Dairyman

July 23, 2012

Maconnex, France, 2012

A few things completed yesterday, came full circle.

We saw that the donkeys next door had two new foals, a dark one and a light one, a prefect matched set for their mothers.

We saw the cows across the rue come in for the night, and the bull make a display (pictured above). The herd had two calves also, a very new one and one a couple of months old. We've seen the cows go out a few times, but had never seen them come in. It was a good show, the fermier encourages his dog to go (a lot of 'Allez! Allez!'-ing) and he rounds them up to come in. Of course, they mostly know the drill and already the leader is coming in when she sees him. The fermier uses his staff a little, mostly display, to keep the cows in order and on the move.

The horses also had a foal. Normally there are three, but yesterday only one horse and one baby.

We had been wondering where all the animals had gone lately. They have been reshuffled for calving time.

Le Tour

July 11, 2012

Thomas Voeckler, Bellegard-sur-Valserine, France, 2012

Winner of Stage 10 of the 2012 Tour de France was Thomas Voeckler for team Europecar. The stage was 194 km through relatively flat and mountainous terrain from Mâcon to Bellegarde-sur-Valserine.

Bellegarde is only about 30 minutes from where we work, so going here was a no brainer.

This was the first serious mountain stage with the Col du Grand Colombier in the Jura mountains. It really spread the riders out, more than I've seen in previous stages this year. There were eleven (!) groups of riders that went by.

More to come of this festive event, both the riders and the caravan before. This year I was ready for the spectacle and got some good shots of the entertainment caravan that proceeds the actual race proper.

Spillway

July 10, 2012

Annecy, France, 2012

24 days to go....

Old Windows

July 7, 2012

Annecy, France, 2012

Just a couple of pics from Annecy a couple of weeks back. I really liked the old windows, and olde-tymey glass that they put in them. I don't think it's possible that any of the glass is "original".

Annecy, France, 2012

It was difficult to capture the window panes themselves, I tried a few different things, but wasn't super successful. These seemed to be the best of what I tried.

By the way, these pictures are from inside the Chateau d'Annecy, the 12th century (through the 16th) home of the Counts of Geneva. Incidentally, that link is fine, but I prefer the machine translation of the French language wiki page, it's got a lot more details (as long as you can tolerate the idiosyncrasies of the translators skill level).

Annecy Triathlon

July 1, 2012

2012 Annecy Triathlon, Annecy, France

Thats a lot of swimmers!

2012 Annecy Triathlon, Annecy, France

Gettin' kind close in there!

2012 Annecy Triathlon, Annecy, France

Just a ton of bikes!

More pictures of this great event to come. Both Alessandra (the athlete!) and I (the photographer) can report that the Annecy triathlon is very well put together! A+!

Prince Albert Bridge

June 21, 2012

Cruseilles, France, 2012

This beautiful bridge was dedicated in 1839, and is known by three names: Prince Albert Bridge, Charles-Albert Bridge, and Pont de la Caille (Quail Bridge). Both this bridge, and the new bridge that replaced it (built in 1929), are historically somewhat significant primarily for their construction. Prior to this there was a Roman bridge, Ponte Vieux (Old Bridge), at this location. The Usses river and an abandoned spring are 130 meters below. For more information, see the machine translation of the French wikipedia page.

Cruseilles, France, 2012

Thats all for now.

It's been a while

June 14, 2012

Chevry, France, 2012

Work has been busy, but it's more that I'm feeling frustrated and limited photographically. I'll get over it at some point, maybe even this weekend. I expect in general things will get more busy before they get less, at least until some time in August. It may be kind of slow until then. Sorry about that. Regular photo-blogging will resume at some point this summer.

Rural Light

May 29, 2012

Maconnex, France, 2012

Two versions of the same picture. I clicked on the conversion button just to see, and I rather liked it. I hadn't expected to because I really quite like the color version mostly for the color of the light, and how it fills the space beyond the trees with a warm glow. The black and white version I like for it's texture and there is still an glow throughout, it just isn't golden, but there is still has a warm silver aspect to it.

