Tuesday 22 November 2005 @ 1:04 am
Ma femme qui travaille sur mon Canonet. J'aime beaucoup les photos de petites mains travailleuses :-)
This is my wife working on my Canonet. I like these kind of pictures, just showing hands.
Technorati tags: canonet, hands
Friday 18 November 2005 @ 3:18 am
J'ai realise durant mon voyage au Japon conbien il etait difficile de visiter le pays sans guide. Tout est en Japonais bien sur et ils ne parlent que tres peu l'anglais. J'ai eu la chance d'avoir le meilleur guide de tout Tokyo. Notre amie Ingrid a pris une semaine de conge et m'a fait visite Tokyo et les environs ! Elle parle tres bien le Japonais, connait la region et possede une moto qui est parfaite pour la visite d'une metropole comme Tokyo. En resume, un super guide !! Cette photo a ete prise a Nara dans un pub typique. On a fini bien bourre et passe une excellent soiree !!!
I’ve realized that visiting Japan without a guide could be quite a bit challenging. Japanese is of course the main reason if you can’t read/speak it and most people don’t speak english. I was fortunate to have the best guide in town ! My good friend Ingrid took a week off and took me everywhere ! She speaks fluently and knows the area pretty well. And have a motorcycle which is perfect to visit Tokyo. Anyway, this was the best guide I could dream of ! 
This picture was actually taken in Nara while we were enjoying a nice evening in a typical Japanese pub. I thin we ended up drunk though 
Technorati tags: Japan, Tokyo, guide, nara, pub
Friday 18 November 2005 @ 3:02 am
Cette photo est mon entree pour le concours PhotoFriday de cette semaine sur le theme de l'imperfection. Photo prise dans la ville fantome de Bodie en Californie. De superbes couleurs dans cette ville et de nombreuses opportunites pour ceux qui aiment la photo !
This is my entry for this week PhotoFriday challenge. This was taken in the ghost town of Bodie, California. Beautiful color in this odd city with plenty of photographic opportunity !
Technorati tags: Imperfection, bodie, ghost+town, California
Tuesday 15 November 2005 @ 3:46 am
I’ve posted some black and white shots (XP2) taken with my Canon f/1.2. As you can see, results are on par with color: Great bokeh and acceptable contrast. This one is a shot of my good friend Alex from califoto.com who is playing with his newly acquired Canon QL17 (I sold it to him ! But don’t worry, I have another one )Other pictures can be seen in the review here
Technorati Tags : Canon f/1.2
Sunday 13 November 2005 @ 4:24 am
After Manon at 3200 iso, here is Manon at f/1.2 I’ve acquired a Canon LTM f/1.2 from 1963 and I’m having a lot of fun with it. I’ve written a quick initial report here
I’ll post additional pictures and thoughts on this lens later this week
Technorati Tags : Canon f/1.2
Saturday 12 November 2005 @ 6:43 pm
One of my wish when visiting Japan was to be able to sleep in a monastery and understand a little better the life of the monks living there. Well, thanks to my dear guide, I was able to do so. She surprised me in Kyoto and we ended spending the night at this very famous Monastery (maybe she’ll read this entry and give the name of the place
) The next morning, we were able to attend their daily ceremony where they recite mantra during 30 minutes. It was a real magic moment. Their voice, the atmosphere, the light … Everything was perfect. I’ve tried to capture a bit of this moment … Light was very dim but I was able to get a few decent shot. Here are two.
Technorati Tags : Monk, Kyoto, Monastery
Friday 11 November 2005 @ 2:31 am
This is my entry for this week PhotoFriday challenge: Worn. This was taken in 2003 in Hawai. I believe I was using my Canon Elan 7e as well.
