Insect ballet

With Spring coming and the trees blossoming everywhere, of course, there are also lots of insects around.

At first feeling slightly annoyed at them (not that I'm so afraid of stings but well... not that fun either...), I decided to try and take a few pictures.

Not so easy though ,they were moving so fast! It was a real insect ballet up there :-D

Ballet dancer mosquito


Pollination dance


Light footed choregraphy

Fabric stores

Among other places, I really enjoy having a stroll around some streets near Montmartre, just below the Sacré-Cœur Basilica.

That is because you can find lots of fabric stores in the area, with their wonderfully colorful pieces of fabric that are shown every two meters. They are sure to lure me into coming closer and brushing the soft fabric samples with a light hand.

Even if you might not be interested in fabric and pattern as much as I am, don't you agree the colors just feel so nice to look at? ;-)

Vichy print fabric


All fabric rolls in a row


Liberty print fabric

Jiaozu heap

Having noticed a jiaozu-specialized store (Chinese version of the Japanese gyoza - though I don't know from where the recipe originates), I couldn't help trying 'a few' of these marvelous little things.

This heap of various little jiaozu delighted my camera more than my stomach, yet it was still a very nice thing to test :-)

Almost too beautiful to be eaten...

Jiaozu with garlic & chili pepper sauce


Jiaozu with meat and vegetables filling


A heap of jiaozu

Spring in pink

A couple of doors away from my home some trees were blossoming, casting on the surrounding walls a colorful wave of white and pink shades.

The wind was blowing the little petals away, and though it was a very nice and delicate thing to view, it did not help with the picture taking at all!

Spring in pink

Pink frame

Scattered by the wind

Photo mash-up #9

With all the beautiful colors that I got during my last macro attempt, I have set my mind on a new photo mash-up: today theme will be PINK!
Not a new theme, yet the pink colors are a tad more vibrant this time :-)

Hope you'll enjoy the pictures!

Happy pink day :-)

Zooming in

It is truly incredible how a macro lens can change the way you see anything :-)

As it allows you to get a 'zoom in' view of all objects, you get to notice details that would never have been able to perceive before.

Flower petals, leaf veins, or tiny plants surfacing on the pavement...

Make your choice!

White, yellow and black

Zoom on a new leaf

Spring urge

Forest hike

Challenge of the day: walk across the Fontainebleau forest, from the Fontainebleau RER station to the next station! That was quite a big walk, but a really nice though :-)

I had brought my camera with me, equipped with the 50mm lens (still the most practical lens to carry around) and even if I did not have the opportunity to take a lot of pictures, the view was truly enchanting. Trees were not garnished with little green buds yet, but there was already some new flowers - and Spring was definitely in the air.

So, a few forest pictures - to change from flowers!

Solemn tree-lined path


Up the hill


Tall grass


Last Winter colors before Spring

Macro urge

Macro, macro, when you hold us...

On a very sunny day, coming across a beautiful garden with lots of beautiful flowers, I could but feel enthralled at the sight of those wonderful colors.

But I still have difficulty managing the focus area: with such a tiny spot and such a blurry background, it is really hard to get the sharpness where I want to.

Here are a few of my favorite ones!

Pink and white

Outburst of colors

Flying away

Macro attempt

Hooray!!!

I've just had the opportunity to try out the Sony 90mm 2.8 macro lens that my friend had bought some days before. And - OMG - I'm so thrilled with it!

This lens is tremendously sharp; besides, it's a macro lens so you can lean muuuch closer to your subject. And you can even see details like leaf veins, threads of fabric, or even dust particles.

As it was my first try with this macro lens (which weights more than 600g...) I had some difficulties setting a clean focus where I wanted to, and since the light was that good either, if was not easy for me to hold the camera and shoot without moving too much. In addition to that, the wind didn't help, with all the blossoms and leaves fluttering around...

In short: an absolutely delightful lens, though I still have to work on it if I want to take full advantage of its capabilities!

I cross my fingers, and hope I can get my hands on this lens a few - I mean, a lot more times :-D

Buds in green atmosphere


Opening daisy petals


Some pink and green flowers

Spring urge

Now that we are reaching March, I can't wait for Spring to come at last!

I've been missing the opening buds on the trees, the colorful flowers by the roadside, the buzzing insects and everything which comes with the warmer temperature and the bright sunbeams, and for quite some time now.

It's definitely time to begin enjoying Nature again; I need to think about new photography subjects and interesting places to go to within the few next weeks!

Some green pictures from last summer to set the mood :-)

White umbrella

Red bark

Yellow stripes

Photo mash-up #8

I felt like making a new photo mash-up (even though the last one was but a few days ago...) so here, a new theme which is not a color this time: NARROW STREETS!

How about a stroll in Paris old streets & passageways?

 

 

Happy passageways day :-)

Doorknobs

I really enjoy photographing close objects; for instance, small items like doorknobs.

In any case, I just love photographing doors :-). They evoke a sort of  mysterious atmosphere, maybe because of my having read too many of fantasy & sci-fi  novels (the parallel worlds or portal things, I guess ;-D).

So, here are a few doorknobs of varied shapes and colors:

Sculpted metal

 Rusted doorknob

Hand-shaped

Blossoms

Though I'm supposed - from my somewhat Biology background ;-) - to have some knowledge in Botany and more especially in botanical determination of plants & trees.

However, when I came across those early February blossoms it got me confused and I am not even sure of which kind of tree they belonged to: was it a plum tree? A cherry tree? Or even an apple tree?

My guess is a plum tree, but correct me if I'm wrong :-)

Blossoms in blue and white


Bokeh and blossoms


Blossom and blue sky


Blurry atmosphere

Photo mash-up #7

Today theme is BLUE!
Be it blue sky or blue water...

 

 
Happy blue day :-)

Snowdrop

Spring is coming! 

Wandering today in a small forest nearby, I was delighted to come across some beautiful and delicate snowdrop flowers. 

They were all gathered on a patch of grass, slightly away from the most frequently followed paths and bathing in the early sunset light that was filtered through by the surrounding trees.

What a refreshing view for all nature lovers :-)

Snowdrop flower


Snowdrop bokeh


Eerie atmosphere