Sigma 20mm 1.8

Copper Pond

*Copper Pond*
Canon 7D

Let me tell you about my late beanbag. For nearly five years I used the same beanbag made of a packet of dried chickpeas in two sealed ziplocks. It was fantastic and allowed me to do these kinds of really low on the ground long exposures. Sadly, it was confiscated when I went to New Zealand on holiday since it was considered a food import. Oh well, it’ll cost me $2 to get a new one using the same method! Anyway, sunset, a puddle of water captures in the rocks but also the sea in the background, and a great kind of metallic rusty look on the rocks themselves. It was bound to work.

Bir Hakeim Bridge

*Bir Hakeim Bridge*
Canon 7D

Sometimes you don’t do long expos for specific effects like freezing water or light trails, sometimes you just do them because it’s dark and you want pin sharp focus and low ISO. This was the case here. In fact, looking back, I’m so lucky to have had this shot: this spot is very favoured by wedding photographers and it’s very rare that there isn’t some sort of shoot going on. There was that night, but they were behind me!

 

The Quiet of the Blue Hour

*The Quiet of the Blue Hour*
Canon 7D

Lately I’ve been revisiting some old photos I never published. This is a very long exposure (60s) from 2011. I haven’t experimented with super long exposures as much as I should have, as this shot proves (I think). Also, the blue hour is really interesting: once the sun has set there’s still some light (depending on latitude) for a while, but it turns blue, hence the name. Quite evident here, the picture looks split-toned but it’s not, these are slightly tweaked colours as they were captured by the sensor.

Charango Salesman

Charango Salesman
Canon 7D

The charango is a wonderful little guitar like instrument with lots of strings for its body size. I wanted to buy one in La Paz for my son who plays guitar, and so walked into this store. I asked the salesguy if he would demonstrate the sound differences between the various models, and he seemed more than happy to be photographed in the process.

Under the Deep Blue Sky

Under the Deep Blue Sky
Canon 7D

The Altiplano is so high that the sky is a deep deep blue and the light is super harsh. This makes lit whites super white (as on the left here) and shadows super dark (as in the middle and the right). Our Lady of Copacabana is all whitewashed, but when I got there, late morning, not all of it was lit, causing these stark contrasts that I like.

Selling Crisps

Selling Crisps
Canon 7D

I read somewhere that when the Spanish arrived in South America the Inca had over 50 species of fruit and vegetables they commonly ate where the Europeans fared on 4 or 5. We forget it too easily, but tomatoes, potatoes and many of our modern food comes from South America. In Copacabana there was a wet market with dozens of varieties of potatoes I had never seen, and the widest range of crisps (corn, potatoes and probably much else besides) I had ever seen. I even bought a sack of corn crisps to bring back to La Paz!

Dehli Commuting

Dehli Commuting
Canon 7D, 32mm, f/5.6, 1/100s, ISO 400

Taking tuktuks in India or Thailand can be scary, but it’s also a unique way to experience the city. I just love it. At the back of Surinder’s tuktuk in Dehli I kept trying to shoot him in his mirror and this shot was the best one I got. I really like it.

Not Made for Normal

 

Not Made for Normal
Canon A2, 20mm, f/8, 1/60s,  ISO 100
Film : Provia 100F

I’ve only recently started composing using wide-angle opportunities offered by street adverts. This one was shot during my film period after my digital camera got stolen and before my new digital camera was purchased.

Brussels in Colour

Brussels in Colour
Canon 7D, 32mm, f/11, 15s, ISO 400

Brussels is a beautiful and fantastic city, cosmopolitan, architecturally and culturally exciting, great to walk around and full of lovely and interesting people. This week I will be posting only photos of Brussels. This is the Grand Place. I didn’t have a tripod, but I had my beanbag with me so I set it on the curb and shot a 15s exposure. It doesn’t normally look that empty!

Le Herisson

Le Hérisson
Canon EOS 7D, 32mm,  f/11, 1/4s, ISO 100

Recently, while discussing potential prints of flowing water with a client, I realised that I had never posted this photo on my blog. This was shot in the Jura mountains, and I love the near painting quality it has. It was during this session I realised that with rushing water I didn’t need long exposure times to get the amount of motion blur in the water that I like. I used a variant edit of this shot to illustrate my Long Exposure Tutorial.