Out with the camera, finally Posted on 20th June 201317th December 2020 by Laurence I moved house at the beginning of March this year, and most things are still packed away in boxes. I kept my digital camera equipment out so I could use it, and obviously, I haven’t. In fact excepting a few iPhone imports to be done, my most recent folder in my Lightroom catalogue is from way back in January. Continue reading “Out with the camera, finally” →
Getting into HDR Posted on 1st May 201312th April 2020 by Laurence I thought I’d experiment a little with some HDR images. I have again been inspired by browsing 500px.com, as there are many HDR images on this site that seem to become popular. I looked into some HDR apps and downloaded a trial for Photomatix Pro, then loaded one of my favourite images into it, and here is the result of a little experimentation with the presets available within it. Continue reading “Getting into HDR” →
Café Terrace at Night – Lost in Translation? Posted on 27th March 201317th April 2020 by Laurence I was looking for the original title of Vincent Van Gogh’s painting Café Terrace at Night (above right), because I wanted to upload my photo (above left) of the same scene to my profile on the 500px.com website. I try not to leave the ‘description’ field completely empty when I publish an image there, so I thought I’d check out the name of the café, the original name of the painting, and the English name of the painting. The way I see it, there is something of a distortion in the translation. The French name is Terrasse du Café le Soir, and by the time it’s in English, Café Terrace at Night, it’s a generic café terrace in the evening. Continue reading “Café Terrace at Night – Lost in Translation?” →
Portland Storm Posted on 22nd January 201312th April 2020 by Laurence This week I was sorting out some old files for deletion to clear some space in my laptop, and I discovered a whole batch of photos that I hadn’t loaded into my photo catalogue, of a storm in November 2009. I took a trip over to Portland Bill to see what the sea was like. Here are a few of the photos. Note the size of the breaking waves compared to the people on the beach in the sixth image. Continue reading “Portland Storm” →
France 2007 Posted on 9th January 201312th April 2020 by Laurence I think I visited France twice in 2007, once with a friend in the summer for a week to Brittany, it looks like I didn’t take any photos on that trip, so that means I can’t actually remember when it was. My parents were visiting France in November 2007 for three weeks, and in the middle of this they had booked a holiday cottage in Arles. I decided the night before they were due to arrive there that I was going to fly out to meet them, so I asked them to pick me up from Avignon airport the next day. As they had their car out there it was easy enough, and it was easy for us all to go and visit various places. Continue reading “France 2007” →
Cosmos – Carl Sagan Posted on 11th December 201212th April 2020 by Laurence I’ve started reading ‘Cosmos’ by Carl Sagan, this is a real classic book, written by one of the great astronomers of modern times. It is a very sad coincidence that as I was writing this I heard the news that Sir Patrick Moore had passed away, aged 89. What an inspiration he was to so many people. Continue reading “Cosmos – Carl Sagan” →
Lyme Regis Posted on 8th December 201213th April 2020 by Laurence I have ‘Lyme Regis’ as a saved search in my wordpress app, so I check it once every couple of days to look for any inspiring photos etc, especially now I’ve moved away and have lived in Sussex for about 16 months. I thought I’d use this to see if anyone actually uses saved searches, I know the post may be found in other ways but do people actually use saved searches? So for anyone that has ‘Lyme Regis’ as a saved search, here’s a short pick of my photos and if you do, post a comment and let me know your thoughts . Continue reading “Lyme Regis” →
Getting into Reading Posted on 21st October 201213th April 2020 by Laurence Ever since school, and as long as I can remember, I never read books. I used to like factual books, picture books and encyclopaedias, but I never read stories. Continue reading “Getting into Reading” →
For my French Followers Posted on 5th October 201217th April 2020 by Laurence I’ve noticed a number of visits recently from France in my stats, and likes from a few French blogs, probably something to do with my previous post. Continue reading “For my French Followers” →
France 2005 Posted on 4th October 201217th April 2020 by Laurence La Mairie de Vannes I haven’t been updating this blog as often as I’d like, so I had this little idea that once in a while I’d take a little look back at something I’ve done, or somewhere I’ve been somewhere in the past. Today, I’m going to share some of my experiences of a 16 day trip to France in 2005; just me and my car. The main reason for going was because I fancied touring abroad in my new (to me) Audi Cabiolet. I didn’t plan a lot in advance. In fact all I did plan ahead were the Channel Tunnel crossings there and back. I booked them the day before I left. Another day before that was when I decided I was going to go on holiday. Sorry folks, it’s a long post, so I’ve had to add just the first snippet to the homepage. Continue reading “France 2005” →
