Practice Blog #6

Since this year's announcement several folks joined the email subscription list...welcome aboard!  It is truly the easiest & best way to follow.  I promise not to clog up your Inbox with useless stuff altho these practice blogs are less than optimum.

Before heading out to Paris, we're going to Virginia to visit son Jeff & his family.  Will probably post a bit from there.

Google Earth has a feature called "Street View".  It's been controversial...they drive down streets with 180º video cams, recording everything, not asking anyone's permission.  If you crossed in front of their vehicle with your girlfriend & your wife doesn't know, thems the breaks.

It turns out Paris is very well video documented.  Using our address, it was possible to take a screen shot of our apartment building, above a storefront like those in the photo.  That I'm not going to show; I don't think posting a photo on the Internet of where you're living is a good idea.  But, if you were standing in the street near our apartment & looking towards Place de la Bastille, here's what you'd see:

As planned, we're very close to the Place featuring our good friend the July Column commemorating a revolution in July 1830.  France's 1789 revolution, storming of the Bastille, etc. is the most famous.   But it turns out France in the 19th century had lots of subsequent revolutions.

This neighborhood is not exactly beautiful.  For classic Parisian residential beauty, you need to move way up in price & over to other arrondissments.  For getting the real Paris experience, this is the place.

Per Google's note at the bottom the photo was taken in February 2009 on a typically dreary Parisian winter day.

Today's my day at Sky Harbor airport, gots to run.  See you later.

Practice Blog #5

I will be sending out my blog notice in the next day or two. You, my loyal followers are already signed up email-wise.

One of the ladies I volunteered with at Sky Harbor Airport, Laurie, is a REAL Parisite. She spends her summers in Paris & is there now. (We'll be meeting up for lunch when we're there) She also loves to take photos & posts a few on her Facebook wall. She's quite good, actually. Her composition is spot on.

She does some of her shots in black & white. Remember that from the old days? Mostly abandoned once Kodacolor & Kodachrome came out. You only shot B&W when you wanted super fast film...remember Tri-X? But I digress.

Well, with a few mouse clicks in photo processing software you can have any digital color photo in B&W.

Here is one of her shots taken this summer, grabbed from her FB wall:

And that's not her best shot by a long shot.

This is a classic pic I took last year down the Champs Elysees from Place de la Concorde looking towards the Arc de Triomphe all the way out to La Défence, site of that famous inverted U skyscraper of which we can see the horizontal leg inside the Arc.

And here it is in B&W. It changes the character of the shot...has an ageless, more reminiscent feel to it. If it weren't for the modern cars in the foreground, you'd think it was taken 50-60 years ago.

The left turn signal of the car on the right is distracting.  It would be easy to Photoshop that out.  The red light above the bus is distracting in the color shot, but not in B&W.







I will be trying out B&W when we get there. It's not suitable for every photo. I hope I can choose correctly. Won't bore you with both versions, will do one or the other.