Photography | 
17 May , 2022 15:05 | 
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Pastel
I am experimenting with Pastel.
I attended drawing classes for several years, starting with simple drawing and moving to live model and portrait. I decided to focus on portraits. It is a bigger challenge; in live model (we do not take a photo of the model), we can make an exceptionally beautiful drawing that does not necessarily look like the model or the pose. On the other hand, for portraits, one can, and in general I do, take a photo of the model; it takes a lot of effort and skill to find the resemblance!
I had already drawn in pastel in some of the classes but nothing serious and the results were quite primitive.
As I said in another article, I am taking advantage of my time at home during this pandemic to draw. I continue with portraits and decided to try the pastel. I have several books on the subject and of course I am looking for tutorials on the web. Mastering it takes time but that does not put me off, I try all kinds of stuff.
I have several boxes of chalk and a box of 24 Faber-Castel pencils for details. Right now, I am drawing on Canson Mi-teintes paper in different colors.
At the initiative of one of the students, since we cannot attend classes, a small group decided to draw (at home) a model every week and to share our work.
Several sites offer photos of models for artists. We take turns choosing a model and each one chooses the pose and medium he/she wants. On Wednesdays we email our work to the group. It is very stimulating to see what other people are doing. As far as I am concerned it encourages me to improve and try other techniques.
One of us volunteered to put this on the web, here is the link.
Here is what I have drawn so far, in chronological order:
Latest update Feb 26 2022:(click on an image to start slideshow)
The best photos taken at the Technoparc of Montreal – 2020
Every Saturday since May I go on an image hunting expedition at the Technoparc in Montreal. It is a preserved wetland where birds of all kinds swarm. I have listed 25 species and I am sure there are many more!
I am using a Nikon D750 with a 200-500 zoom lens. Usually I take my pictures there at extremely high speed, typically between 1/1000 and 1/2000 of a second. And often I “shoot” in bursts of 3 to 6 photos per second. This is how I managed to take some intersting sequences that I present to you here.
Some shots are not as sharp as I would like them to be because either the birds are really very far away and therefore I do a lot of cropping to represent them, or the light conditions are not ideal and since I am working at very high speed necessarily the ISO increases and the grain too! For “post-processing” I use Adobe’s Lightroom.
The sequences
(Click to see)
Egret taking flight
Egret landing
Egret fishing
Woodpecker the mating season
I have also prepared a slideshow of a selection of the best photos from this season. You will see photos of the following species:
Egret, Goose, Night heron, Cardinal, Blackbird, Goldfinch, Greater Yellowlegs, Starling, Falcon, Canadian Jay, Heron, Green Heron, Swallow, Black Swallow, Waxwing, Kingfisher, Blackbird, Tit, Sparrow, Flycatcher, Warbler, Woodpecker, Flaming Woodpecker, Common Tyrant, Hawk
The slideshow
The most beautiful photos
Tags: Aigrettes, Bernaches, Photography, Technoparc
Photography | 24 October , 2020 15:02 | Comments (0)
Drawing Portraits
In this period of confinement because of the COVID-19 virus, I spend my time drawing portraits from sketches or photos.
I created a slideshow using JSSOR. I used the opportunity to try to understand how it works, it’s not obvious, especially if you want to use it with JQUERY. Here is the result:
Dessin | 15 May , 2020 15:39 | Comments (0)
Cape Horn Cruise
23 day trip, started in Buenos Aires, where we spent 5 days, followed by a 14 day cruise on the Norvegian Star, 2,300 passengers, which took us around Cape Horn to the port of San Antonio at Chile, from there transfer to Santiago to take the plane back.
Our cruise
We really liked Buenos Aires, a very beautiful city that reminded us a lot of Paris. Very beautiful avenues, buildings with architecture from the beginning of the 20th century, very beautiful parks, beautiful statues everywhere.
Our hotel was in a great location, opposite the obelisk, very close to the Colon Theater and near a superb park, Lavalle. We have adopted a charming bistro a stone’s throw from the hotel “Le Petit Colon” for our coffee breaks.
Took a city tour, visit the famous Recoleta cemetery, the La Boca district and a superb 3 De Febrero garden. Went to a Tango dinner show
One day, we went to see the Iguazu Falls, 2 hours by plane, very impressive. A tiring day, we walked for almost 4 hours under a blazing sun.
Iguazu Falls
We really enjoyed the cruise, the boat was very good, food, in general excellent, courteous and kind services, high quality shows, lots of activities every day to keep you busy if you wanted. We had a cabin with balcony on deck number nine, very comfortable and well designed.
Norvegian Star
The boat made 6 stops, Montevideo in Uruguay, Puerto Madryn in Argentina, Stantley in the Falkland Islands, Ushuaia in Argentina and Punta Arenas, Puerto Chacabuco and Puerto Montt in Chile. We took 6 excursions, 4 were excellent, one was OK and one bad.
In Montevideo we did not take an excursion but went down for a walk, we ended up on a corniche which reminded us a lot of that of Alexandria.
In Puerto Madryn and the In Puerto Madryn and the Falklands we visited penguin colonies, saw an albino penguin, something very rare.
Pingouins
At the Falklands
In Punta Arenas we went to a sheep farm, where we were treated to demonstrations; shepherd dog, swimming and shearing sheep. We were welcomed with Pisco Sour cocktail and an excellent meal of braised mutton was served with Chiliean wines.
Shearing of a sheep
Berger avec chien
In Ushuaia and Puerto Montt we are we went on catamaran trips and visited national parks, perfect weather (incredible! We were told to dress warmly, but it was not really necessary) and breathtaking landscapes
Volcan
Magda and I were a great team taking a lot of photos.
The weather was ideal during the whole trip, which is remarkable because it is often windy, the sea is rough and it rains in this corner of the world. At Cape Horn, where the weather was superb, the captain, who was Greek, said “This is what happens when the captain speaks the language of Poseidon“.
At the Cape Horn
In 2 places, at Cape Horn and in front of the Chilean fjords the captain had the boat made a 360 degrees so that everyone could admire the view.
Taken nearly 2,000 photos, we had 2 cameras, the Nikon D750 with 2 lenses, including the 200-500, The CyberShot and my Galaxy phone.
In Santiago again the hotel was very well located. Took a city tour and then stroll a bit to the Plaza de Armas. We witnessed a shoplifting theft in a pharmacy, where the security guard caught the thieves. ”
Santiago is a beautiful city unfortunately disfigured by graffiti, the result of violent demonstrations that took place in the fall.
Quelques photos du voyage
Tags: Photography, Voyage
Photography, Voyage | 29 February , 2020 10:06 | Comments (0)
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