Parc Oriental de Maulévrier

Posted on May 8, 2019Jun 12, 2024 Posted in Art, Camera reviews, Landscape Photography, Reportage, Travel photographyTagged Calm, Canon 6d Mark II, flowers, France, Gardens, helios M44-2, Japan, Japanese, Maulévrier, parc, parc oriental, park, plants, Trees, ZenLeave a comment

I’d heard of this place since I moved to Vendée in 2001, but had never got around to visiting it. The occasion was a friend’s birthday. My photography is my way of detaching myself from this world of commotion and taking a seat to just observe. The French talk about Zen, and “being zen” as an antidote to our modern lives, and finding that certain calm that we all long for.

Japanese gardens are traditional gardens whose designs are accompanied by Japanese aesthetic and philosophical ideas, avoid artificial ornamentation, and highlight the natural landscape.
Wikipedia

Even thought we were in a group, we allowed ourselves to go at our own pace. For those of you who have a photographer as a partner, apparently you have tremendous patience as all of a sudden we will stop dead and start taking a photo. Today I could just get on with it and wander around. Blissful it was, blissful! The only person that doesn’t mind me doing this is my son who waits patiently. If we go out, I will do 8000 paces, and he will do at least 12000 because of turning around and coming back to me. I do love that boy!

All these photos were taken on the Canon 6D Mark II, with the Helios M44-2 58 mm lens, except for one shot, which was taken with the Canon 16-35 mm lens. I do like the bokeh it gives you and on some of these photos you can actually see the swirly bokeh! Try and spot it…

Abbaye de Maillezais Vendée

Posted on May 1, 2019May 30, 2024 Posted in Architecture, Black and White Photography, Landscape Photography, Travel photographyTagged abbaye de maillezais, Abbey, Archtitecture, black and white, France, History, Vendee2 Comments

Originally from Yorkshire, we were brought up on the merits of Rievaulx and Fountains Abbeys. They were of course the most famous and beautiful of the abbeys destroyed by Henry VIII when the pope said no he couldn’t have a divorce to be able to marry Anne Boleyn. Bit of an over-reaction in my opinion especially when you think how it turned out in the end…

Anyway. This article isn’t about them. No. It’s about Maillezais Abbey in Vendée. It’s a little bit of a hike, but you basically just get on the motorway and don’t forget your exit the way I did, and ended up taking a very scenic route, which was very scenic. Luckily my daughter didn’t realise this. My wife would have been telling me how bloody useless I am. Ahhh, the joys of youth!

I’m going to start with the photos I took on the Easter Monday 2019, and then I’ll do an other article about my previous visit when I was with a film camera…

In this series I was using the Canon 6D Mark II with the Canon 16-35mm lens, and the Helios M44-2 58mm lens, which seems to be becoming my “go to” kit…

Clisson in colour, and close up…

Posted on Apr 27, 2019May 30, 2024 Posted in Architecture, Landscape Photography, Street Photography, Travel photographyTagged bokeh, bokeh whore, Canon 6d Mark II, Clisson, Close up, France, helios M44-2, Loire Atlantique, swirly bokeh2 Comments

As you might know from reading the rest of this blog, I love using my Canon 6D Mark II with vintage glass. This Helios M44-2 is a bokeh beast for my inner bokeh whore… I love depth of field and this lens allows me to really express myself. Not only do I get the bokeh but due to a design falut in this lens, you get a “swiry bokeh.”

When I saw photos with this swirly bokeh for the first time I was blown away. I wanted that so boadly and when I first got this lens onto my camera I loved it. I’ve been getting acquainted with this lens and am beginning to get find what I can do with it.

Of course it has limits, the major one being that I can’t focus to infinity but i’m ok with that. I can get around it by using zone focusing. I can be around 6 to 10 metres away from my subject and have a small aperture. Above that the mirror with smack into the lens and my camera with start throwing a wobbler! And we don’t want that , do we!

So this bokeh, what is it then?

In photography, bokeh is the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in the out-of-focus parts of an image produced by a lens. Bokeh has been defined as “the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light”.
Wikipedia

Clisson in Black and White.

Posted on Apr 24, 2019May 30, 2024 Posted in Black and White Photography, Landscape Photography, Travel photographyTagged blac, black and white, Castle, chateau, Clisson, France, French, Fujifilm X Series, Ian Myers, ijm photography, Loire Atlantique, Market town, quaint, X100F2 Comments

Clisson is one of those pittoresque little market towns that France is famous for, except for three days a year when Heavy Metal fans come for the Hellfest and celebrate the late demi-god Lemmie! When these photos were taken, it wasn’t one of those three days and you could “quietly” breath in the tranquility and history of the place.

On a Friday morning there is the weekly market that I love going to but haven’t been able to go for ages as I’m no longer doing shift work. I would wander along the food stalls and have a few favourite places to stop and be seperated from my money for some wonderful produce. I’m talking about the good stuff… The kind of stuff that makes a foodie drool with pleasure. The place not to go when you’re hungry… I’m so weak!

I spent about two hours in Clisson before going off to Nantes to meet other photographers for a “photowalk,” just to see what I could get and to try and see a familiar place in a new way. It ended up falling through but I met other friends for an impromtu picnic. I’d been wanting to see Clisson again and try out the X100F and the Canon 6D with the Helios 44-2.

This first series of photos were taken on the Fujifilm X100F, and the 35mm equivalent lens and I was after trying to get some wider shots so you can get a feel for the place.

The second series will be more about how I see the place, and more in my style. IE the place where I seem to be on my photographic journey at the moment. That doesn’t mean that these black and white shots aren’t me. They are. And the editing is a reflection of me too. But I do love getting closer. You’ll see when you read the next article!

My Wife…

Posted on Apr 17, 2019Apr 17, 2019 Posted in PortraitTagged bokeh, Canon 6d Mark II, helios M44-2, wife2 Comments

I don’t usually think of myself as a portrait photographer, but I do take photos of my wife and children for family albums. I have a Helios M44-2 58mm which is a dedicated portrait lens and found a willing victim…

I say victim but she did say “yes” all that time ago. She usually hates my photos of her… No, she hates all photos of her, but here are some that said were Ok, which is praise indeed!

The Helios lens is a bokeh beast and is a wonderful focal length for portraits. I manage to use it with the Canon 6d Mark II with an conversion ring. It’s like having the best of both worlds… Digital and analogue.

Modern architecture on the Île de Nantes

Posted on Apr 16, 2019Aug 25, 2019 Posted in Architecture, Black and White Photography, France, Nantes Photography, Street Photography, UrbanLeave a comment

I remember when the words, “modern,” and “architecture,” when used together in the same sentence would conjure up images of post-war concrete brutalism. Think carparks from thw 1960’s etc.

Thankfully, this is no longer the case! Or at least I hope not. So nearly 60 years later, yes, that does give you a bit of a choc, modern architecture is no longer a dirty word, used, to put architects down.

In this series of photos you will see geometric forms, textures, walkways, and a place I would consider living if it wasn’t so pricy… Maybe in the 60’s they said similar things, but this time around, I believe them!

Today’s weapon of choice was the Canon 6d Mark II and the 16-35mm lens.