best of: france 2008

So for today's post I will show you some of my favourite shots from the trip, taken with my Samsung S630. It may be a little point-and-shoot, but it is capable of good photos.

One of my favourite photos, ever. I love the colour of the sky and the sheet of clouds below.

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B&W shot of an empty park in Paris, and guess what that thing in the background is...

Ah, so it's the Eiffel Tower!

That's the, uh, Trocadéro (I googled)

Sacré Coeur de Montmartre - in black and white.

13th century architecture with 21st century transport, captured together in black and white (again).

This photo of the golden gates at the Château de Versailles could've been a classic if not for the construction work going on in the background... I love how the intricate designs stand out against the dark sky, though.

Now at first look this photo might seem like a crappy one. Well I admit it's not a brilliant photo but it's not lousy either. Because although the building is underexposed you can still make out the silhouettes of the statues on the roof. And the most in-your-face thing in the photo, the reflection of the sun in the glass, leads your eyes to the design at the top part of the window, which is perfectly exposed. And once you see that, you notice the design in the other window, and then you realise there are 2 more similar windows in the picture.

This photo isn't terribly excellent or anything but the reason I'm posting it here is to show you people how awesomely blue the skies in France are. In fact, there was nary a single cloud in the sky that afternoon in Avignon. Here in Singapore we'll be lucky to see even a bit of the sky; there are so many goddamn clouds over here, it's annoying.

One good thing about having cloudless skies is that plane contrails are clearly visible. In fact, I saw more planes in France in a day than I did back home in a month. Here you can see the contrail of an airliner painting an orange streak in the sky over the statue of Louis XIV in Place Bellecour, Lyon. (I googled the name of the statue) And in the right of the picture, glowing orange, is the Basilica of Fourvière (I googled it again, haha).

We visited a silk factory and this is my favourite shot from the visit.

Some church in Geneva. I like how the main building and the steeple are lit but the background and foreground are in the shadows. It gives the picture a ghostly feeling, I think.

La Fête des Lumières (the festival of lights) in Lyon is a photographer's paradise. Basically, on 8 December every year, the whole town lights up in gratitude toward Mary, mother of Jesus (I totally wiki-ed that, teehee). So at night there are colourful lights all around and I imagine there are many photographers rubbing their hands together and grinning idiotically on that day. I am not kidding - the photography opportunities are amazing.

Des bougies sur les fenêtres - candles on the windows. Something the people of Lyon do on this day. And from outside, rows of buildings with their windows lined with candles is a sight to behold.

Half second exposure. It's still blurry though. Not much I could do about it.

Some fountain in central Lyon.

View of the other side of the river. I love those colourful lights!

Another view of the river.

And now, my favourite photo EVER......

There are just so many things about this picture that make it my absolute favourite of all time. #1 - I hadn't planned to take it at all. I just happened to be by the river when they started firing. I had no tripod, I could only lean against the stone barrier to steady my hand. Sometimes the best photos are taken without planning.

#2 - The amount of fireworks in the sky. Not too much, not too little. At the last National Day, I tried shooting the fireworks but didn't get a satisfactory one. In most of my shots there was just a mass of white in the centre. But in this one, you can see the individual light trails of each burst and even those of the following bursts. They are like flower stalks, joining the 'flowers' in the sky with the ground.

#3 - The camera I used. I only had my S630, which, thank goodness, had some manual controls, albeit very limited. Still, I doubt I would've taken it with my 450D. This is a 3 second handheld exposure. Yes, there is still camera shake, but not so bad it destroys the picture.

I remember reviewing the photo afterwards and going - 'wow shit I can't believe I took that'.

So there you are. Photos that kick-started my photography hobby. And it is now 5.30pm, which means I spent almost 3 hours on this post, including editing photos. I hope you enjoyed them! Now excuse me as I go tidy up my room! See you!