Birds and the Belfry

This 'street' photo actually was shot as I recall 'across' the Seine

River in Paris from a slowly moving and sometimes stopped taxi on the

way to Charles De Gaulle airport. (a good argument for keeping your

camera at the ready). Your ratings and critiques are invited and

most welcome. (If you rate harshly or very critically, please submit

a helpful and constructive comment/Please share your superior

knowledge to help improve my photography.) Thanks! Enjoy! John

(This image has been desaturated by exceeding the exposure limits and

probably later -- when not in Internet cafes -- it will be more

carefully desaturated using 'channel mixer' in PhotoShop.) JC

I like it. I think it captures a sense of timelessness. I can see why you didnt crop out the treetops because then you would lose most of the streaming light from between the clouds.

Derek, you are exactly right. I was never tempted to even touch this 'street' photograph, which I took, as you see, from a passing taxicab. The cab was slowed by traffic, so I managed to squeeze off two of the belfry, and then the birds flew into view and you can see the results.

 

Sometimes God just smiles on us poor photographers.

 

John (Crosley)

If you know this 'famous' (I understand) belfry, please let me know the name of it. It's looking southward from the 'rive droite' of the Seine, perhaps to the Rive Gauche or perhaps to the Isle, and more probably to the Isle. I'm interested from a Parisian (or someone who knows) to learn the name of this apparent landmark.

 

Thanks.

 

John (Crosley)

Very beautiful.....

Ellen, I broke the rules in this photo. I take pains always to place the vertical as vertical and the horizontal . . . well you know . . . but this sudden shot caught me without rules and sometimes rules . . . well you know . . .

 

Thanks.

 

John

Very nice. Surprise shots when developed are some of the best!

Ain't it the truth; nobody was more delighted about this shot than I, the man who has posted fewer scenics and landscapes on PN than almost any member or subscriber.

 

Not because I can't do them, but because I almost can never do them so very well that they are unique, which I think should be a hallmark of a good photograph. This one made that mark in my book.

 

I hope it did for you too.

 

Thanks Joan.

 

John ©

WOW!

Gosh.

 

Thanks.

 

This was from a moving taxi.

 

Took another one today -- this time of a 'street scene' equally as enchanting -- though not as pretty' also from a moving taxi -- just rolled down the window and fired away.

 

You just gotta push that shutter button or you don't get those photos. It starts by 'recognizing' the scene 'in an instant' (a l'instant), moving quickly to either roll down that window or maybe it's already open, then, if you're a real 'ready' photographer, your camera already is at your side (or in your lap, its adjustments already preset for the conditions you're in (white balance or film, ASA, correct lens -- especially zoom, adequate aperture for time of day, etc.)

 

All that preparation, and taking such a photo is not so hard at all.

 

Without such preparations, you'd probably never take such a photo, but you'd have a vague, fleeting memory of a photo you 'might have taken', and even that memory will go away very quickly . . . into the ether.

 

John (Crosley)