Behind the camera

Sunday, June 21, 2009

The garden of the roses

Across the Aare river, with a panoramic view of the old Bern, it is located the Rose Garden (Rosengarten). With tens of varieties, it must be a place worth seeing in spring...

"-But, if you domesticate me, we will need each other. You will be unique in the world for me. I will be unique in the world for you...
-I start to understand, the little prince said. There is a flower... I think that she has domesticated me...
-It is possible, the fox said. One see all kinds of things on Earth..."

The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

From the same trip:

Saturday, June 20, 2009

The old Bern

History tells that an unknown assistant at the patent office of Bern shook the physic's world in 1905. His inspiration might well have come from walking the streets of the beautiful old quarter of this city. The cobbled paving, the arcs, the fountains, the views from the gullies and the bridges, invite us to visit her peacefully (including, at one tip, the roses' garden).

"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed. It was the experience of mystery -- even if mixed with fear -- that engendered religion. A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, our perceptions of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which only in their most primitive forms are accessible to our minds: it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute true religiosity. In this sense, and only this sense, I am a deeply religious man."

The World As I See It, Albert Einstein

From the same trip:

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Sunday's Genève

First city that I visited in a one week trip through Switzerland, Geneva didn't turn out to be one of the prettiest cities of the tour. However, some places of the city are worthwhile and are portrayed on these pictures: tortuous passages from the old city, the lake Léman and the parks at its shores, and, of course, the famous water jet...

"There is a concept which corrupts and upsets all others. I refer not to Evil, whose limited realm is that of ethics; I refer to the infinite."

The Avatars of the Tortoise, Jorge Luis Borges

From the same trip:

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Chantilly, but not the crème...

The Château de Chantilly is located 40km to the north of Paris and it represents a nice Sunday visit. Not too much showy, of simple lines in the outside, it is surrounded by spacious gardens of several styles (including mazes), and by one of the few big French forests still standing. In spite of its name, the famous crème wasn't invented here, but its renowned creator (François Vatel) served during many years as grand chef and parties organizer at this place.

(the two first pictures belong to the church Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, near Gare du Nord, from where the train to Chantilly leaves)

"--I SHOULD see the garden far better,-- said Alice to herself, --if I could get to the top of that hill: and here's a path that leads straight to it... at least, no, it doesn't do that...-- (after going a few yards along the path, and turning several sharp corners), --but I suppose it will at last. But how curiously it twists! It's more like a corkscrew than a path! Well, this turn goes to the hill, I suppose... no, it doesn't! This goes straight back to the house! Well then, I'll try it the other way.--"

Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, Lewis Carroll

From the same trip:

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Visiting the kings

Right in the outskirts of Paris, to the north, rises the Saint-Denis Basilica. The outside view is very nice at sunset, with the Gothic style that fits so well to French cathedrals.

Burial place of Saint Denis (famous for walking 5 kilometers between Montmartre and Saint-Denis, giving a sermon with his recently beheaded head under his arm...), with the passage of the centuries it became the official tomb of the French royalty. More than a thousand years of history literally lie inside it.

"Some laboriously naif spirits insist to highlight the miraculous nature of the most spectacular phenomena of Nature. The dawn, the rain, the flight of the birds, a spider's net, are for these thinkers a reason of perpetual amazement.
I dare to object that the central point of a miracle is its unusual character. That is to say, the miraculous thing would be that it didn't dawn. Nevertheless, the Islam perfects and ennobles that idea: the existence of God is demonstrated through the order and the beauty of the world. The miracle is something rather pernicious that comes to disorder the things."

Hell's Bar, Alejandro Dolina

From the same trip:

(esta entrada en Español)

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace

From the beginning of time the man has wanted to fly, but only since the end of the XIXth century we have leaved the world of the dreams and we have turned it into a daily reality. To the north of Paris, at the airfield of Le Bourget, it is located the Museum of the Air and the Space. It can be easily visited in one-day, but nevertheless it's surprising the quantity and the kind of machines it has.

