Have you ever tried to take a Canon 500mm f/4 into a very touristic zoo on a sunny Sunday afternoon? Well, this is what I did today. I knew it was going to be tough but I really wanted to take my big zoom out, it was itching too much. It turns out to be quiet interesting, flamingos are such beautiful subjects, very graphical and with amazing eyes. It actually took me a while to come back to the zoo. Indeed, when you have spent so much time in places like Point Reyes National Seashore or Point Lobos (Californian reserves), you really can’t think about doing anything in a zoo. However, zoos are important for many reasons, they contribute to conservation, science, veterinary research and are for many people their only source of contact with the wildlife world.
Nature, Photography
Surprisingly rainy and cold but a truly amazing city. The capital of Catalonia is an heaven for history lovers and seekers of weird and inspirational architecture. The curious mix of Muslim, Christian and modern influences makes this place very unique. As a photographer, there is of course much to do in the city, I would say especially from a photojournalist point of view. There is indeed a lot of culture and a strong feeling of belonging to the catalan community.
- #2,3: 14th century cloister, there are always 13 geese in its central courtyard. Each goose represents one year in the life of the martyr Santa Eulalia.
- #5: Barcelona’s Marathon!
- #7: A birdman, an amazing number of birds was flying around him, a unique experience to be part of it.
Photography, Travel
Actually I spent just a morning at taking pictures, but the whole experience was great. The temperature was pretty tough (5F/-15C) but the weather was all right, no snowstorm this time. Working in such a temperature is a challenge, you really have to use gloves and the fact is that manipulating photographic equipment with gloves is a mess. More than a time I had to take off the gloves and then feel the pain when touching the metal of the tripod/camera, but I just wasn’t able to do the adjustment with them. I sounds like I need a bit of practice (and possibly more pain) to understand.
- #1/#3: Same scene but different view, which one is your favorite?
- #4: Those little dots are people, they’re about to climb a giant frozen fall!
- #6: Resting in an igloo. As surprising as it might be, it’s pretty hot in there, well, I mean in comparison to outside…
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I went back to the Golden head park to visit my buddies the butterflies but they weren’t in good shape, the glasshouse was almost empty, only something like 20 butterflies were still there. Indeed, the exposition is supposed to end the 30th of January, so they’re not planning to release butterflies anymore, they’re just waiting for the one already released to die. Those still there were of course still amazing, here is 3 photographs. The first one is taken with a wide lens (instead of a usual Macro lens), it gives a different perspective on this huge butterfly, the Yellow-Edged Giant-Owl Caligo.
Nature, Photography
Not a photo shoot, just an adventure! Of course I had brought some photographic equipment “just in case” but the main point was to experience the Alps. What a great time we had, with 4 feet of snow, (I’m not kidding!) our snowshoes were pretty busy, and so valuable! especially when we got hit in a snowstorm (#3, If I had had a weather proof camera I would have done more…). Cold landscapes are always my favorites, I really have to work on them. In those places, the ambiance is so unique: harsh weather, no tourists, great sound (wind, stepping on the snow…), rare animals but very great looking when they’re around (e.g: foxes, with their great fur in winter). Stay tuned for a some real work in the Alps 
.
Nature, Photography, Travel
Yesterday I went to a butterfly exposition in our city park, the “Parc de la tête d’or” (Golden head park). I had never seen such butterflies, they were quite amazing, in size and color. It was a good opportunity to use my Macro lens and flash. With maybe 100 butterflies in a small room, the place was a photographic paradise, I spent something like 2 hours there but I could have stayed an entire day without getting bored. #5 and #8 are my favorite, they give a different view. Naturally, all the butterflies photographed are alive!
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It’s been more than a month since I haven’t posted on this blog, I’m really sorry about that. I’m now back in France and didn’t have much time to travel around and use my camera. The 5D II is back on track (thanks Canon) and the only small outing I’ve been able to do is yesterday, to the Festival of Lights in my home town, Lyon. The is not my usual kind of photography but it’s always interesting to try different things. I have been celebrating this Festival since my childhood and I’ve seen it change and grow through the years, it is now a huge event. Even if people are not religious, they almost all place candles along the outsides of all their windows, I guess it gives us a feeling of being part of something, and as a kid, the moment is quite magic.
There you go:
- #1: Inside the Fourviere Basilica, people are lighting candles.
- #2: In the old Lyon, a clown is performing in the cold.
- #3: Louis XIV statue, Ferris wheel in Background, slow shutter speed.
- #4,#5: Rose-window lit from inside the cathedral.
- #6: Terreaux Square during the show “Let’s play with time”.
Photography, culture
Yes, that what Utah means in the Ute Indian language. As some point I was listening to the radio and the guys were talking in Indian, good to know that the language (and so the culture) is still alive (or kind of). The places we’re going to talk about here are Monument Valley, Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park.
- Monument Valley [#1 to #4]: Get your guns ready, we are in John Ford’s land. The view from the Visitor center is all I saw since a sand storm prevented me to do the sunset tour and the cold prevented me to do the sunrise one (no way to get on the top less 4WD without gloves, this time, I’m really going to loose a finger). The first 2 photographs are from the same place, the first at pre-dawn and the second at pre-dusk.
- Bryce Canyon [#5 to #8]: I actually only spent a morning (sunrise) there. But what a morning! The most surreal landscapes I’ve ever seen. The famous quote from Brother Bryce is “It’s a hell of a place to lose a cow” and yes he’s very right, I wouldn’t like to have to search for a anything in there, it’s sometime even difficult to follow the trail.
