Walkabout in Nantes with the lads from Instagram – Part II

Posted on Mar 23, 2019Mar 23, 2019 Posted in Architecture, Nantes PhotographyTagged britanny, chateau des ducs de bretagne, France, Fujifilm X Series, History, Ian Myers, ijm photography, miroir d'eau, Nantes, reflection, tourism, X100FLeave a comment

So we’re still out taking photos and learning from each other. We all know Nantes and it’s good to see how other people might see the place. Photography is one of those things that actually lets me show you a moment in time through my eyes. It’s especially so when you have a camera and are looking through the viewfinder. I see something in a moment of time that will never come back, because as soon as I presse the shutter release it’s already happened, and is already in the past. I can’t take that moment back. But I have a snapshot. In life you can’t look with my eyes in the same way that I can look with your eyes. However, photography allows this. It’s maybe one of things that makes it so amazing. It’s surreal.

We managed to find the Château des Ducs de Bretagne. Still with the X100F…

Walkabout in Nantes with the lads from Instagram – Part I

Posted on Mar 23, 2019Mar 23, 2019 Posted in Architecture, Nantes Photography, UrbanTagged architechture, colour photography, Emiliano Sala, France, Fujifilm X Series, golden hour, Ian Myers, ijm photography, Nantes, photo walk, photographer, Street Photography, X100F3 Comments

Now and again I do some colour photography, especially with the colours you get from the X100F. Everyone goes on about it, but they really are good. A guy on Instagram wanted to get some people together of various photographic levels, some who know little, some who know a lot, some who have loads of gear, and some who have very little. This was the first outing.

We wanted to get into Nantes during Golden Hour, but somebody had the rather silly idea of making it the “morning” Golden Hour. I, of course, was late. The meeting place was Place Royale, where Kate’s favourite fountain its. Emiliano Sala had just disappeared on his flight from Nantes to Cardiff, and people had made a kind of shrine to him.

They all had DSLR’s with lenses and tripods and the whole shebang. Guys together having a competition to see who had the biggest… Camera… What else were you thinking about???? I turned up with my Fujifilm X100F. Yes mine was the smallest (camera) but I’m fine with that, and I own it!!

But I digress. I usually do black and white conversions and seem to have the process slightly sussed out. The colour film simulations are just great on this camera and I get why people wax lyrical about them.

When I got the X100F I wanted to have a digital camera that was the equal of my film cameras. I wanted something that could open up to F2 and go up to F16. I wanted something that looked good and that got the job done. It’s basically a compact camera, with a fixed prime lens, and is sold as the street photography photographer’s camera, or the travel photography photographer’s camera. Of course it it great for this, and just slips in a bag. It’s light and such an understated chic. I love it! There you are. I love my camera.

But back to Nantes who is the real star in this series. In this first part you see us going from the Place Royale, going to bakery for breakfast and a coffee (I always seem to find a place to eat wherever I am…), heading towards the Tour de Bretagne, which is Nantes’ version of the Tour Montparnasse in Paris, going across Cours des 50 Otages, towards the Castle via rue de la Marne, and having a look at some the of the streets branching off, and ending up on the rue du Château.

Nantes Grand Angle Photo Rally

Posted on Mar 13, 2019Jul 4, 2019 Posted in Architecture, Black and White Photography, France, Nantes Photography, Street Photography, UrbanTagged Archtitecture, black and white, Canon, Canon 6d Mark II, City, Ian Myers, ijm photography, Instagram, Nantes, Pentacon lens, photographyLeave a comment

What do you do on a nice, sunny, Saturday afternoon, when the Gilets Jaunes have forgotten to turn up? You get in the car with your daughter and meet some fellow Instagrammers from Nantes Grand Angle to go out and take some pictures. My camera for the day was the Canon 6D Mark II, with a Pentacon 50mm F1.8 lens. Of course you need the adapter ring so it’ll work, but it works. You’ll see in the pictures later.

We met up and our little group headed off towards the Station to do some architecture shots (the theme was details…) but it was sunny so who cares! We went from the FNAC, towards Bouffay, Ile Feydeau, the Château, the Canal St Félix, and then down to the station.