In the inside, relics from the first pioneers: Bleriot, Levavasseur, Santos-Dumont. Outside: airliners (like a Boeing 747) and modern fighter planes (MIG-23, Lockheed F104G Starfighter), plus a couple of Ariane rockets (obviously they also have an indoor section devoted to space). But the stars of the visit for me were the planes of the temporal exhibition about the second war, with names that go back to the golden age of dogfight: P-47D Thunderbolt, P-51D Mustang, Spitfire MK XVI,...

"P-51! Cadillac of the sky!"

Empire of the Sun, Steven Spielberg

"Ce pour quoi tu acceptes de mourir, c'est cela seul dont tu peux vivre"

("The reason for which you're ready to die is the only reason to live")

Citadelle, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

From the same trip:

Monday, March 9, 2009

Montsouris macro

A small preview of the beauties of the macrophotography, from the Parc Montsouris (Paris)

From the same trip:

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Scandola Natural Reserve

As part of the school in Cargèse (Corse) we did a boat excursion to the Réserve de Scandola. It is a natural park that spans huge rocky formations by the sea, full of colors in the earth as in the water.

The excursion includes a stop at the small town of Girolata, which consist of only an old castle, a few houses, and the harbor.

From the same trip:

Saturday, February 28, 2009

French Moon

The Moon is the same everywhere, but even so she doesn't stop of attract me as a photography subject. In the night of Cargèse, from a window, the Moon was falling over the sea...

The last image has labelled the most visible features in the pictures (the assignment is a little dubious in the area of Clavius). The sources I've used in the identification were the amateur site Observatorio ARVAL and the free program Virtual Moon Atlas.

From the same trip:

Saturday, February 14, 2009

In the mountains

Corse is not only the Mediterranean beaches, so that taking advantage of the free Sunday we went to travel around the marvelous valleys and woods of the island's mountainous interior. Near Évisa there are several paths from where to enjoy the spectacular views of the region.

These pictures cover the stops of the route between Évisa and Piana, with views not only of the valleys but also of the town of Ota and Porto's bay.

From the same trip:

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Mediterranean sunset

First weekend in Cargèse (Corse), and first afternoon at which I really had the time to go to take pictures of the sunset. Even if the clouds ruined a little the view, a nightfall over the Mediterranean is always worthwhile...

The tower that appears in some of the pictures is the Tour D'Omigna, one of many scattered throughout the coast of the island since the Genoese domination (XVth century).

From the same trip:

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Walking the Seine

Sandwiched Sunday in Paris, before taking a plane to Cargèse (Corse). And there is nothing better to do in Paris than walk her. From the 15ème to the 4ème arrondissement, at the banks of the Seine, bridges and monuments follow one after the other during the afternoon. Here is a (small) selection...

From the same trip:

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Retouches of Puerto Madero

During the 2 or 3 hours I spent at Buenos Aires before leaving for France this year, I went to walk and take some pictures in Puerto Madero. The place in itself is not very nice landscape-speaking, but it has some details that had worth the effort. In particular, playing around with the different viewpoints of the old cranes and ships (and a little of "focal black-and-white" from Picasa), it resulted in these images

From the same trip:

My photographic equipment

This information is outdated, the most important change being that I have now a Canon EOS 5D Mark II body, in all its digital glory. I'll update this page sometime in the future...

Even if it's true that "the camera doesn't make the photographer", some times it's good to have a reference of the equipment used to take a picture (at least to know about what you can do with it). In this moment my equipment consist of:

Canon EOS 30 Body, film SLR
Yes, I haven't switched to digital yet. This is a semi-pro body, with the right balance between features and size. The second point is really important when you're going to carry it the whole day in the mountain, and this camera fits the job pretty well. It feels solid and sturdy (and it is), but it's still light enough to hold it in your hand for hours. Add to that a very decent 7-point autofocus, selection between single and continuous shooting, and several customization functions and I would put this camera as one of the best film SLR for a serious amateur.

