Color – A Visual Notebook…

When Fall meet Winter

Jean-Michel — Tue, 21 Apr 2020 16:25:33 +0000

It was a clear sky week-end, just after temperature started to drop.

Mid-mountain had just received its first snow, earlier than usual, and the low morning light was bringing out fall foliage colors from the monochrome background.

After a few weeks of a comfortable and connected kind of hibernation, it seems I’m not the only one waiting to look around again with a big smile on my face, and that might be a good news…

Irish clouds

Jean-Michel — Tue, 14 Jan 2020 07:15:00 +0000

One of the most recurring sentences I keep hearing from people who manifest a basic interest for photography relate to weather: “Not a good time for photo, there is no sun” or “It’s a sunny day, let’s take some photos”.

Sure, when sky is flat, with a light gray and no directional light, any landscape might look flat and boring.

But a deep cloudy sky, even with no visible ray of light, can bring character to a scene, adding volume and depth to the landscape and creating a special atmosphere…

Ireland is one of these countries where you feel the elements as much as you see them…

Stay outside, and photography becomes a physical experience…

Sligo, Ireland
Maum, Ireland

Summer dusk on Charles’ river

Jean-Michel — Fri, 03 Jan 2020 07:09:31 +0000

Recently I did not had/took a lot of opportunities to practice photography as I used to do when I was abroad…It seems quite usual to be more lazy when back home, the typical “I-have-time, I-can-take-that-picture-tomorrow” syndrome..

I’ll try to do better in 2020…But in the meantime, I still have some archive to explore, like these two views of Boston and Cambridge, MA..

The Dahlia’s Iris

Jean-Michel — Wed, 22 May 2019 12:15:14 +0000

Continuation of the previous post, focusing on the subtle details of the flower’s core and its multiple layers…

Kaleidoscope

Jean-Michel — Tue, 21 May 2019 12:09:00 +0000

When reviewing my photo library the other day, it was obvious flowers are not my primary source of inspiration :-).

Long ago, I used an amaryllis bud for a studio session … and that’s all!

Well, until that visit to a botanic garden in Italia…where I was the amazed spectator of a show I never saw before (we all have our gaps!): multiple varieties of dahlias and other complex flowers with just incredible colors and details…

Hopefully, the 105mm macro lens was in my bag…

Peaceful

Jean-Michel — Sun, 12 May 2019 06:19:00 +0000

It was one of these foggy days where everything seems to fade to white. Being in Acadia National Park only for a few days, we left our small cabin for an early walk around Jordan Pond.

Apart a couple of humans and some deers, we were alone in the world.

Among various images captured that day, the one with the simplest composition is bringing back the quiet feeling of that moment…

Landscape and Portrait

Jean-Michel — Sat, 12 Jan 2019 08:32:27 +0000

When photography started to be an important part in my life, I had the chance to become friend with a photographer who created a school for photojournalists in the 80’s. I still remember all the precious advices I learned from him, in particular one universal enough to be useful everyday: taking always both landscape and portrait views of a subject.

As it is not possible to know upfront the photo layout of a news article, providing both format was a way for the photographer to avoid the editor to later crop the image.

Even if sometimes it sounds obvious to use a landscape or a portrait orientation, forcing yourself to turn the camera and find a good composition is a good exercice…

It’s what I tried to do that hot summer afternoon, while sitting on the wood bridge close to the lighthouse of Marathon, in the Keys (Florida)…

Morning Winter light

Jean-Michel — Sun, 09 Dec 2018 10:02:22 +0000

The hotel was a few hundred meters from my destination, so I decided to walk.

It was a windy day, clouds were approaching quickly. Car park was just behind me when a ray of light changed the whole landscape. I had time to take only two pictures before the sun was gone…

This working day close to Munich was already a good one..

Slow Waves

Jean-Michel — Fri, 16 Nov 2018 10:51:46 +0000

First post after a long period with so little time, as an attempt to calm the pace …

Fluid wave movements become cotton lines, a white yacht catches a ray of light.

I feel my mind working like the shutter, slowly…and I enjoy it.

Self -ie or -portrait ?

Jean-Michel — Tue, 17 Apr 2018 09:18:14 +0000

Yesterday, to experiment a simple light setup (one large but directional light on top of the subject), I had no other model to play with, but myself.

Looking at results, I wondered… Are these images selfies or self-portraits ?

What a fundamental question: which difference between self-portrait and selfie !

According to the significant number of pages trying to give an undisputable answer , the image intent is considered as the main differentiator.

Are we just taking a picture of ourselves ? Or do we have an intention (artistic, politic,…) ? Interestingly enough, image quality doesn’t seems to matter…

So, now that the definition is clear…should I consider the image below as a selfie or a self-portrait ?