CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

After the FIA Awards Gala at the Lido de Paris had finished I decided to walk back to my hotel near to the Opera House so I could take in the Christmas lights on the  Champs-Élysées before I headed to the airport to catch the plane back to London a few hours later. The awards ceremony didn't finish until 1am so by the time I had walked from the Lido de Paris at the top of the  Champs-Élysées many of the stalls in the Christmas Village that line both sides of the avenue from the Grand Palais down to Place de la Concorde were shut.  But the lights were still ablaze and there were still people walking and enjoying the scene. Here are some of the pictures I captured on the Fujifilm X-T1 and XF16-55mm f2.8 during my short Christmas walk in Paris. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS PAGE By click...

Alongside our Union Flag (or Union Jack as it more commonly know - but this not correct as it is only a Union Jack if it flown from a ship) the French Tricolor is one of the most easily recognised flags in the world.  The French are justifiably very proud of the Red, White and Blue and it is seen at every turn in Paris. Last Thursday the Tricolor was even more in evidence along the  Avenue des Champs-Élysées  as the city prepared to celebrate the 70th anniversary of VE Day on Friday 8th May, the day after my brief visit to Paris. The Tricolor also flew on the top of the Grand Palais as normal and it was seen just above the trees.  The flag also flew on top of the Automobile Club de France (ACF) on the north side of the Place de la Concorde. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS PAGE By clickin...

During Thursday's quick visit to the Place de la Concorde I took some high speed images of one of the fountains.  Using the wide aperture on the 56mm f1.2 and the electronic shutter on the X-T1 at 1/12000s and above, I froze the moving water. The Fontaines de la Concorde are two monumental fountains located in the Place de la Concorde in the centre of Paris. They were designed by Jacques Ignace Hittorff, and completed in 1840 during the reign of King Louis-Philippe.  The south fountain (the one pictured) commemorates the maritime commerce and industry of France, and the north fountain commemorates navigation and commerce on the rivers of France. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS PAGE By clicking on the adverts you are helping support this blog - thank you. -----------------------------------------...

A quick day trip to Paris for a couple of meetings gave me time to walk back through the Place de la Concorde in the spring sunshine before catching the Metro and RER back to the airport. As with all well photographed tourist sites, the challenge is to find some different angles to take some images that stand out from the norm.  Using the X-T1 with the 35mm f1.4 and 56mm f1.2 Fujinon prime lenses I tried to capture some images of the Luxor Obelisk in the centre of the Place de la Concorde. The Luxor Obelisk stands at 75 feet (23 metres) and is a 3000 year old Egyptian obelisk that stood outside the Temple at Luxor before being shipped to Paris in 1833.  Originally there were two obelisks standing at the gates to the temple at Luxor and the twin of the Paris Obelisk still stands in Egypt. CLICK HERE for more on the Luxor Obelisk ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPP...

On a beautiful Thursday evening after finishing work I decided to walk to Chatelet station to catch the RER out to the airport instead of taking the Metro.  This was the right decision as there were plenty of people out enjoying the sunshine in the Jardin des Tuileries.  This offered me the perfect opportunity for a spot of street photography with the Fujifilm X100. The Jardin des Tuileries are located between the Louvre and Place de La Concorde.   Created by Catherine de Medicis as the garden of the Tuileries Palace in 1564, it was eventually opened to the public in 1667, and became a public park after the French Revolution. In the 19th and 20th century, it was the place where Parisians celebrated, met, promenaded, and relaxed.   CLICK HERE for more on the Jardins des Tuileries With the X100 I set about capturing a number of candid images.  The X100 is perfect for this type of photography and with its silent leaf shutter and 'old tourist came...

I like the panoramic format for landscapes and I either crop suitable images to a 12:5 format or I stitch several images together in Photoshop to create a panoramic image.  However I have always created panoramic images on the horizontal and never on the vertical.    After reading an article on vertical panoramics I started to search out compositions that would suit the format.  I saw one such image in Place de la Concorde in Paris last Saturday morning with the three vertical items - the ornate lamp post, the Obelisk and the Eiffel Tower providing the elements for the composition. The second shot is of the column in the centre of Place Vendome. Images taken on a Fujifilm X100 with a Fujinon 23mm f2 lens ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY CLICKING THE GOOGLE ADVERTS It doesn't cost you anything to cl...

Some more images from Paris, this time from the Place de la Concorde. After a long walk down the Champs Elysee to photograph the Christmas lights (see images HERE ) I inevitably ended up in the Place de  La Concorde.  The contrast in the lighting at night is massive, with the bright illumination of the big wheel and the Obelisk and the very low level of illumination from the street lamps.  Once again the X-Trans sensor on the X-Pro1 coped very well when coupled with the excellent XF35mm f1.4 lens.   Here are some of the shots from this part of my evening in Paris. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY CLICKING THE GOOGLE ADVERTS It doesn't cost you anything to click on an advert but we get a small fee for every click thru from Google and this helps support this blog - thank you for helping ----------------------------------------...