Monday 23 February 2009

Dusk time in the forest

Dusk time at the Chartreuse de la Verne
Dusk time at the Chartreuse de la Verne


I've spent many time shooting during these last three days. That's a photo from yesterday in the late evening. The long exposure (125 seconds) really helps to retrieve some colors in the scene under a really low light. Of course such an long exposure can't give very sharp leaves in the forest but today i don't think that's really a problem. Some years ago i would probably not have done this shot. I was working in a photo agency and we were reviewing slides from photographers on a light table with a strong magnifying glass. This one OK, this one no ... I guess we wouldn't have accepted any forest shot if we couldn't count the leaves on the trees :)

Today i spent most of the day shooting paintings for a painter and after that i rapidly went to the beach for some seascapes at dusk time. Shooting paintings is an usual part of my job and i have to say that it's a real pleasure. It gives inspiration and it's always a good lesson about composition and colors.
A painter i often work with became a friend and 5 years ago for the birth of my daughter she offered her a large beautiful painting and told us Put it where she can see it, touch it, play with it. That's done whith Liquitex acrylic and it can't be damaged by a child. Five years after i can say that it's true and Liquitex on canvas can resist to many things :)

5 comments :

Unknown said...

How wonderful to have an arist friend that us os kind to share and have art reach your little girl!
I truly love the colors in this piece -- and the mood...

C. JoyBell C. said...

wooooowwww....look at the pretty, pretty, pretty castle! :) Well, if I want it to be a castle, it will be a castle! Hmmph!

Mark Alan Meader said...

I don't think anyone is counting the leaves! That's one thing about distributing work this way, many people never get to experience the (at least to me) deeper beauty of a fine print. I put a lot of effort into my prints and I'm sure you do too; it's kind of a shame that this format just averages everything out, good or bad, as far as quality goes. We can look at the light, composition and color, but for me the print's the real deal. I have to admit though that this is a great way to reach viewers that would otherwise never see your work.

Unknown said...

Mark,

Because of my english i'm not sure to understand the exact meaning of your comment so i'll try to explain a little more.

- I really share your mind about the fact that when we shoot landscapes that's to produce beautiful prints and nobody will make a fine art print by printing a bad image on a fine art paper.

- I wrote this note about the leaves in this image because it may not be obvious even on my large view and i wouldn' want to disappoint a buyer.
On photo sharing sites i see many very impressive images but i would never buy a print because they show some obvious artifacts that are not due to image resizing or jpeg compression.

Mark Alan Meader said...

Well, your English is much better than my French! I think we agree perfectly.
I guess my main point was: the "craft" element can get lost with all this internet stuff. How long does the average person look at an image on a website.. 10 sec., 30 sec., or maybe 1 min., if they really like it? Then probably never again. Unlike a print which they can enjoy for years.

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