So, I've completely neglected this blog and website in the past few months. It was a busy year and photography was not my priority. That being said; I have been bitten by the Instagram bug and have been pretty active there. I opened an account @geainfrance to showcase my still-life, macro and landscape photography and a second one @myfrenchcountrygarden, where I post daily pictures of my garden or gardens I visit.
If you want to follow my photography, Instagram is the place to be for now.
I have been a member of the Distorted Beauty Community for the past two years. We explore creating beauty while purposefully breaking general rules of photography. There is a new theme every two weeks, and last week it was Diptych/Triptych.
Unfortunately, I haven't managed to get back into my photography flow this past year and a half. But hey, another year has just started ! This post is dedicated to a selection of 12 of my favourite images from 2015. I wasn't able to get out much, so I focused more on still life photography and my garden.
Ok, so I haven't managed to post regularly yet, but I am trying. This week's Distorted Beauty Blog is featuring some amazing images with the theme Experiment. Below is my take:
I was very honored to have one of my images selected this summer for the first ever VOICE Collection that was organised by Clickin Moms, an online photography community for women, that I belong to. The purpose of VOICE is to recognize and celebrate images in 14 separate categories that encapsulate the spirit of this special collection – vision, originality, inspiration, creativity and overall excellence.
One of my images was selected for the semi-final in the category Composition and Design. The Voice collection was displayed at the Click Away conference in Salt Lake city in September, and made into a beautiful video of all images in the collection. Enjoy !
Display at the Click Away Conference in Salt Lake City, September 2014
It has been quiet on my blog , these past few months. It was a busy summer, with some good stuff and some bad. Letting go of my daughter, who has started studying to become a midwife in the Netherlands (1000 km away !), is bittersweet. I am so proud of how she became fluent in French during the years we have lived here, and adapted to a completely different school (culture). I am happy she has found her calling and is living where she prefers to live, and boy do I miss her!
Unfortunately I have had to deal with some serious health issues these past months, and I had to let go of my camera for a while. I am slowly picking it up again and hopefully I can get back on track with this blog. One of the things I want to learn more about, is the use of textures and Still Life. I have joined a course at Kim Klassen and hope to share some of my work soon.
In the next few weeks I will be playing catch up, and edit and post some of the images I did manage to make this summer.
Photography has taken a back seat lately as I have been spending more time on my other passion, gardening. We have a pretty big garden and at this time of the year we need to work on it daily to get on top of the weeds. Also, the weather in May was cold, wet and windy which prevented me to go out and do some of my favourite photography; macro.
Despite the wind, I managed to get some nice lensbaby shots of my aquilegia's and alliums. I just love the painterly feel a lensbaby gives to my macro work. The first two images where taken inside.
You find these crosses dotted around the countryside, here in Normandy. I was driving past this one, near my home and thought it would be nice to create an image with the dramatic sky in the background. I had to be quick, as it started snowing as soon as I got out of the car. I used the Perfect Photo Suite 8 software to create a dramatic, toned B&W, which gives it an old feel. Very fitting as it feels as such a timeless view.
I am very happy to be the featured photographer on our Distorted Beauty Blog . Our theme for last week was Double Exposure, which is something I really love experimenting with. I made another self-portrait in B&W.
Last week, I was up pretty early and when I saw the frost on our field, I just had to get my camera. I got down deep on my knees and shot some macro's. One of them was used for my submission on the theme Deep, for the Distorted Beauty Blog. Please check out the other submissions too or visit our Facebook page !
This week's theme for our Distorted Beauty group was "Unusual Crops". I tried out some more self-portraits combined with movement. Below are two results.
I am posting this one a little late, as the theme for our Distorted Beauty group went live two weeks ago already . I struggled with the theme, which was Slick. All I could think of was John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever ! I decided to interpret slick as shiny and reflective , and shot this image in the city of Rennes in Britanny.
I love the quote below; I know I see pictures everywhere, even in puddles of water.
“Always seeing something, never seeing nothing, being photographer”
Walter de Mulder
This week's theme for our Distorted Beauty group is Blown Highlights.
I made a macro image of a Ranunculus flower in front of my window, and opted for two different edits.
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.
Leonard Cohen in the Anthem song
Today's post is another submission for Distorted Beauty, a collaborative project of 13 photographers that I am a part of.
Distorted Beauty is about breaking general photography rules in a creative and beautiful way. We will be posting on our blog every two weeks, with a new theme. Prior to that, the theme will be posted on the Distorted Beauty Facebook page so that anyone who would like to join along can do so. Images that move us will be featured on the wall for others to see as well.
This week's theme was "Underneath" . I had loads of ideas , that all involved being outside. As the weather wasn't really working with me, I had to change plans. I decided to go for a self portrait. My first trial and error shoot involved me underneath the shower. I've posted them below, but they were not what I was looking for. I didn't just want to be underneath something, but create more layers as well, so I used double exposure in camera. The images were taken in my favourite room in the house. I love looking through the roof-light and seeing the cherry tree at the back of our house.
Have a look on the blog Distorted Beauty, to see which one I picked. Which one do you prefer?
Underneath the Cherry Tree
My very first blog entry is for a photography community and blog circle called "Distorted Beauty", that I belong to. We will explore creating beauty while purposefully breaking general rules of photography , based on bi-weekly themes. Our first theme is blur, which I happen to love !
Impressions of a rose
I choose to photograph a rose, a thing of beauty in itself, surely, but also a contradiction with its prickly thorns causing pain. Many poets were inspired by this fact , like Anne Brönte who writes in her poem "the Narrow Way":
On all her breezes borne,
Earth yields no scents like those;
But he that dares not grasp the thorn
Should never crave the rose.
I wanted to portray the beauty of a rose, but in a less obvious way. Devoid of colour and focus. I ended up with several impressions of a rose, one more abstract than the other, but all reveal her beauty to me.
I am curious to know which one you prefer?