More info:
Canon Europe

Canon BP-300 Battery grip
The purpose of the battery grip is two-fold: cheap power and better handling. Using 4-AA Ni-Mh rechargeable batteries I can get rid of the expensive native batteries of the EOS 30, getting also a better behaviour at low temperatures. The camera feels more balanced, and I win an extra shutter release button for vertical pictures. The obvious downside is the added weight, but it's a fair trade.

Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Lens This is my all-purpose lens. It's attached to the camera 90% of the time mainly for two reasons: it has a great focal length range for almost every situation, and it has image stabilization (which is a bless, I tell you). Not too big, not too heavy, it's the perfect non L-class lens to match the EOS 30. The quality of the pictures is good, although closing the diaphragm at the longer side it's always advisable. Its main problem is its low light performance, having a pretty small maximum aperture. Image stabilization can compensate a little, specially for landscapes, but in the end there isn't much more you can do about it.	More info: Canon Europe The Digital Picture
Canon EF 100-300mm f/4.5-5.6 USM Lens Surely the weakest point of my setup. There aren't many good lenses in the telephoto range, and even with all its shortcomings this is probably one of the most decent you can get without leaving a kidney in exchange. Good below 200mm, it gets very soft near 300mm, at the point of being almost useless for big printings (at least without some digital sharpening). Nevertheless, it does the job and has two nice qualities: it focus really fast and it's conveniently light. Small maximum apertures means that I can only use it hand held in sunny conditions though.	More info: Canon Europe The Digital Picture
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro Lens The jewel of the crown. The quality of the images taken with this lens is amazing, very sharp at every condition. Lots of light to play with and the stunning world of true 1:1 macro photography only add to my love for this lens. I've used it to peek at the world of bugs, to make portraits and outside in the big wild world, and I've always came back delighted at the results (at least of the pictures that weren't ruined by the operator of the camera...). The only reason I don't use it as frequently as I'd like is its fixed focal length that constrains me a little when I go to new places and I need more versatility. On the other hand, going out only with this lens is a nice challenge to your creativity...	More info: Canon Europe The Digital Picture
Canon EF 25mm Extension Tube Match the already excellent macro capabilities of the previous lens to an extension tube and you'll be ready to see a world you've never seen before. The smallest details come to life beyond 1:1 magnification and gives you a unique view of a hidden micro-world. Beware though: lots of light are required at such levels of magnification and the deep of field gets as narrow as it's possible, which makes the system difficult to use.	More info: The Digital Picture

Several filters
I have a rule: never ever go out without a filter in front of the lens. I normally shot in the nature (or in the concrete jungle...), were there are dust in the air, dirt, wind, bushes, flying bugs... well, you get the point. I certainly prefer cleaning a filter than the front element of a lens. All my lenses have permanently attached a UV filter which, besides protection, provides some haze-cutting capabilities. For the 28-135 I have also a circular polarizer (very very useful in sunny outdoors photography) and a 'warming' 812 orange filter (some use in portraits and cloudy 'blue' light).

More info:
The Digital Picture

Canon CanoScan 8800F Flatbed scanner
I still use film, so I need to take those beautiful negatives to the digital world; and having a 'happy' right finger means that leaving the digitalization in the hands of the people at the photo lab isn't economically viable. The solution is a flatbed scanner with film adapter. This model in particular has two advantages: it's really fast (not at professional level, but faster than the average scanner), and Canon's FARE dust-and-scratches removing technology works great. Including post-processing, it takes me around 2 hours to get a 36-exposure roll of film ready for upload. That's scanning at 1200dpi, which is my standard quality to see the pictures on the screen; scanning at 3200dpi takes a lot more time and it's only reserved for shots that need massive croping or that I want to print.

More info:
Canon Europe

Previously I've also owned a Canon EOS 300 body, a Canon EF 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 II lens, and a Canon CanoScan 4400F scanner. Although not always, I usually shot Fuji Quality II 100ASA or Kodak ProImage 200ASA negative film. In the EXIF and/or IPTC information of each picture you will normally find the particular data for that image.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

About the copyright

This post about the copyright was moved to its own page. You can find it here.