The wide blue yonder
Posted on July 22, 2020
A stunt aeroplane goes through its aerobatic paces at the annual (but not this year, obviously) Estevol air show at Blond.
Monday Window: Nantes Cathedral
Posted on July 20, 2020
Some readers might have heard about the fire that caused severe damage over the weekend to the cathedral in the city of Nantes. I’ve posted a couple of images of the stained glass windows in this enormous edifice in the past and here is another, rather poignant one.
As well as the arched window, this image shows the cathedral’s massive baroque organ, dating back about 400 years. According to reports, the organ was almost entirely destroyed by fire, although fortunatelly the cathedral as a whole did not suffer anything like the damage that befell Notre Dame in Paris.
#MondayWindow 20 July 2020
52 Week Smartphone Challenge: 29 Depth of Field
Posted on July 19, 2020
Week 29 of the Smartphone Challenge is a bit of a strange one. ‘Use DOF to make a subject appear part of something larger’.
I know what they mean and I even know how it can be achieved with a normal camera – you use a very narrow aperture to give a deep depth of field so that both foreground and background are in focus.
The problem is that depth of field on a smartphone camera is fixed. The camera on my iPhone 11 has two settings: wide (ƒ1.8) and ultra wide (ƒ2.4). Narrow they ain’t.
No doubt someone out there can tell this bear of little brain how to do it, but for now I will have to settle for this trompe l’oeil photo of an old watering can, seen at a vide grénier in Blond.
Taken head on, the spout can’t be seen so the rose looks like it’s part of something larger that is the can itself.
52WeekSmartphoneChallenge: 29 Depth of Field
Lose the selfie stick – somewhere
Posted on July 17, 2020
I freely admit that I have a thing about selfie sticks. To my mind their only possible useful purpose would be in the execution of a self-administered colonoscopy. There again, the heavy selfie-stick user is probably already so far up themselves that a camera would scarcely be necessary for said purpose.
Why go somewhere interesting and picturesque – like, in this case, the island of Burano – and just take photos of yourself? Bah, humbug.
Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Cameras and Photographers
The Harbour, Honfleur
Posted on July 15, 2020
A couple of sailing boats in the picturesque harbour of Honfleur, at the mouth of the River Seine in Normandy.
Monday Window: Abbaye de la Reau
Posted on July 13, 2020
High up in a wall in the unrestored part of the Abbaye de la Reau is this unassuming little window with shutters of an unusual – or at least very old – design.
#MondayWindow 13 July 2020
52 Week Smartphone Challenge: 28 Culture
Posted on July 12, 2020
This week, the challenge is to post a picture that conveys ‘your culture’.
Which begs the question, what is my culture? As an English (although I prefer to be Scouse, which is most definitely not the same thing) expatriate living very happily in rural France, the answer is by no means clear-cut.
However, I think this image of a brightly painted old-fashioned cart on display outside the Mairie gives a decent idea of my current cultural circumstances.
52 Week Smartphone Challenge: 28 Your Culture
Scary
Posted on July 10, 2020
Complementary Cars
Posted on July 8, 2020
How thoughtful of the owners of these two old cars not only to park side-by-side outside the village shop, but also to choose complementary colours.
Monday Window: Perigueux Cathedral
Posted on July 6, 2020
I missed out on posting a window last Monday, so to make up the shortfall here are two fine examples of stained glass, from the Cathedral of Saint Front, in Perigueux.
Monday Window 6 July2020
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