Technorati Tags : worn, canon, Hawai
Thursday 10 November 2005 @ 3:48 am
I don’t like cat. I don’t knopw why and I don’t care to know why ! I really feel they don’t bring anything to this world. They’re not even part of the food chain … Well maybe in some asian country they might enjoy it as a delicacy
… But I do find them photogenic. It’s very difficult to miss a picture of a cat. So, here is mine. From my old collection of pictures. Taken with my Elan 7e and the great Canon 85mm f/1.8
Technorati Tags : cats, canon, 85mm
Tuesday 8 November 2005 @ 2:27 am
It’s been a while since you haven’t seen my daughter. So here you go ! But at the same time, I wanted to share my technic for 3200 ISO pictures. This one was taken with My Canonet QL17 at 3200 ISO. As you can see, the grain is fairly light and very manageable. Here is my recipe: Tri-x 400 pushed at 3200, souped in Rodinal 1:50 at 20 degres for 33 minutes. 30 initial agitation and then 3 inversion every 5 minutes. It’s a very reliable development and results should be very consistant. If you try this recipe, please let me know ! I’d love to see it used by someone else !
Technorati Tags : tri-x, 3200, rodinal
Saturday 5 November 2005 @ 2:35 pm
As promised, here is the Daibustu which live in the largest wooden structure in the world !) It reminds me that I need to post an actual picture of the place … I still haven’t scanned my color picture (16 rolls ! I hope you like Japan …
) but they will be up soon !
Technorati Tags : Statue, woman
Wednesday 2 November 2005 @ 2:36 am
This was a small statue in my friend’s house. She was there by herself on the table, contemplating life as a statue I guess
Anyway, I kind of liked it and thought she deserves a space on this blog. So here she is !
Sunday 30 October 2005 @ 10:41 pm
Of course school is fun when you visit the largest wooden building in the world ! This was in Nara, Japan. There, you’ll find the Daibustu-Den which is where reside a huge Daibustu (Ok, I’ll post a picture of the Daibutsu later this week, stay tuned !
) The place was packed with kids studying for the day this great national treasure.
Wednesday 26 October 2005 @ 12:01 am
These 2 shots were taken in Nara which was on our way to Kyoto. I recommend everybody visiting Japan to stop by this wonderful city. There is so much to discover. At the end of our day, we ended up around some hundred of temple (which is not all that surprising in Japan) and this one was above a magnifient park. It was sundawn, and this guy was taking care of cleaning off this bowl were you’re supposed to get purified (with encent …). He fit perfectly with the atmosphere … At some point, we had some eye contact and without any saying I understood that he was okay for me to take his picture … Most Japanese are by the way. Which gives some good opportunity !!
Friday 21 October 2005 @ 2:00 am
This is my entry for this week PhotoFriday’s challenge. This was really a tough for me since I had a bunch of material for it. But I’ve settled on that one which I really like. This was taken in an old house in Stinson Beach, CA were we had rented a house with some friends. There was a nice atmosphere in this house and the light was just amazing. This chair, piano, flag were a given. In black and white it brings me back years earlier were everything was maybe a bit simpler.
Wednesday 19 October 2005 @ 11:09 pm
Back to Japan !! This was taken in an amanzing building which was, as far as I understood, some sort of convention center. The architecture was based on a boat. Lighting was carefully studied to give a very futuristic look to the structure. I was almost transported into BladeRunner ! I spent something like 25 minutes, looking mostly up, amazed at this marvel.
Monday 17 October 2005 @ 12:45 am
I wanted to take a break from my picture from Japan. So here you are !! A picture from Mexico where we spent a week with my wife and some good firends !! A lot of travel picture this month on 400iso !
This was in a restaurant. They had some basket on a ceiling. Don’t ask me why … I don’t know the purpose of these. The just make a good picture imho
Friday 14 October 2005 @ 1:56 am
It’s pretty difficult not to take a picture in a Japanese garden in Tokyo. Even more difficult, not taking picture of a bridge in a Japanese garden. Well, here is my contribution to this week Photo Friday’s challenge: Conspicious.
