Castle – Page 2 – IJM Photography

I have said it on here before, and I will say it again. I have moments of folly, where lucidity says bugger this, I’m outta here punk! And so it was the Saturday before Christmas. I had agreed to meet a friend in town and help her choose presents for her nephew and niece in Switzerland. I also thought I could get to confession and prepare my soul for the feast that is Christmas.

I was slowly getting used to the Fujifil XT2, and thought, right, I’ll go out early and try and get a space before everyone else has the same idea, and get used to it even more. I arrived at the car park and had to wait at the barrier, but was patient.

I phoned my friend to say that I had managed to park the car and felt slightly smug. I texted her and she said she was still in pyjamas and having her coffee. Ah… Well I wasn’t expecting that. But that gave me some time

Whilst learning photography back in the day when I had hair, I used a 50mm lens, and learnt how to use it through and through. It was years later that I acquired a 28mm lens for my Praktica MTL 3, and really got into it. Later I continued when I got my X100F (35mm equivalent), my Canon 6D Mark II with the 16-35mm zoom lens. So it seemed logic to get a wide angled lens for the XT2. I ended up getting a 16mm which is a 24mm equivalent. Not too much distortion but still nice and wide.

Parked in Feydeau, and just next to the Chateau des Ducs de Bretagne, or Nantes Castle, I thought why the heck not, and headed up there. I just went with no specific goals, and waited for the photos to present themselves whilst walking around. I discovered a little art gallery that I hadn’t seen before and it was a real inspiration.

I walked towards the Fnac where my freind said she wanted to meet me. She was getting a record player for her girlfriend and wanted my help to choose. We chose, and headed to Sugar Blue Café for lunch, which was one the good ideas I had that day. A vegetarian salad, and for the desert we got to cakes. One was the Christmas cake, which had red fruit, crème de marron (which is a huge favourite of mine), and covered in Marscapone icing, the other cake was a Stracciatella Cheesecake, which was sooooo naughty. That’s wrong, both were amazing, and I’ll just have to go back after they get back from their Christmas break.

I told her that I wanted to go to confession and she said she would go and try and find an Ugly Christmas Jumper for her Christmas meal. We stopped off in a shop that does paper crafts for the presents for the children. We parted, I went to church, and we met up after the rain to go to the Comptoir Irlandais to get all those Christmas goodies that you can’t get anywhere else. I needed bickies, and cake for all the tea that I would be drinking over the holidays. We finished up in the Pub, and I was able to present her to my friends there. The restaurant across the road had no tables left!!!! O disaster! I had a plan B. My plan B was the Reine Margot and although it looks like a fast food joint from the front, the menu tells a different story, and when you get past the initial corridor, you enter the restaurant. We started with snails, then duck, and I finished with a chocolate cake, then back to pub for a swift drink before heading home.

All in all a lovely day, with a lovely friend, and I was happy with the catch of photos for the day.

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!