- Zion National Park [#9 to #12]: Oasis in the middle of the desert, Zion is unique and a big challenge to photograph. I didn’t have the time to get to “The subway” so I stayed around the scenic drive and did almost all the trails I found. The colors in fall are really superb and add something to the already amazing landscape. The place is also well known for its wildlife, especially bird.
Nature, Photography, Travel, culture
What a journey! Is it still planet Earth or the 2200 miles I did brought me to the moon? The Southwest landscapes are truly breathtaking. Photographing them is a challenge since most of the places are already over-photographed and close to becoming cliché. However, with this kind of thinking you’re not doing much in life, so I decided to give it a try, keeping in mind to try something different each time. This trip will be divided into two different posts: the first will deal about Arizona and the second will take care of Utah. I will only post 4 pictures of each places I visited.
- The Grand Canyon South Rim [#1 to #4]: So big that you have trouble to really realize the distances. I went there for 1 sunrise and 1 sunset. The place is also surprisingly rich in wildlife.
- The Grand Canyon North Rim [#5 to #8]: Really a great place for wildlife and landscape. Much less crowded that the south rim and as good if not better in many ways. The curious squirrel is a “Kaibab squirrel”, which leaves only in the Grand Canyon North Rim area, so you’re not going to see anything like that anywhere else in the world. The Coyote in the snow at sunrise was the greatest wildlife experience of the trip.
- Upper Antelope Canyon [#9 to #12]: This canyon has to be visited with a guide. A very kind and funny Navajo was ours for about an hour. Let’s be frank, even if I knew what I as going to see, I was simply amazed by the beauty of the place. The only little problem are us, the people, we are just too numerous. We were about 50 in the canyon and the guide told me that in the summer they commonly have 300 people in it, so basically a line of people.
- Lower Antelope Canyon [#13 to #16]: Very different from its little brother. The cool thing about this one is that you don’t need any guide, you can basically stay in the canyon as long as you want (if it’s not crowded of course). At a certain point, I was alone in the Canyon! was a great experience. I talked to a young Navajo that was playing Guitar, we talked about the Navajo Nation, their president and how he felt about being Navajo in the US. I went there on an overcast day, a good opportunity to get different pictures since most of the picture from Antelope are a ray of light coming in it. So what I did is playing with the shade of color and with depth.
- Colorado River, the Horseshoe Bend [#17 to #20]: What a cliché! sure but how to resist? the view from above is staggering. I went there for sunrise. The pictures are from the Canyon and from the trail that leads there.
One thing to remember when you visit the Southwest in late October is your gloves. I didn’t have any in Bryce Canyon (Utah, next post) and I thought I was loosing a couple of fingers. The temperature was 25F, no sun (pre-dawn) and a lot of wind, I even had trouble to open the eyes. Beside of that and I’d say as usual in the U.S, everything is done to make your life easier, the trails are super clean, the roads in perfect shape and the visitor centers always open and glad to help.
Nature, Photography, Travel, culture
I’ve been recently testing the video capabilities of the Canon 5D Mark II in the field. It is fascinating to see how a technology can impact your work. Video is my first love (short films) and it’s with a lot of excitement that I’m coming back to it. What I wanted to see here is the feasibility of shooting videos AND stills during the same day. It has been a lot of fun and in the same time a lot of work. I shot this in Full HD (1920*1080) at 30fps and edit it in Final Cut. The music I added is “Vers le Nord” from Bruno Coulais, used in the film “The Traveling Birds” (which I really recommend you if you haven’t already watched it). The lenses I used are the 17-40L, 70-200 f/4L, and the 500 f/4L. Here is some comments/advices on this short but intense experience:
- Shoot in Manual: Shooting in manual is definitely a must with the Mark II. Shooting in one of the automatic mode will more certainly make your footage to looks choppy because the camera is going to compensate on the shutter speed. Getting decent videos requires using a shutter speed of 1/60 or something around this. If you can’t achieve this because the scene is too bright, then use neutral grey filters, this is what real camcorders are using (built in).
- Don’t count on the audio: The audio coming out of the Mark II is quite terrible. Independent audio system is definitely the way to go (Zoom H4n/Rode NTG-2 is a great couple).
- Bring a spare battery: Shooting videos during a whole day completely used my 2 batteries whereas is never happened when I was just shooting stills, even when using Liveview extensively.
- Bring a lot of CF: 5 minutes = 4Gbs. It hurts mommy.
- White balance your shot: The 5D II is not shooting RAW videos (unlike the RED), so you’re not able to correct this afterward. Actually you can correct a colorcast in a Software like Color but this is a lossy correction. So have it right during the shooting by using something like a Grey Card.
- Focus: Focusing 100% right on a static shot is a must. What I do is that I’m usually zooming all the way, making the focus in liveview and zooming back to the focal I want.
- Invaluable IS: Some shots (like on windy days) are just impossible without IS, I found this feature incredibly useful. However, IS being pretty noisy (especially on the 500mm), you may not be able to use it in every situation (if the mic is close).
- Stabilize your shots: On some shots, I wasn’t able to setup the tripod to I tried to shoot without it (example: second crab in the video), but that of course doesn’t work.
- Well…dont’ count on the Mark II itself: Weird but true, at the end of the day, the Mark II went crazy. For some reasons the light meter was giving me non sense exposure. As of today, the problem is not solved and I have no idea how I’m going to shoot my Grand Canyon trip coming next week. Canon got the technology, Nikon got the reliability.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE VIDEO.
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