Wednesday 12 October 2005 @ 11:52 pm
Another shot from the same day. This guy was preparing some sole for a customer. These sole are still alive. He cuts both the tail and the head. The fish is still alive at this point. He then takes a long stick of metal, put that in the fish body and pull it very fast to cut the vertabrae. At this point the fish should be gone … Most of the time
Wednesday 12 October 2005 @ 11:50 pm
I had the chance to visit the largest fish market in Tokyo: The Tsukiji. It’s an amazing place where mostly professional can get any kind of fish in any quantity. It was very interesting to see them preparing the fish (especially the huge tuna they had …) and some kind of fish that I didn’t know existed
Not that I am a fish specialist. In any case, if you have the chance to go to Tokyo this is a must do.
Tuesday 11 October 2005 @ 12:16 am
Another shot from the funeral. This guy was playing the rather odd instrument which can produce aproximately 2 sounds but had a huge musical partition in front of him. Well I guess I know nothing about music … It was quite funny anyway.
Monday 10 October 2005 @ 1:31 am
Another picture from the same night. As you can see, this is indeed very relax.
Technorati Tags : Tokyo, Izakaya, Japan
Monday 10 October 2005 @ 1:28 am
This was taken during my first day in Tokyo. These are awsome little restaurants called Izakaya where you can eat some very simple food with some beer. Nothing fancy but the astmosphere is so relax and casual. It reminds me in a way of Tapas restaurant in Spain. These small restaurants were located right under the train tracks ! Very interesting setting … Anyway, it was the perfect place to start my trip …
Note: All my black and white picture from Japan are taken with my Leica M3 and a VC 50mm f/1.5 with Neopan 400. The color pictures (which will come this week …) were taken using my Leica M6 and 50mm Summicron with either Fuji Reala or Fuji NPH 400.
Technorati Tags : Tokyo, Izakaya, Japan
Friday 7 October 2005 @ 3:01 am
This is my entry for this week PhotoFriday’s challenge “Five”. This was taken during my trip to Japan. We were visiting a temple (one of the few …) when a funeral started ! We’ve stayed and discovered their own way to say good bye … Note: Ok I have to admit, we see 6 monks on the pictures … But … But … C’mon !!!!!
Technorati Tags : Japan, temple, funeral, budhism, tokyo
Friday 7 October 2005 @ 12:51 am
Same place as the previous picture but a little bit to the right. A soccer field !!! They seemed to have a lot of fun. I was a bit surprised … But hey .. This is Japan right ?
Friday 7 October 2005 @ 12:47 am
I’m finally back from Japan where I spent 10 fantastic days. Shot 26 rolls of film. Couldn’t be happier
You can expect a LOT of pictures from this trip. So stay tune ! Here is the first one which is the most famous crossing in Tokyo in a very hype neighboord. Too bad I couldn’t climb on that hotel on a Saturday. You’re supposed to get 10 times that many people …
Friday 19 August 2005 @ 7:48 pm
This is a picture of my brother that I took a couple of years ago with a Sigma 24mm on a Canon body. Don’t get scared, he was just acting crazy, but it does fit really well with the personality of the guy
Anyway, I wanted him on my photoblog since he’s an important figure in my life.
Wednesday 17 August 2005 @ 1:39 am
This is a picture of my daughter taken this spring when we went with a bunch of friends Stinson Beach. Yes her face is blurry since I was focusing on her finger and was wide open … I thought I was on the same focus plane. But I really like the light on this one. I hope you like it too !
Sunday 14 August 2005 @ 2:12 am
This is my entry for this week PXITE challenge “Eye” ( Here). This was taken last year in a mall in San Francisco.
Saturday 13 August 2005 @ 2:16 am
This is my entry for this week’s Photo Friday challenge (”Purple”). This is an old shot of mine, taken with a Canon G2. A friend of mine offered me a flashing multi-color pen (!) that I’ve waved in front of the camera (on a tripod) for 8 seccond. Interesting results !! That’s something I like about digital. Being able to test stuff like that without worrying too much about film cost. I wouldn’t try that one with my Leica
picture of the day @ Mute: Leonard.
Tuesday 9 August 2005 @ 11:36 pm
I’m always a bit hesitant taking picture of painting. After all, the real art is in the painting, not the photograph of the painting. But I like to share what I see, what I experience … And I wanted to share a small painting I saw the other day in San Francisco. Very colorful .. It really drew my attention.
