Mois : juillet 2018

Or not – I actually missed the lunar eclipse due to quite a lot of low cloud. However, towards 22h30 the cloud cover started dispersing and I was able to get a few shots of the ‘red’ moon

This is the latest teaser from NIKON

This is supposed to represent the next generation of full-frame digital cameras from NIKON – the mirroless concept.

These have been around for a while, albeit in compact camera (smaller sensor) style, but recently the BIG name manufacturers have been putting a lot of effort into creating a real full frame version capable of taking over where reflex camera bodies left off…

What are the advantages? Well, simply put, this would make a HUGE difference to my work. One of the disadvantages to reflex cameras is the reflex mirror – the noise of the shutter and the mirror is VERY distrubing when photographing circus performances, and to have the sensitivity which is now possible, linked to a virtually silent camera body would make my job a lot easier. Most mirroless cameras don’t have an optical (electronic) viewfinder, and this would be vital for most professionals, as an optical viewfinder allows the photographer to A: screen the viewfinder imange from extraneuos light, and B: not bother all the people around him while he’s obliged to look at the screen on the back of the camera body.

Sadly there are disadvantages too – in partiicular the lens mount – it’s thought that NIKON will announce a new lens mount when the new camera is launched in August. This is down to simple physics – the distances involved (in the camera body) will not be the same given that there is no longer a mirror, so they will no doubt be obliged to create an adaptor with which we’ll be able to use all our existing lenses. No news on this yet, and therefore no news whether this adaptor will let us use all the existing automatic (focusing etc.) funtions currently available.

So, we’ll just have to wait and see what NIKON will come up with (and the cost!) at the end of August…

This year the 14th July fell on a Saturday. The same weekend we had the final of the World Cup, which, by a strange freak of chance, was France versus Croatia.

I foolishly chose to go up onto « my » hill which overlooks the city – foolishly because the shots are pretty much identical to last years ones…

If you enlarge the picture, you can see people lining the « escalier monumentale » – just under the left hand edge of the fireworks.

Then on Sunday evening I went out again, after the triumphal win of France 4-2 over Croatia, as I had a sneaking suspicion that the town hall might be lit up with the national colours.

And I was right! The whole of the top of Auch was cordonned off and there were quite a number of people out – these girls were having a wonderful time in the illuminated fountains!

However, the image that I thought summed things up, for me at least, was taken by a French Airforce photographer, standing underneath the Arc de Triomphe.

I can imagine the photographer, after having had the idea to do the shot, getting himself lined up under the archway as the Alphajets screamed along the Champs Elysées, opening his left eye to line up the leader with the centre of the arch as they closed in, simply moving backwards and forwards across the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, hoping that the wind would blow the flag out of his way, then firing shot after shot as the jets came into shot. Fantastic – I don’t know who you are, but this is a terrific shot – well done.

Note: although this image is presented on the web facing in this direction, I’m pretty sure the original image has been reversed – firstly, the Alpha Jets of the French Airforce fly North-West/South-East (from right to left with the sun in this position) along the Champs Elysées, and secondly the sun would not be as far to the right (West) at 12h when the planes overfly the parade. Lastly (and after much research) the French Victories  « Mantou » and « Tagliamento » are amongst those engraved on the Southern pillar. Therefore this image is facing the correct direction.

I’ve recently been hunting around for an artist to help with a project we’re putting together here in Auch.

Thankfully  I found one – Laure BELLION , and while we were discussing the project, she mentionned the fact that she was involved with another project in Auch which was all about a couple of artists from Burkina Fasso and making bronze sculptures.

This sounded interesting from a photographic point of view, so last Saturday I visited the Atelier des Berges du Gers (Gers Riverbank Workshop) and this is what I saw:

The previous week, various budding artists following the course, had made wax sculptures which they had then covered in clay. This week, Ibrahim and his father Bamadou made a fire in an old oil drum and heated up the clay molds to melt the wax.

Once the molds were empty, another fire was lit, this time inside a circular drum made of refractive (heat resistant) bricks. On top of the charcoal used to create the heat was placed a crucible containing brass taps, bits of copper pipe – anything and everything that would melt and create the ‘bronze’ alloy. Air was blown into this ‘furnace’ by the simple expedient of an electric fan and a piece of old motorbike exhaust pipe!

Fresh charcoal was added every few minutes and after about an hour the crucible was glowing with the molten metal inside. Ibrahim then lifted the crucible out of the ‘oven’ …

…and poured the molten bronze into the molds.

The molds were left to cool down for about three hours before they were broken apart with hammers and chisels to reveal the bronze statue inside.

After a fair bit of chiseling and thumping, Ibrahim then attacked the sculptures with an angle grinder to remove the excess metal.

The black material is simply the carbonised clay which came into contact with the molten metal, at 1500°C – fine work with a small brush and a screwdriver will be needed to get everything clean and ready for polishing.

A really interesting workshop – surprising by it’s contents. With any luck they will be coming back next year!

Last but by no means least, here’s a portrait of Ibrahim and his ‘magic’ glasses!