Maconnex, France, 2012

I'm not sure which I like better, it might just be the black and white version after all.

Quiet Grasses

May 24, 2012

Maconnex, France, 2012

The afternoon was nearly perfect today, the sun was shining, the wind was blowing a warm breeze, the temperature was magnificent, and there was a possibility of thunderstorms in the sky.

Daisy

May 23, 2012

Maconnex, France, 2012

Today I learned that marguerite is French for Daisy, and similarly margherita is Italian.

Maconnex, France, 2012

I needed some quick, low hanging fruit, photographically speaking. It's been quite busy and stressful lately, and I haven't made much time for relaxing. This afternoon I went out in the backyard for just a few minutes, and immediately felt better. I didn't have any great expectations of myself, which is probably why I happen to enjoy these photographs. Perhaps I should seek out some poppies, it's about that time of year.

Rumilly Tri

May 20, 2012

Cold!, Rumilly, France, 2012

Rumilly, France, 2012

Rumilly, France, 2012

Rumilly, France, 2012

Rumilly, France, 2012

Finish, Rumilly, France, 2012

Check out the race report here.

Light

May 12, 2012

Ornex, France, 2012

I'm still working on improving my photography, as always. I don't think I'm limited by my camera technique, which I think is competent, nor by my equipment, which is serviceable. I think that sometimes my post-processing limits the quality of my pictures, but that is a tool I know how to improve. The biggest limiter is not knowing my vision. From what I've read, this is probably also the hardest to understand because it is so ephemeral, and so difficult to describe, difficult to know. "I like it" and "I don't like it" are really a quite coarse course to take toward knowing how to make the pictures I want to, when I see something I like.

Sometimes the subjects I want to shoot are just simple things, and after I get the picture into Lightroom, they seem very ho-hum, serviceable, but not moving. Do all of my pictures need to be moving? I don't think so, though those are more satisfying. Other times I think I do find a moving subject, or I finally see it, and then the picture is great. I'd like to see those more often. Even sometimes I think I don't know how far I can push the picture and still have it be a workable image. That I think is one of my post-processing limits. One thing that I've heard some photographers talk about is 'shoot the light', I think I'm still working on doing that.

I'll keep working at it, and hopefully I'll see some more improvement. I'll let you know when I feel like I've learned something. I do think that getting a tripod later this summer will be an evolutionary step forward.

Chevry Church Blaze

May 11, 2012

Last Sunday morning the church in the small town of Chevry burned. I noticed on Monday morning on the way home from work that something was different about the bell tower. Today I finally got to go and investigate.

Here is a very short local news article: machine translation / original.

Church Fire, Chevry, France, 2012

Tunnel

May 10, 2012

Mt. Sion Tunnel, France, 2012

I've seen these type of pictures taken in tunnels before, and I quite like them. I thought I would have a go myself, and I'm pretty happy the result. I think one of the things that draws me to them is the simplified graphic nature of the resulting images. Most of the details have been lost to the motion blur, and what results usually has a smooth and somewhat futuristic feel. I think I'll keep dabbling with these, it's something fun to do in the car.

The Mt. Sion tunnel is 3.1 km long, and located on the (toll) highway between Geneva and Annecy. For more information about this tunnel, see this link. It does shorten the travel time between Geneva and Annecy, but I prefer to use the D1201 route, probably because that tunnel takes all the traffic instead of the department road.

Blues

May 7, 2012

I like these shots, though I wish I would have used my other lens for them, I'm really preferring the clarity I get with the prime lenses. Although, I think that these images are also perfectly serviceable.

Rumilly, France, 2012

So, I guess, get the sharpness in images that require sharpness?

Rumilly, France, 2012

Learn the limits of the gear that you have and use? These are all good things to do and know.

The other thing to comment on: there was a picture show at CERN today, someone had prints over many (~40) pictures from the Pays de Gex and CERN. There were many interesting pictures, though I have to say that the print quality was poor. I don't think that it was a look that the photographer was going for, it didn't seem like it was intentional. Just poor prints. So, I'm really looking forward to doing some more prints this summer!

