Honfleur at night

Posted on Sep 11, 2019May 30, 2024 Posted in Art, Café Culture, France, Normandy, Street Photography, Travel photographyTagged 16-35mm, 16-35mm lens, architechture, Art, art gallery, atmosphere, bars, boats, bokeh, Café Culture, Calvados, Canon, Canon 6, Canon 6d Mark II, colour photography, Erik Satie, France, French, going out, Ian Myers, ice cream, ijm photography, ijmphotography, jongleur, night time photography, Normandy, photo reportage, photo walk, reflection, seaside, street, Street Photography, summer, tourism, tourist, tranquility, Travel, Travel photography, yachts2 Comments

Honfleur is one of those pretty places that you see on postcards from Normandy. It is the birthplace of Erik Satie, the musician, composer, and a slighty, ever so slightly, eccentric, which is how my mother describes me. I think it’s a nice way of calling me a wierdo!

So Honfleur… Full of Parisians and people from just outside Paris that don’t have enough money to be able to afford Deauville. But also full of art lovers thanks to the many painters that have their galleries, and those channelling Eugène Boudin (joke available in French, contact me for details) and those wanting some Monet, Monet, Monet! (the Dad joke strikes again!) And let’s not forget those messing up their cholesterol levels with Camembert and Crême Fraîche d’Isingy, and those ruining their livers on Calva, and Pommeau. Cider is available for the lightweights like me.

On our first night, Killian, my ever dutiful son, needed to get out of the house and stretch his legs, so I tagged along with him. We went out with the two cameras (X100F for me, and Canon 6D for him) to do some night time photography, and headed off to the old harbour. We vowed to keep away from all the bars and ice cream places and actually managed it! Such restraint!

Here are my photos from that trip out:

Omaha Beach, Normandy

Posted on Sep 8, 2019May 30, 2024 Posted in France, History, Landscape Photography, Normandy, Reportage, Travel photographyTagged 16-35mm, 16-35mm lens, America, American, beach, burial, Calvados, Canon, Canon 6d Mark II, cemetery, colour photography, d day, France, French, grave, graveyard, History, Ian Myers, ijm photography, ijmphotography, Landscape, Normandy, omaha, omaha beach, peace, photography, summer, tourism, tourist, Travel, Travel photography, US Army, USA, World War 2, WW2Leave a comment

Omaha Beach was one of the five beaches that had to be taken on D Day, 6th July 1944. That task was given to the 1st and 29th Infantry Division of the US Army. To say they took a hammering is an understatement, and General Bradley saw the very grave situation, and one stage nearly abandoned the operation. The grit and determination of his men paid off and they took the beach, but the amount of casualties and dead was tremendous, around 2000 men. A great sacrifice was made that day.

Whilst on that beach, I saw American families turn up, and the emotion was visible on their faces. It is almost a spiritual experience for them, and a form of pilgrimage. The dead are remembered, not only by the few that survived, but by the local population , and the French in general. Just next to the beach, there is the American War Cemetery at Coleville sur Mer. The prisitne graves serve as a reminder to those of us that didn’t experience what they did: the horrors of war!

I remember seeing footage of an old veteran who landed on Omaha, saying that the greatest reward they had, was to see children playing on that beach now, enjoying the peace that was earned by those men who lay down their lives on that same beach all those years ago.

I’ve decided to share photos of both the beach and the cemetery with you. The camera used that day was the Canon 6D Mark II with the 16-35mm Canon lens.

Commonwealth War Cemetery, Ranville

Posted on Sep 4, 2019Jun 18, 2024 Posted in Black and White Photography, France, History, Normandy, Travel photographyTagged 16-35mm, 16-35mm lens, 6th Airborne Division, black and white, Black and White Photography, blog, burial, Canon, Canon 6d Mark II, cemetery, d day, death, France, grave, graveyard, ijm photography, ijmphotography, Normandy, Parachute Regiment, photo reportage, photographer, photography, tourism, tourist, Travel, Travel photography, World War 2, WW2Leave a comment

In my last article I talked about Normandy and the battle to take Pegasus Bridge, and in this article I want to talk about the soldiers that didn’t come back. Ranville is a town, not too far from Pegasus Bridge and the men that fell in that engagement are buried in the Parish Churchyard. Just next to the chuchyard is a Commonwealth War Cemetery.

The cemetery contains predominantly British soldiers killed during the early stages of the Battle of Normandy. A large proportion of those interred were members of the British 6th Airborne Division. These places are always very moving, even more so when one looks at the ages of some of those that died in June 1944. My son is 20 and the same age as so many of those soldiers.

Even when dead they are still on parade in ranks with perfect dressing. They died as soldiers and even in death they remain soldiers. When you look through the photos you will notice certain anomalies. One was a tank crew that was buried together, as a crew. One is a grave of a German Jew who escaped to join the British army, and was given a pseudonym so if he was captured his name wouldn’t betray him, One grave is of a parachutist and his dog who were buried together.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

Extract For the Fallen, Laurence Binyon

Pegasus Bridge

Posted on Aug 30, 2019May 30, 2024 Posted in Black and White Photography, France, History, Normandy, Travel photographyTagged 6th Airborne Division, Arlette Grondée, black and white, Black and White Photography, bridge, Canon 6d Mark II, d day, History, Major Howard, Parachute Regiment, Pegasus Bridge, World War 2, WW2Leave a comment

This is the first in a series of posts about Normandy, and now you know where I went on holiday this year! Having lived in France for so long Normandy conjures up images of apples, cider, Calva, and Normans amazed by the fact that you can actually eat apples and not just use them to make alcoholic drinks.

