Streetmaster 09 – Apeldoorn

Today, the streemaster contest was in Apeldoorn. Break dance, bmx, rollerskate, skate … quite a few things all day. Between the rain showers, the competition was really nice. Lots of talented young and less young candidates. Of course, the perfect occasion to do some nice pictures and I bet you guess that I’m planning to share the result right below. Enjoy !

And of course, I couldn’t resist to take some portraits.

More pictures on my FlickR. For those who live in the Netherlands, Streemaster will be held the 8th augustus in Dordrecht, the 15th augustus in Amsterdam and the finale will be the 29 in Amersfoort. See you there.

One deadly day

I can’t  really put it this picture in the “daily” category anymore first able because I took it yesterday and secondly I haven’t done my daily pictures since a long time which become more a random picture category than a daily one. No excuse about why I didn’t take time recently to take my daily shots…
Well, let’s just share pictures. I was walking on the beach with my father yesterday when he showed me this dead bird half decomposed in the sand.(thanks daddy)
I have done this shot with my recently forgotten nokia as I didn’t have my dslr with me. It’s really when these little camera comes handy ! I’m happy I could capture this strange scene to can share it with you now. Please enjoy the result below :

Btw, this was taken in Scheveningen in the Netherlands.

Playing a bit with my new Sigma 70-200 2.8 Ex

I was walking around the sloterpark and saw these kids who were having fun trying to sail.

Btw,  it’s the “De duikelaar” water sport center, so if you have kids and you around  Amsterdam this summer check their website, they have plenty of activities.
Back to photography now. I just wanted to present you some shot I made of the sailing boat with some comments.

The first shot is a general where one of the instructor is explaining probably some safety rules.

Nikon D300, F 6,4, 1/1000, 200mm

The light was very nice, very sunny. I was trying to find some nice composition between the line of boats in the foreground and the line of empty boats in the background. The road behind is a bit out of focus with this focal length and aperture but maybe I could have use a smaller aperture to have it more out of focus maybe.

Nikon D300, F 18, 1/160, 120 mm

For this one I tried to frame and isolated the little sailing boat with the other elements. I’m pretty please with this shot.

Nikon D300, F 4, 1/1200, 85 mm

I wanted to play with a different foreground and to have the boats with their poles slightly out of focus to create some graphic effect and not to be the main subject anymore. I like the foreground very much with his old boats and rotten chains. I saw the bird coming but he was faster than I thought, I wanted to have him more in the center of the low part of the picture. Too bad !

Nikon D300, F 10, 1/500, 200 mm

And the last one is more about the sailing itself. I notice one of the boat that was about to fall. I took several shoot to capture the entire movement and I choose this one because I like the fact that it’s about in the middle of the fall. I also like the opposition with the group of boat completely still in the background thought I didn’t really notice it when I took the shoot. I like the wavy chains in the foreground that underline the action.

Unfortunately the pictures are not as sharp as I would like them to be. I still need to be used to the weight of the lens, I wasn’t completely steady. But the general quality is in my opinion quite good. I hope this some helpful comment, in any case, it was some good fun !
I would be glad to here your remarks or critics about those shots. More on my flickR.

24e Lakenfeest edition – Peurbakkentocht

Last Thursday, I went to see the “lakenfeest” in Leiden. I didn’t quite get the historical context of this event but after I had ask to some few people, it appears that the main goal is to have fun and drink beer. The participants decorate their boat and going down on the canals. A sort of carnival. This was pretty crowdy and the atmosphere was very nice. A very colorful event which was the occasion to do some pictures :

Nikon D300, 85mm, F11 – 1/500

Nikon D300, 85mm, F3,2 – 1/2000

Nikon D300, 50mm, F3,2 – 1/3200

Nikon D300, 85mm, F5 – 1/250

Thanks to my friend Aaron who told me about this terrace of a café on the 6th floor where I could have nice point of view.

Nikon D300, 85mm, F5 – 1/250

Nikon D300, 85mm, F5 – 1/320

We improvised (with one of my friend who was with me) a portrait session with some teenager that where kind enough to play the game. Here is the result :

Nikon D300, 85mm, F5 – 1/250

Nikon D300, 85mm, F3,2 – 1/250

This one is definitely my favorite :

Nikon D300, 85mm, F3,2 – 1/250

And that conclude this evening. More pictures on my Flickr. You can also check the website of the Lakenfeest. The event goes on till tomorrow.

NB : All the pictures where taken in aperture priority mode to can control how I wanted or not to isolate the subject from the background. I mainly used the lens Nikkor 85mm f1.8D.  I wish I had my 70-200 but it wasn’t possible

Trio

First attempt with the muse lens from lensbaby

Here is the first attempt with the muse lens from lensbaby. More on this later …

Day 57 :A desiquilibrium day

I just finish to read “Face to face” by Rick Sammon’s. In my opinion , it’s an amazing book for all photographers who like to photograph people and make better picture out of it. Very inspiring. I’ve decided (never too late !)to pay even more attention to the composition in my pictures starting with my daily mobile picture. This work is just starting and there will be more to come. Here is the thinking I had today before I took the daily shot.

When I arrived on the platform to wait for my train, I saw this girl who was sitting in the middle of the platform to read her book. I thought that it would made a nice picture, as it was funny to see how she was completely unaware of the world around her.

My first thought for this shot was to try to compose something with the lines on the floor. First to make something original and dynamic, and secondly to try to split the picture in different areas. I decided to put her head in the white line and to tilt the mobile so the line will lead our eyes to her. Here is my first shot :

Then , the train was about to arrive so I’ve started to want to oppose the girl who was sitting with some other people who were walking in a hurry around her, hopping secretly that she will not get away as well. It gave these two shots:

I wasn’t happy with those two and I realize that it would be nice to catch people out the train while the girl was still sitting as these people would be completely on the other side of the middle line. I must say I was pretty lucky as the guy that get out the train first was a roller skater who was wearing red clothes. It was exactly the type of shot I had in my mind. I could create the opposition of two different worlds with the line, one dynamic and colorful and one quiet and dull. And that makes the picture of the day ! Hope you’ll enjoy it as much as the comments !

Day 56 : A flourish day

Day 55 : A festive day

That’s all made with plastic bags strips !  Though it might not be the best way to recycle those, it produces a nice colorful effect.

Day 54 : A surrealist day