Photo mash-up #4

Following the current color contest again, today theme will be: RED AND WHITE!

Quite a nice choice of colors actually, with everyone being busy with their Christmas preparations at the moment.

Here are some pictures that I took in front of restaurants in a passageway at night; the red and white colors are everywhere once you start looking for them...

Happy red day :-)

Okonomiyaki

For some time already, I had been planning to eat a special Japanese delicacy that some friends of mine had glowingly spoken about: okonomiyaki (literally 'grilled whatever-you-want' dish). 

This is a kind of omelette or savory pancake, made from various ingredients mixed into an egg and flour batter. Among them, you will find grated yam (or some equivalent species), bonito flakes (which give the impression of being somehow alive, because they keep waving under the steam streams), shredded cabbage, some meat, etc...

I finally tried it today at a restaurant in the Paris Japanese area (around the 1st arrondissement), where I had once gone in vain some weeks ago (...of course it was closed on Sundays). Despite quite a long time queuing outside in the cold, then inside in a over-heated room, the trip was definitely worth it. Honestly okonomiyaki is not that much special, it's probably something that you would manage to do by yourself with your own ingredients, yet this was very good and funny to eat.

Some pictures before I try cooking this by myself (might be far less attractive and photogenic)...

The okonomiyaki cook

Yummy-looking okonomiyaki

Some side-dish that I tried

Photo mash-up #3

Well, quite a lot of water has been flowing under the bridge (as we say in French) since I posted the latest photo mash-up. 

So now is the time to launch a new one: and today theme will be DOGS! 

I know, it's usually (...the previous two selections) about colors, but let's extend the scope a bit :-) 

Happy woof day :-)

Bleu Blanc Rouge

Terrible news in Paris, following previous events in France and other countries...

Bleu (blue)

Blanc (white)

Rouge (red)

Rasta colors

I've been featured in Catchy Colors weekly themed contest!

However I'm not quite happy with the green yellow red colors in the picture. It took me quite a while to get the right colors in the frame, as the colors were generated by some color-changing lights under a bridge and I had only a very narrow point of view without cars in front of me. The 50mm objective did not help either, I had to stand at the middle of the road while attempting to capture the colors! In the end, quite a stressful and tiring moment...

I'd rather have had some other pictures in the selection, but I guess I'll have to find more original ideas first ;-)

Selected: Rasta (green-yellow-red) colors

New weekly theme: purple and green

Random challenge

It's incredible how surprisingly inspiring the metro is, when you are looking for ideas! Especially on long distance trips - that terrible moment when you get bored of your book, phone, or whatever you have been using for the past 30 minutes...

During one of those moments, discussing photography (somehow a default subject^^) with my friend, we came up with a new project idea, let's call it the random trip challenge: some days before (or the very day if in urgent need of photography), you take a map with the desired level of detail depending on the time you have and the means of transport that are available. Then, you point your finger at a random location (eyes firmly closed of course) and taadaaa! There you go for your next photography project.

All that remains is to try it!

Streets can be full of wonders...

...And contradictory perspectives!

How many laughed at it?

Inspiration

I've been thinking over something for quite a while: what could I explore now beside forests, mushrooms, chestnuts and all kinds of autumn features? It seems those have been the only subjects of my pictures for about 3 months or so... I'd like to find something new that could bring some originality to my Flickr photostream at least :-)

Alas, my best DIY source of inspiration is still building her blog (style and decorations should indeed matter since it's about DIY) and my photographer sensei has always been fonder of monuments than I am (even if I'm always filled with admiration at his architecture photos). Time to fly on my own wings and start a resolute subject hunt?

First I intended to look at different Flickr groups; Catchy Colors is by far my favorite (if some day I could get one of my pictures posted in the themed photos selection...). Anyway, there are many extremely beautiful pictures in this group, but I sort of feel embarrassed to copy anything - be it innocent fear that someone might reproach me for stealing their ideas, or maybe jealousy that I couldn't find it on my own.

