Digging up

Instead of enjoying Paris car-free day on Sunday (which was my first weekend plan), I decided to make a trip to the nearby forest of St Germain en Laye. I had somehow already explored it, but the upcoming autumn added quite an interesting ingredient to its usual attractive features: thanks to the preceding rainy days, mushrooms had been hastily growing under dead leaves or next to old logs and tree stumps, and they were beginning to show their heads just above the ground. Perfect moment to have a stroll in the woods and set up a mushroom quest & photo competition :-)

Looking for mushrooms was no easy task though. Small as they were, and often similar in color to dead leaves and musty logs, it was a real challenge to notice them. Especially while crossing thorn bushes with bare arms. Still, the battle was totally worth it - rather in terms of photography than of actual harvest, since the few mushrooms we gathered had taken a rather disgusting blue color due to oxidation. We just threw them in the middle of the road and escaped like caught culprits at the sight of approaching walkers...

Here are a few pictures of my photography loot!

Mushrooms on a log

Beetle under the light

Spinning its web

Heritage days

Last weekend the national heritage days were celebrated in France: a lot of (more or less) famous places were open for visits - and above all, for free! I'm not that used to playing the tourist, and I must confess I still haven't visited the most prominent monuments in Paris (no Eiffel Tower or Le Louvre for me yet...) so I decided I had to seize this opportunity to catch up a bit. 

Unfortunately, unless you don't mind lining up for hours in front of it, you have to wake up extremely early to actually be able to see your dream place; to be sure hundreds of people from all corners of Paris and its suburbs just had the same idea and wanted to visit the very same edifice. Therefore when I innocently went to places I had in mind, people in charge told me that everything was already booked for the day. Or the length of the queue simply discouraged me :-(

I ended up visiting only two places, the Collège des Bernardins (5th arrondissement) and the Opéra Garnier (9th arrondissement).

The Collège des Bernardins, located in the Latin Quarter in Paris, is a 13th century Cistercian building which was fully restored in 2008. Since then, it has been a place where people can exchange ideas, have meetings or training sessions; it supports numerous conferences, exhibitions and events. It also hosts the French Catholic Academy and offers biblical and theological trainings. It is a really nice building, even though I find a bit disappointing that its vast halls have been converted into numerous and small training rooms.

The Opéra Garnier was long called 'Opéra de Paris', before the Opéra Bastille opened. I have been once at the latter to see Mozart's Zauberflöte, but it is by no means as magnificent as the Opéra Garnier. As one of the most famous places in Paris, the Opéra Garnier is quite an imposing monument, with somehow mixed architecture styles. I had no idea of what was inside, and when I entered it, I found the view absolutely breathtaking: heavily decorated elements, elaborate columns, staircases and statues and Baroque-style ornamentation with gold color everywhere: just WOW. I really loved the 'too much' look of this monument!

Light on column

Shadows in staircase

Magnificent fresco

A dramatic face

Exploring forests

One would say I'm not a biologist/agronomist for nothing, as I'm always taking photos of flowers and insects. In fact, I've grown up in quite a small village (rather a hamlet), and have always been surrounded with nature: as far as I can remember, running in fields and climbing trees, playing in mud or puddles or small streams and eating wild fruits on every tree/bush has been my childhood daily life. Even now, I just can't get rid of my old over-excitement at the sight of wild and deserted landscapes.

I've been living in the Paris area for about 4 or 5 years by now, and somehow I have been missing countryside a lot. So when my friend told me a few months ago 'let's visit forests some day', I felt very enthusiastic about it! 

My first expedition was in Fontainebleau forest (a really beautiful one) but at that time I didn't own my Sony camera yet and only used my compact one. But I will remember that trip for a very long time: my friend and I were walking under the trees in the forest, looking for some inspiration, when suddenly a huge quantity of cockchafers went flying/falling on us. For some seconds we were totally panicked (it was nothing pleasant really...) but acknowledging there was no danger, we took advantage of this and gathered photos of those bizarre-behaving insects :-)

Next I discovered St-Germain forest. No cockchafers this time, but I found the view below absolutely amazing and there were lots of insects flying over flowers bushes. Soooo... I collected quite a few pictures - I should really get a macro lens though!

