Paris

In April I travelled around France and here is one photo from that trip. As I usually do, I was just wandering around, this time in Paris, one day and came upon this scene. Ansel Adams once said, and I am paraphrasing, that the negative is the score, the print is the performance. Of course, this photo doesn't look exactly like the scene that day, but it is how I imagined it when I took the photo. My intention was to work on the photo more when I got home and this is the result. Of course, this is just one interpretation. What do you think?

Photography, other than straight documentary photography, means to me, trying to visualize the potential in a photo and then, if what you see in your mind's eye is not exactly what you you see, transforming it. A few years ago the work was done in a darkroom and some, such as Ansel, were masters at it. These days many people, including me, use a lightroom instead. I am still learning.

Although I had been in France twice before, the trip this year was the most interesting. I was travelling alone and went to Paris, Chartres, Tours in the Loire Valley (and went to see 3 of the most famous chateaus: Chenonceau, Cheverny, and Chambord), Amboise, St. Malo in Brittany, and Mont St. Michel in Normandy. As is usually the case for me, I had no plans, itinerary, or hotel reservations anywhere. I made the trip up as I went along. :-) When I arrived in a new place the first thing I had to do was to find a place to stay for the night before I could do anything else. This is one of the times a Lonely Planet book really comes in handy! Once that was arranged then I could take my daypack out of the backpack, transfer some camera gear and other things to the daypack, leave the backpack behind, and get out there!

Although last year when I backpacked in Europe (Germany, northern Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, and the Netherlands) I usually stayed at backpacker hostels, this year in France I stayed at small hotels. Have you stayed at a hostel? When you stay at a hostel you share a room with one or more so you often meet some really interesting people. It can be so much fun! Sometimes travelling alone can be a bit lonely, but I often get some of my best photos that way! Being alone, and not really wanting to just sit in my room, compels me to get outside even in inclement weather. Hey, that's usually not a bad thing because sometimes photos are much more interesting when the weather is not so good. Rain, snow, dramatic storm clouds can make for arresting photos!

I've been busy all day working on my new website. I hope to have it ready in the next few days. I know, I said the same thing a few days ago, but it is just taking more time than I expected. :-) Once I have it up and am satisfied with it I will probably take my old site down. Stay tuned.