Tag: Ian Myers

Clisson in Black and White.

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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!

Down on the waterfront Part 1

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After having met Nikos Aliagas on the Saturday I was still starstruck and it seemed to bring me out of my photographic funk… I’m not saying that all my photos were crap, but I was definitely getting into a rut.

I was originally going to go out on my own to Clisson, but Kate asked me to wait and take her to Nantes.  So I waited.  Thinking that she would use the x100 and I would use the Canon 6d Mark II with the 16-35mm lens, we set off to the Hangar à Bananes and got into action.

I love this bit of Nantes’ industrial heritage and happy that they conserved it.  This huge grey crane looms up before you and is on the very end of the Île de Nantes. I’ve photograped this crane many times and I might publish some other photos from the archives later on.

When one says Hangar à Bananes, people from Nantes get images of the huge grey Titan crane, les Anneaux de Buren, la Cantine (where we had a lovely little lunch), various pieces of modern art, the HAB Galerie (place the Kate loves having a look around), the Carrousel des Mondes Marins, and a big huge Elephant, modern architecture and so much more. This is Nantes, so expect the unexpected!

In this gallery you can see the first part of my photographs. The rest will follow in future articles…

Edinburgh at night

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I knew there was something that I had forgotten… To finish the Edinburgh series. I seem to get distracted easily. Oh look, a shiny thing…. It’s like when you’re having a long conversation about something, then go off on a tangent, and then have to work out how to get back to what you were talking about, and at the same time trying to make it look witty, and intelligent. Needless to say, I often just loose track, and have a blond moment. A blond moment being where I don’t know what’s going on, but I don’t care because I’m blond, and therefore beautiful, and don’t have to think too much…

ANYWAY! Back to Edinburgh at night. I mean it’s not at as if I always do it. I mean Nantes is great and all that, and on my doorstep… I’ve gone and done it again haven’t I?

The photos in this series were taken on two consecutive nights after having spent the afternoon south of the border with my parents. As before in the other Edinburgh posts, I was using the X100F and it just goes to show how well it performs in low light. OK I was in Auto for the ISO setting, and yes there is noise but I still like the result and hope you do too.

Come to Nantes – It’s a riot!

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Oooooh… About to get political. Well, not really, but for the last 19 weeks, the Gilet Jaune movement has become a reality and what was at first something pretty scary, has now become part of everyday life and people are just getting on with it! I love the way they just say “merde” which delivers a certain contempt that the English language just can’t manage to do so concisely.

I’m not going to pass judgement on the movement, or am I going to get into the politics of it all. However, as a piece of history, it has been fascinating to watch and photograph. I mean the French are ready to demonstrate about anything, and things can get quite militant, so we know what to expect. The police come out dressed in riot gear, an all of a sudden you some bangs. The first rounds of teargas have been fired. You get that strange mist that permeates the city and gets your eyes and throat. Not the most pleasant experience, but I’ve had worse. Streets get blocked off by rather large CRS (Compagnie Républicaine de Sécurité) or Gendarmes. And they know if you’re demonstrating or not and are quite civil. The ones you have to watch out for are the BAC (Brigade Anti Criminalité) who have less riot gear on but can be pretty brutal.

I watch from afar as elements of the scene fall into place. People are just going about their daily business.

A Manif (demonstration) from last May bout the proposed airport in Nantes.

Thes folowing photos were taken on the X100F and the Canon 6D Mark II, with a Pentacon 50mm lens.

On the market in Nantes

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My name is Ian, I have a Jamie Oliver cook book. Hello Ian! Oh com’on. Gimme a break. We’ve all done it The recipes for the hamburgers were really good. Anyway. What was as appealing as much as the recipes was the photography of some of the food but the markets as well. These were of course English markets and therefore by definition largely inferior to the markets here in France.

So this thought had been in my head for ages stored away in a little cupboard in my brain. Since seeing these photos, the idea of doing the same has been working on me. I finally did it. Rémi was one of the guys on the Instagram walkabout, and said OK to accompany me. Helped make sure I didn’t do anything silly.

I wanted to capture the colours in the beautiful light on that day. Weapon of choice was the X100F .

Walkabout in Nantes with the lads from Instagram – Part II

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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…