So, where should I look for inspiration? I'll give it some time then and will definitely get back with an action plan. Brainstorm begins!

Outdoor scenery


Indoor item


Animal portrait

Halloween

Let's enjoy Halloween, with its vivid orange and black colors!

I'm absolutely not used to celebrating Halloween, and I had completely forgotten that kids might come that evening to gather candies - so I sort of escaped of my apartment and spent the evening outside, afraid that they might throw eggs at my door... Finally I'm not even sure anyone came knocking and asking for sweets. How sad. 

Next year first resolution: get better prepared for all year events in advance :-) 

 PS: and because I love DIY: have a pumpkin!

Halloween pumpkin

Orange leaves and black stem

Orange and black

Cooking experiment

Do you like roasted chestnuts? 

When autumn comes, this is a meal - or a snack - that I'm really eager to eat. However, I had always bought them at small stalls, in the streets, and had never endeavored to harvest and/or cook any - before last weekend.

Exploring one of the nearby forest (the one in Meudon) with my photography sensei, we came across tons and tons of chestnuts lying on the ground, which had visibly fallen just a couple of nights ago. It was truly amazing. So we began gathering some of them, then a bit more, and suddenly we had collected a whole bag of chestnuts and we could only focus of one thing: eat them at last :-)

Those terribly appealing chestnuts finally made their way to my home (fortunately they were less delicate than mushrooms, as I recall from some unfortunate past attempts), and from there, to my kitchen where we contemplated them for a while, drooling over the perspective of eating them. But how? We were not that thrilled at the idea of cooking them directly in the oven, for fear they might be too hard, so the only remaining solution was to boil them first - and roast them in the oven later on. 

Grabbing a pan and some water, we immediately implemented the idea; and hardly after half an hour of additional time in the oven, we had a bunch of home-cooked roasted chestnuts before our eyes! 

See how good-looking and appetizing they seem, don't they make your mouth water? 

Roasted chestnuts

Yummy chestnuts

Photo mash-up #2

Today theme will be: PINK!
Again, I have been inspired by recent Flickr weekly Catchy colors contest: next time I'll try and set a slightly more innovative subject...

Let's gather some pink pictures now:

Happy pink day :-)

Another forest

With colder temperatures settling in for some weeks already, I have felt slightly lazier and have not gone out as often as I would usually have during Summer. Yet the opportunity to see a friend gave me enough courage last Sunday to go and visit the forest of Meudon, which I had not visited yet.

Unfortunately the weather was terrible - at least for photography (grayish sky and all...). Luckily though there was no rain, so I was able to enjoy strolling around in this beautiful forest. As I had my camera with me, I tried to take a few pictures despite the lack of appealing lights, and, well, it was not quite as bad as I thought it would be: mushrooms, moss, chestnuts and dead leaves were there again to cheer me up, and they did help encourage my camera to wake up from its beginning of hibernation.

So, still a few forest pictures with already much-explored themes... But autumn season is so amazing, there would never be too many pictures celebrating it :-)

Opening chestnut husk

White mushrooms

Tree and twig

Photo mash-up #1

Well, I think I will follow Flickr blog Catchy Color themes as first ideas of Photo Mash-ups. Accordingly... let's begin with YELLOW! (color theme from two weeks ago already)

Let me know what you think of it :-)

Happy yellow day :-)

Let's innovate

You see, I usually organize articles in my blog in quite a static way: 3 or 4 photos gathered at the bottom of posts with a common topic. However, this definitely doesn't help photos be the main point of focus, since they can't get your first glance, don't you agree?

Therefore I think it's time to create a new era of articles where more accent is placed on photos (true purpose of my blog^^) with better mixing and/or homogeneity than can be done by just sorting pictures by date. I don't really have many ideas yet, but why not begin with colors, or subjects, or emotions, or the weather - something of the sort? Let's call it the 'photo mash-up' innovation! :-)

Coming soon...

PS: a picture of the remains of my poor basil - devoured from bud to leaf by a ferocious pasta eater :-)

My basil pot

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