it's been almost a month since I posted something here.
Actually I didn't take any picture I really liked, I guess photography is like averything,
it comes and goes.

there are a few picture from my walk on friday, in the parc de sceaux.

I already went there, and told myself that it was too much crowded to my tastes. I mean, I went during
the week end, so this explains the crowd...

During the week it's a totally different place. I now understand why it is one of the greatest parks in France.

It's so quiet that at the turn of a corner, you may meet with a squirrel, crossing the road!!

 taken in a bosquet, were people actually wait for the squirrel. The best feeling is when you stop moving, sit and hear the sounds of the little animals jumping in the dead leaves. Priceless!!

Portraits

I thought about gathering all my portraits picture,
in order to make some kind of "favorite" folder.

here are those i like the most :

Way to the otherland

hi there folks!

I've just wondered about the way people can understand
this blog name. It came after a talk with a friend of mine,
who told me "your universe is quite interesting". So this blog is
a walk throught my universe.

But in the same time, I began doing street photography,
leaving the "abstractual streetscape" aside. so It was no
"otherland" anymore.

My new goal is to keep with this theme : I'll focus more and more
on this side of my photography, in order to bring out what I feel about the
places I live in.

Diana camera, ilford HP5+ in rodinal.

Cinema festival, Paris

here are a few picture from last week end.

all are leica M2 pictures, shot on TMAX400.

great film, but without the crazy tones of Tri-X.

I'll try some other develloper, see if I can get anything better...

garage sales

Hi there,

These pictures are coming from a work on garage sales that I did during the year.

All are taken on film, with either a Nikon F2 or a leica M2, 50mm.

 Porte de Vanve, a saturday morning

 Porte de Vanve, the same day

Marines garage sales, France

film at last!

I've just got my hands on a film scanner!
so I just spend the afternoon scanning some film, to see these pictures
I took during the last month.

By the way, here are a few pictures taken with my Russian lense, a industar 61LD, 55mm F2,8
on a leica M2.

some new goals!!!

I haven't posted anything recently, mainly because I shoot much more
film thant digital at this point. The reason is quite simple : I am preparing an
exposition with the photoclub, and I want my pictures to be analog only.

But during the same time, I have discovered that an organisation called " "did manage a
photo contest. So, having just two weeks to take picture of the theme, which is the
biodiversity in the town, I have decided to go with digital.

So today was the first day of this project, and even if I could walk the city blindfolded,
I managed to get a few pictures which are really fitting the theme.

I am using only prime lense, a 35mm and a 85mm, both on a D200.

Rire&cie

hi there!

today, I'll treat you a few picture from the play called "rire&cie", which 

was performed by the group "les souffleurs de vers". 

If you follow a bit the actuality of this blog, you'll know

that I did a test comparing the noise of two differents cameras,

the D70 and the D200. And guess what? Here are some real picture

for you to chew on, all taken in a super insane and mind boggling 

awfully lit room. So Iso1600 and monopod were the standard.

As always, I focused on the interactions, more than on the faces, because 

it is what a play is all about : playing the interactions between us mere human beings.

 A reprise from the famous barber scene from Charlie Chaplin

Small talk between gentlemens

Hi there!

Today I took a few pictures of my friend's rugby's match, which opposed the teams of the PUC and HEC.

I won't bother with telling you how went the match, because this is manly a photoblog,
but what I can say is that even if the PUC lost the match, they showed a real potential in the end
of the match, which let us a glimpse of this team potential.

Below are the keepers of the day, all shot with a D200 and a super cheap telezoom.

Skateboarding is among us

last sunday, I had planned to take some pictures of my friend Renaud, who wanted to do
a noseslide on the well-know (from us) super long and slippy ledge of the Rungis's SILIC.

So after having warmed up on a not so small gap, we headed toward the ledge.
Oh boy long we thought it was, and how long was it!

The good point about this spot is that it is not (well not worse) as dangerous as a handrail. So
one tends to throw himself towards with a bit more ease.

After having done a noseslide (see picture, with the two differents angle : one is a boring, but classic
ledge picture, showing the skater and the environnement, the other more interesting because it does focus more on the architecture than on the skater. Yet, it wouldn't work without it), my gutsy friend tried a frontside fifty-fifty.

What you can not evaluate with the upper picture is the actual sliding speed. Because it is an all marble-like material, and because it is super long, it gives a lot of speed to the skater. Wich is super frightfull, because the faster you go, the more hurt you can get, says the brain.

So after a few tries, what had to happend happended, and the gutsy Renaud ended dragged by his board all the way down the ledge, with his leg actually grinding the ledge. Ouch, it must've hurt.

