the Galapagos. If you end up visiting Ecuador and the Galapagos, you will see that this bird appears on all the guide books and seems to be easy to find… All my friends on the trip had been able to sight one but me. So, on my last day, I purposely hiked to a distant beach where I knew I would have the best chance to see some boobies. I walked around all afternoon and didn’t see a single one. As it was getting late, I sadly started to walk my way back to town when… I saw two blue footed boobies hanging out on the rocks. I was SO excited and happy. I took many photos and observed at them for over 30 minutes. They are really beautiful birds and totally fascinating. It was a great and so memorable moment for me. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did…

Filed under:
Galapagos, Santa Cruz Island by Marylise

I have not really figured out yet an order in which I wanted to share my photographs in this blog so I will just start with my favorite photos in no specific order… The one I am choosing today is a photograph I took when I received my new 30 mm lens. I just wanted to try it out on a project I had in my mind for a while: taking fast shots of splashing water… So I setup a Martini Glass with some strawberry syrup, put my camera on my tripod and started to drop objects in the glass to try to catch shots of the drops… well, on the first try, I actually dropped the little Santa toy on the side of the glass and ended up breaking it.

The result is below:

Broken glass and splashing water

I must admit that at first I was bummed I broke the glass on the first try but when I looked at the shots recorded in my camera, I started to get very excited… I ended taking more shots with different glasses and setup for the entire evening. I simply had a blast!

Filed under:
San Francisco by Marylise