Bee on a thistle

Beetle on the way

Flirting wasps

Color contrasts

Even though I don't especially enjoy high temperatures which are quite a feature of summer time, I must admit that when summer draws to a close I kind of feel sad. Autumn often brings rain or cold and - above all - I just can't get rid of my old 'back to school' apprehension at seeing all those exercise books and pencils displayed in the local supermarkets...

However, one thing that gives all its charm to this season is the extraordinary colors it brings to everything outside. Nature suddenly gets covered with a wide range of browns, reds, oranges, yellows that can't leave you unmoved. I would usually stop for a minute or two at the sight of it, and rejoice in planning a stroll in the woods for the next weekend :-)

I will try to plan a forest trip very soon so that I have odd-looking (and fascinating) life forms to share with you. Last time, I came back with pictures of cockchafers and beetles and spiders - let's keep going through the bestiary!

Fallen fruit after rain

Painted logs in the woods

Some colors on a rain-washed street

Bokeh effect

There is something I have been eagerly wanting to learn and apply, and that is the bokeh effect. I'm totally enthusiastic about the way it turns street lights into big colorful circles :-)

So far I have tried two 'types' of bokeh (not sure one can call that different sorts of bokeh though): the one that only makes the background go blurry (focus on a close object) and the nothing-on-focus one, which gives a completely aberrant picture where any point of light in the scenery is distorted into a shining ring. I terribly love the latter!

To me the most difficult part is always finding creative ideas for light sources, so that the bokeh could really enhance the photo. Fortunately enough, my photography sensei had been coming along to teach me the basics and provide me with some very useful advice...

Here are my first few tries, more will follow!

Street lights at night

A grasshopper in a clearing

Busy on a buddleia

Rainy days

We had a heavily rainy week recently, and unfortunately that meant less photography for me: as I was anxious not to damage my camera, I had to wait for the rain to stop before having a chance to take a stroll outside with it.

However, though I don't especially appreciate stepping in puddles or walking bare-headed (and umbrella-free) under the rain, a rainy weather is not something I really dislike - as long as my camera is not affected. Maybe some would say that having lived in Brittany (as I did during my post-graduate years) is quite an efficient vaccine against rain-related grumpiness. But I don't remember Rennes to be that much more rainy than Paris, so let's say the rain has never been a problem to begin with :-)

Usually I would rather walk than use my bike after a rainy day, since I'm not that thrilled at the idea of falling on a slippery road in the Paris area, so perfect opportunity for some pictures...

It just so happened that when I got myself out of my apartment today, I came face to tentacle with an adventurous snail that was diligently moving from one side of a bench to the opposite one (what seemed interesting enough for such a tedious journey, I haven't got a clue).

I cheered it a little on its way ahead, because the poor thing had to cross a precipice - but it did perfectly well on its own! :-)

Assessing the situation

Taking the plunge...

...Goal achieved!

Underground lines

Today I was absent-minded enough on my way back from the 13th arrondissement (quite a habit lately) to miss several times the metro connection I had to take :-(

Although I know the station quite well, I just forgot to get off and had to take the same metro in the opposite direction, but missed the station a second time and had to go forth again...

As a conclusion (and a way to chase my somehow infuriated emotions away) I decided to post something about the Parisian Métropolitain.

This giant and (mostly) underground caterpillar has been the number one reason that made me move closer to my job place. During rush hour, it is often a real pain to merely set a foot inside the car: people throw themselves out, anxious to reach their workplace on time, and sometimes they don't pay attention and crush some feet or hit some arms. It also occurs the other way around: people waiting for the metro grow impatient and don't let people get quietly off the train, which results in quite violent conversation or gestures.  Personally my worst experience was loosing one of my shoes (yes...) when a man pushed me outside of the metro, as there was not enough place remaining for two persons to get in.

However, apart from this going-to-work part, I think it is a very practical means of transportation and I am really glad it is provided! I don't know half of the stations yet, but I hope I will soon be able to visit all corners of Paris thanks to it :-)

Side by side

Metro lights