Bokeh again

One evening this week & suddenly feeling like walking a bit, I took a stroll outside my apartment in the early night - carrying my camera with me of course.

There were a lot of beautiful lights, so I ended up capturing quite many bokeh samples!
A few of those pictures below:

Blue and yellow bokeh

White and yellow bokeh

Orange bokeh

Moon-shaped bokeh

Photo mash-up #6

A photo mash-up about the color ORANGE - light tones, but cheerful enough to chase Winter away and welcome Spring!

Happy orange day :-)

Photo of the day

Sometimes, there are pictures that you really want to get - that you have been planning to take for ages - that require this light here, and this piece of water there, and those people at the back, and this object at the front, and so on...

And sometimes, though the result is almost always worth the trip, you have to go through pretty hard times in order to get them: stay in the cold wind for hours, get a blocked back or a sore neck sitting in an awkward position, or get yourself drenched (or your camera)!

Hard time being a photographer

Paris at night

Today, following my photography companion after sunset in Paris streets, I endeavored to learn something new to me: taking pictures of famous monuments through their reflections in large puddles from below / further around.

I was fascinated as always by the lights at night, so I did not take just the few pictures I had been planning to try, and had not the opportunity to take more than one reflection... But the idea went out quite well and I will surely try this method again, on a future rainy day ;-)

Below my first try with Notre-Dame, the magnificent cathedral that is famous across almost all countries in the world - and another picture from a similar night so that it does not feel too lonely here:

Notre-Dame Cathedral


Street lights

On a rainy day

Though the weather has not been so cold for the season, we've had a lot of rainy days recently - not a good time for photography... Unless you get the chance to take a closer look at raindrops that came hanging at every leaf or outdoor object. 

And yet, the sky and nature are so sad, that it is not always possible to get an interesting color assortment! I'm eagerly longing for Spring now :-)

A few picture of my most recent trips around my place:

Multi-colored pavement

Frozen lake

Reflections in a small pond

Photo mash-up #5

I haven't been following the Catchy Colors contest for quite a while... I must give it some time on the following days :-)

In the meantime: a photo mash-up about the color BEIGE (stone beige here, more precisely)!

Happy beige day :-)

Macro or not macro

Whenever I take photos of very close objects, and/or with a large DOF, I feel attracted to the prospect of getting a macro lens :-) 

My only fear is that if I had to swap lenses, I would be much bothered about the dust or any king of particles that could get on the sensor (problem that I've experienced very recently ^^). Of course, I could get the appropriate material to clean it on my own - yet, is the benefit worth the trouble? Can I manage without an additional lens? 

To buy, or not to buy - that is the question: whether 'tis wiser to change my 50mm over...
(I don't think so, for the moment!)

Light ray on moss


Through the wires


A ram's head?

Evanescent shadows

Some shadowy twigs and branches that were shaken around by the wind over a silent lake, on a cloudy and rainy morning...

What a mysterious - even unsettling - atmosphere!

Stem shadows


Shadow of a maple tree fruit


Leafy shadow

Lost phone

On another day during my time in the Deux-Sèvres, I went on a quite long trip over hill and dale on my (wheel-fixed) bicycle - a lot much further than I had planned. And here again, I had a share of (light) misfortune. How Typical!

As I wanted to have a closer look at the beautiful countryside surrounding me, I climbed on a fence made of some barbed wires - no need to say that I got my feet trapped in it and consequently fell on my back... And as I ran away from the place, for shame that someone could have witnessed the stupid accident, it was only 1 hour later, reaching home, that I discovered my phone was missing :-(

I had to make the trip again in the reverse direction, checking every bit of the way, until I reached the barbed wires place - of course, there it was! A lot of exercise therefore but quite worth it, for the view which was really nice :-)

Misty morning


Mist on the road


Into the meadow

Bicycle trouble

My time in the Deux-Sèvres was (surprisingly, as you might think) far from being boring: besides having a sunny weather which allowed me to spend a lot of time walking and cycling, I happened to get into quite a lot of (little) troubles ;-)

On the first day after I arrived, a highly colored sunrise drove me out of my bed early; as I was eager to discover what had changed in the area, I quickly settled for a little trip all around with my old bicycle. Alas! Endeavoring to follow what I thought was a shortcut to where I was headed, I made the wheel bump into a particularly sharp stone which left me with a giant hole in my bicycle inner tube (of course I had no spare piece with me). I had to walk all the way back, carrying my bike up and down the hills...

A nice way to get a closer look at everything, though!

Stinging nettle


Under the wind


Fallen leaf

Colors of magic

Some pictures of the most wonderful sunrises that I've seen in 2015!

Bathed in sunshine


Bright cold light

Blood red sky

Xmas time

With the wonderful weather we had for Christmas, I hope you've had the opportunity (if you enjoy it as much as I do) to take a stroll across some piece of countryside in your favorite area!

I was very happy to be able to visit my family hometown (rather home-hamlet, truly speaking) in the Deux-Sèvres area, where I hadn't been for more than a year. This is an exceedingly nice place, where you can find many a beautiful village, with old houses and their exposed stone walls, or small fields surrounded by thick bushes and trees - and even wild animals (OK, nothing more exciting than the local cow, sheep, duck, dog or cat). It felt incredibly nice to me, being somehow 'reunited' with my childhood countryside :-)

I've taken so many pictures from there, endeavoring to collect memories of this treasured place, that I will have to post several articles to show you everything that I love there; some first ones to begin with!

Sunrise over the fields


Misty way home


A path into the fog

Botany enthusiast

Winter is certainly not the most appropriate season for 'botanising', however I'm really feeling like going around gathering samples - leaves, fruits, maybe some late flowers? - and determining which plant they belong to :-)

I'll definitely set up an expedition one day or another with my Bonnier flora determining book - very soon to be sure!

A leaf

A fruit

Or a flower?

Trees and twigs

Are you planning to have a Christmas tree this year?

I don't, and I feel a bit sad about it... But this isn't something that you can easily fit into a small apartment. Unless you choose a tiny plastic one or a single branch maybe. Anyway, people keep saying that I'm too enthusiastic about the coming Christmas - being an adult and all.

So as a way to comfort myself a bit after this huge disappointment (;-D), I've taken some pictures of trees and branches and twigs - happy Christmas tree installation!

Pine cones


Christmas decorations

Pine tree

Food tour

As a true lover of Asian food (easily noticeable from the previous posts...), I would like to gather here some of the best Asian meals I've tried while in Paris :-)

Unfortunately, since I have had my sweet camera for a few months only, some of my favorite dishes are not among the ones I have shot yet. I'll make a list of what is missing and try to collect more photos... For instance, during a future random challenge? (still to be set up - hem, I've been far too lazy recently)

Here are a few of the most funny Asian meals that I've tried recently. Quite a lot of pictures for a single article actually^^ and I definitely need to add other Asian countries as well!

Banh mi dac biet, VIETNAM

Pho bo, VIETNAM

Okonomiyaki, JAPAN

Ramen, JAPAN

Loc lac rice, VIETNAM

A blue gift

Now that Christmas is almost here, the highly feared present quest is to begin - and sometimes, that implies offering gifts to people you don't know well enough. Especially on the occasion of your company's Christmas celebration party!

As I'm hopelessly under-inspired by the theme that was selected this year (blue...), I think I'll stay with merely cooking some nice & simple little cookies with a pinch of blue food coloring. And maybe shape a small paper box (a blue one, of course) that I could put the biscuits into?

Seems that I'll end up giving quite much thought to this project ;-)

Abandoned pen

Scribbles and scrap of paper

Designing the model