Rumilly Preview

May 6, 2012

Rumilly, France, 2012

In a couple of weeks Alessandra will do the Rumilly Super Sprint Triathlon, so we went down there to make sure we could find the location, and see what is what. It's a pretty nice location, the pond is crystal clear and not too cold. In the picture above, you can see the bottom (only about 1-2 meters) in both the extreme foreground, and the far background (once the cloud reflections are replaced by the tree reflections, middle right). The Cheran river is very near, next to one of the other ponds at the park, it looks like the running course goes through a newly planted arboretum too (the trees are all young). After scouting the swim and run courses, we had a light lunch and drove the bike course, which is very typically-France-countryside-scenic. Slightly uphill on the way out and just the opposite on the way back. It should be a great short tri!

I'll be sure to get lots of pictures during the tri, so I'll get lots more to share in a couple of weeks about Rumilly.

Rumilly, France, 2012

There is also a karting track at the park too.

Rumilly, France, 2012

Trains

April 30, 2012

The Old Train Station

France, 2012

A couple of weeks ago I went out looking to make some pictures of the old train line that runs up to Divonne les Bains from somehwere. I followed it on the map from Divonne, back to Gex and decided that was enough of a stretch to start with. I figured it would a decent way to see a bit more of the area, maybe find a few old buildings and some stretches of rail line. So, off we went, I brought along the lovely Alessandra, patient as ever, for the afternoon's wanderings.

The start of the days wanderings was at the old train station in Divonne, pictured above. Seemed like a good start, interesting old building, simple and functional french styling, battered and broken shutters and blinds. Lots of character.

Well, I wish the rest of the day had followed through. We found an interesting old steel overpass. An old stone wall (not too near the rail line), and some nice little French towns. Just not very much rail related items. I guess sometimes its like that.

A walk at the pond

April 24, 2012

Tulip shoots and sky

France (2012)

Tulip shoots (b&w)

France (2012)

On Sunday morning I went for a walk at the Etang d'Cessy, a public park around a pond in the woods and the middle of some farmland near my apartment. I went because the day before Alessandra and I had gone for a run in the rain here, and I had noticed the tulip shoots growing up out of pond (it has swollen from the recent rains).

"Running in the rain isn't so bad, kind of fun actually, its like an adventure", said Alessandra. Quite a change from a year ago!

These lily pads are the other thing that caught my eye while I was there. Especially the ghostly looking ones that are submerged under the higher water level. The only thing that is missing is a frog.

Lily pads

France (2012)

Lily pads

France (2012)

Also, the second great internet outage of 2012 continues, so I have limited connectivity. To avoid a severe case of ennui I have been reflecting on my attachement to the internet, I look out the window to watch the rain, and I have bought a book to read. How did we live 10 years ago? Oh yeah, we watched TV all the time. I think I'd like to try again to spend less time on the internet, or at least less aimless, couch potato time. I have been catching up on my photo library duties too, and the apartment is looking rather tidier these days.

Elections - so it's a runoff

April 23, 2012

Elections

France (2012)

First, the internet is broken at my apartment again. Second outage in two weeks. Last time it was during the week, this time over the weekend.

So, it's election time in France (or rather elections were yesterday, see first point for explanation for the tardiness of this), and that means that election posters are up. One thing that I appreciate about France in this season is that the political posters are confined to these sign boards that are put up specifically for elections.

The runoff election is between the candidates in slots 3 and 10. Note that the candidate in slot 2 did not poll that well... came in third.

More Driving Pictures

April 5, 2012

Driving Pictures

France (2012)

I have added a few more pictures to my Driving Pictures project. All of them are from France, within about 10 minutes driving of my home. This group has a picture in color:

Two other pictures have also been added.

I'm also happy to think about a couple of other projects that are nearing completion. One is a weekend project I did on bicycles while in Como, Italy. And another is panorama that I'm going to make with the PhotoShop CS6 beta.