It conjures up images of rain for the French, and I jokingly remind them that the British go there for the “good weather!” It conjures up history by the bucket load, William the Bastard, who became William the Conqueror, and the Bayeux Tapestry which is 1000 year old propaganda, and sparked off a rivalry between the two countries, which lasted for centuries, and still does especially when we beat the French at rugby. It conjures up images of landings made by Allied troops on the 6th of June 1944, to free France and Europe from Nazi occupation and tyranny.

This article is about one of the places where one of those battles took place. Please take the time to click on the various links to Wikipedia to learn more about the operations and people involved. Thank you.

To some Pegasus Bridge might mean nothing but to others it means the end of Nazi occupation in Normandy, France. Madame Arlette Grondée is the same age as my mother and witnessed the Second World War first hand. On the night of the 5th of June, just before midnight, three gliders containing airborne troops landed just across the canal from where her parents ran a café. That café is still there and so is Madame Grondée. I know, because I asked her for a photo and she very kindly agreed. It’s not every day that one meets a legend, and part of history.

I visited this area as a boy and I lust have been the same age as my daughter is now when I was last there. But as an adult, the whole thing has an other dimension to it. The bust of Major Howard (Company Commander of “D” Company, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, and part of the 6th Airborne Division) is on the exact site where the three gliders landed. It’s literally on top of the bridge!

Operation Deadstick was a success and a vital victory in the D-Day Operations. The dead were buried in the Parish Cemetery in Rainville, and amongst them is HD Brotheridge, the first British causality of the actions in Normandy. To the left of his grave is a plaque put up by the Grondée family in recognition of his sacrifice.

The tools of the trade that day were the Canon 6D Mark II, and the Canon 16-35mm lens.

Certain images from this gallery can be purchased for a limited time here

Pommeraye et Crébillon

Posted on Jun 26, 2019Jun 24, 2019 Posted in Architecture, France, Nantes PhotographyTagged bourgois, Canon 6d Mark II, Ian Myers, ijmphotography, Nantes, passage pommeraye, posh, rue crébillonLeave a comment

As you might have realised by now, sometimes I seem to find myself in Nantes quite often. Ever the creature of habit I have my “spots” that I seem to go to and one of them is the street between la Place Royale, and la Place Graslin, La Rue Crébillon. It’s basically where rich people do their clothes shopping and you have to be skinny to get into any of those clothes, but it’s all so elegant. Along the way you have the Passage Pommeraye which also oozes French elegance, with Hermès at the top, and a rather delightful place at the bottom that sells chocolat and macarons….

I could tell you the history of the place but you can look it up on Wikipedia if you want. This is more about the photography…

The Passage Pommeraye is a small shopping mall in central Nantes, France, named after its property developer, Louis Pommeraye. Construction started at the end of 1840 and was completed on 4 July 1843. The Passage Pommeraye is a passage between two streets, the rue Santeuil and rue de la Fosse, with one 9.40 m higher than the other. Midway, there is a flight of steps and the mall then continues on another floor. Two architects, Jean-Baptiste Buron and Hippolyte Durand Gasselin, contributed to its design, which is very elaborate and includes renaissance style sculptures. The Passage Pommeraye has been classified as a historic monument since 1976.
Wikipedia

This is a collection of photos taken on my last visit, taken on the Canon 6D Mark II with the 16-35mm lens which has become a firm favourite with me. I enjoy the distorsion and how I can use it creatively, as well as the sheer joy of diving into the scene before my eyes. I also brought out the Helios 44-2 58mm lens to take some photos in the café where I like to have a couple of coffees to keep me going for the rest of the afternoon. An idea for another article perhaps…

In the streets of Nantes on Ascension Thursday 2019

Posted on Jun 9, 2019Jun 10, 2019 Posted in Architecture, Bikes, Black and White Photography, France, Nantes Photography, Street PhotographyTagged bicycles, black and white, Cafe, Canon 6d Mark II, church, Nantes2 Comments

Same day as the last article, but this series is about the streets on Nantes, with some obligatory bike shots, some lovely knockers, shops, churches, and other buildings. This seems to represent part of my universe when I’m in Nantes. Or more the way I see this little area of Nantes.

I usually park in the Feydeau car park, and head through Bouffay, towards Place Royale where I’ll eat in either the Sugar Blue Café (really nice and one of my favourites) and when it’s not open I have to cross the road and eat at the Suppli Factory which is like Italian street food, but not on the street, but still really good food!

After the food, which was delicious we headed off towards the St Nicolas Basilica (photos of which will be the subject of another article) and up past the Cathedral towards the river Erdre (yet another article). Spoiler alert!!!