D200 VS D70 noise comparison, or the truth about megapixels.

So it has been about less than a year that I had my D200. Despite being a very capable camera, I read around the web that the noise levels were intolerable, that it could be used above ISO 1600, blah bah blah... some gearhead considerations, if you ask me. But being quite a gearhead myself, I could'nt resist to see whether or not
this goddammned ISO 1600 was usable or not. After a few concert, and some extra grainy photos (I don't really mind the grain, but you know how it is, we photographers always wants the best), and a few hours spend building profiles for neat image (super cool software by the way, get it as soon as possible!!!), I decided to try an old D70 versus my next generation D200. And the results are quite stunning, because they speak by themselves :

This is a D70 1600 iso file. In fact, it is a heavy crop from a D70 1600 ISO file. Note the noise on the concrete, and on the dark area behind the fence.

Here is the file from the D200. The settings are the same : ISO 1600, 1/2000 shutterspeed and F 5 on a 50mm F1,8 lense.

You can notice that the image is a bit darker.

for the noise, we can notice two things : first, there is a lot of it, especially in the pavement area. 

Two : it is a lot more fine than the D70's grain. So there is more of it, but it's structure is a lot finer. Of course, if you watch the image at 100% on your monitor, you'll see it a lot bigger. But remember that there are nearly twice as more pixels in the D200 sensor. That's why I show you a 50% image from the D200, in order to match the resolutions. But even though, the D70 as the upper hand here. 

So to conclude this quick review, let's say that even if actual camera (i am thinking of a certain D7000 camera) beat the hell out of these camera, I think that if you are in a tight budget, and if you do a lot of performance photography, the D70 might be a good choice, if you only consider noise.

The D200 still have an edge in term of burst speed, buffer, autofocus, and pretty much anything else. But for the price of one D200, you might get a nice setup, with a backup camera, wich I think is THE first thing to have when taking assignements.

Next time, I promise I'll post some real pictures, instead of satisfying my gearhead instinct...

Keep updated!!

a walk Rue de Renne

Today I went to Paris to get a few prints.
During the time the print were made, I went for a walk in Rue de Renne.
Because it is located near the montparnass train station, there is a serious
commercial activity, and thus some crowds, which are my main point of interest.

I took some picture with my Medium format camera (a 6x6 ikoflex), and switched to digital
after having burned my rolls. 12 exposure is tight!

 in the middle of my walk, the rain began to pour down. It was a relief, because it hadn't benn raining for at least 3 weeks. Ans I was in the middle of a crowded street. I think that these situations are the best for a street photographer, because people pay a lot more attention to the rain, storm or whatever, than to the weird guy with his big black camera.

 What i saw in the picture above was the lady in red, with the blue seat aroud her head. What I did'nt saw wa the glance of the salesman. Because this is a street shot, there is often a person in the background, which balance the frame.

Hi there You Who Read this blog!

Today I'll be showing some pictures taken with my brand new
lense, the Samyang 85mm F1,4.

I already posted a few first impressions about it,
so heres are the afterthoughts.

Concerning the build quality : It's good, but not as outstanding. In fact, I don't think that it'll ever last

longer than my 55 micro nikkor, which is already 60 Years old, if not more.

Second, the optical quality : With this lense, you'll know the real meanig of Backgroud blur.
Seriously, this IS the lense you want to pick if you need some perfectly smooth backgrounds.

heres are a few pictures taken with the lense, all at F2,8. At this stop, the lense is already ultra sharp, and the OOF area are still circular.

The second pictures also shows the quite large depth of field you get when using a crop camera : even at F2,8, the first and second flowers are sharp. So if you really want some paper thin DOF, stick with the F1,4 setting!

Here are some picture from the one of the first garage sale
in the south-est of Paris.

I have decided to do more portraits of the people, instead of just looking for some
kind of interaction.

today I bought the samyang 85mm F1,4, in order to do some "artsy" blurry portraits.

I'm going to do a quick first hand on review.

First, the main point in buying this lense over a F2, or even a zoom, is the F1,4 aperture, in order to get some crazy blurry backgroud. Well, believe it or not, this lense does it straight out of the box, with any kind of sketchy background (see the street shot below).

In term of pure sharpness, it is quite awesome. Ok, it is nowhere near as sharp as my 35F1,8 (at any aperture), but it delivers a soft picture, with a lot of micro contrast. maybe of the same kind as my 135 F2,8 russian lense, which is totally unsharp, and quite soft at F2,8.

This scene is nothing special, every person is showing is back. But what is totally new (at least for me^^), is that I get a totally clear delimitation between the main subject (the man with the blue jacket) and the kids. without counting the super creamy bokeh.