BLOG

Photography has changed the way I see the world around me.

Through it I discover new things and rediscover old ones. Like my island, New Caledonia.

This blog is just me sharing my world through my photography.

Hope you enjoy.

Posts tagged culture
160 PORTRAITS

City of Noumea

With the spotlight on racism and discrimination these past few weeks, a referendum for independence knocking at the front door of my country and all the tensions that entails, and having experienced racism and discrimination myself… I felt this photo was appropriate.

This huge canvas measuring 16 x 9 metres on the main wall of the Hotel de Ville de Noumea (the Noumea Council building) represent 160 black & white portraits across Noumea’s population. It was part of a photographic exhibition which also included 100 black & white portraits in A0 format exposed around Place des Cocotiers (Coconut Palm Place) to celebrate the City of Noumea’s 160th anniversary. It also shows, for an island, we have an immense ethnic and cultural diversity.

At the time of this exhibition, I was very interested in black & white architectural photos with street lights from a worm’s eye view. Hence my take on the genre. The lights weren’t on when I took the shot so I add that in. Though they were situated across the street, the perspective make them seem to light the wall. Adds a little more interest in the overall image too. A couple of Radial Filters with Exposure, Highlights and Whites turn all the way up lit the street lights and another with an extra stop of Exposure and a lot of Contrast for the 160 portrait canvas. The rest of the edits were very basic, minor touches.

A last reflection, this world is magnificent and beautiful and wonderful and extraordinary. And I’m not just describing the Earth here but also every species on it including us, the one and only race, humans. Our ethnicity, our cultures, our languages, our beliefs, our stories, our histories… and much more is what make us, unique individuals, so different, so interesting, so beautiful in this world worth visiting, exploring, discovering. All of this and much more is what makes this world so magnificent, beautiful, wonderful, extraordinary. Let’s accept each other’s individuality and live in peace ✌🏽

 
GEIKO

Kyoto, Japan

One of the reasons we wanted to visit the Gion District was in hopes of seeing a Geisha or Geiko as they prefer to be called in Kyoto and Maiko, apprentice Geiko. We were not disappointed as we saw a handful of them while strolling the alleyways. They are just stunning. Beautiful. And we both wished we had booked in advance a restaurant where they performed. Next time.

I’m not a portrait photographer but on very rare occasions I’ll tempt it. This evening didn’t start as one of those occasions but ended as one. We had seen a few Geiko and Maiko on our stroll and though Géraldine captured a couple of portraits, she wasn’t satisfied with the results. Not her fault though but largely due to seeing them too late and not being able to frame in time. Don’t get me wrong, we kept our eyes open but they seem to come out of nowhere. So I thought I’d try as well, hoping between the two of us, we’d come back with, at least, one satisfactory portrait. And we got lucky. Seeing these Geiko and Maiko early enough to be able to snap half a dozen photos from full body to head shots. Unfortunately, only two are usable but two more than we had and are happy with.

So how did I get the shot? Preparation.

  1. I needed a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the action and get a sharp photo. Because of their attire, Geiko do not walk very fast so I thought 1/250th of a second shutter speed would be fast enough.

  2. I wanted a shallow depth of field to blur the background. ƒ/2.8 is the widest my lens opens too so I used that.

  3. Have an ISO high enough to give me a proper exposure. In those little alleys nearing sunset it was 400.

All I had to do now was frame and shoot. But I forgot one thing, to put my camera in Continuous-Auto-Focus mode. I had left it in Single-Shot-Auto-Focus which isn’t ideal for subjects moving towards you. Hence, getting only 2, out of 6 or 7, shots in focus. A real shame because the close-up portraits were pretty good but unfortunately out of focus. A lesson learned for me and, I hope, a lesson for someone out there.

Now you’re most likely to see a Geiko and/or Maiko from an hour before and after sunset as they make their way to an appointment. They’re not on the streets for very long as their place of preparation and their appointments are not far from one another. Just keep your eyes peeled and your camera ready.

75 mm, 1/250th second @ ƒ/2.8, ISO 400

CHINESE GARDEN OF FRIENDSHIP

My friend’s eight year old daughter is captivated by everything asian. Especially the Chinese and Japanese people, cultures and languages. She was thrilled when she saw they were staying in Chinatown (Sydney, Australia) for their holiday. A must to visit, of course, is the beautiful Chinese Garden Of Friendship in Darling Harbour. We got there just after midday and, I think, because it was lunch time, there weren’t many people in the garden. And talking about lunch, they have a restaurant in there as well. You quickly forget your in a big city and I felt relaxed… zen?! the first few minutes I was there. I think we spent almost two hours wandering around and the kids had a lot of fun searching for the hidden Chinese Zodiac animals. I highly recommend visiting the Chinese Garden Of Friendship if you’re ever in Sydney.