The rule of thirds, which is not really a rule, would have you put the horizon on a third. But which third ?
Landscape or Skyscape
Oléron Odysey
Ile d’Oléron is the largest of France’s Atlantic islands.
Saint-Savinien-sur-Charente
Saint-Savinien-sur-Charente is one of the most picturesque villages in Roman Saintonge. Climbing a rock buttress on the banks of the River Charante the village affords nice views and provides some good places to stand.
Saintes
Saintes an historic town in southwestern France, in the Charente-Maritime department. In Roman times, Saintes was known as Mediolanum Santonum, and during much of its history, the name of the city was spelled Xaintes.
Royan and The Coast of Beauty
A little mish mash today – all taken on a cycle ride along the “cote de beaute” between St-Palais-sur-Mer and Royan.
Charrelets – Belle Epoque Architecture – and that Catherdral again.
Wow !
The most striking building in the French coastal city of Royan is undoubtedly the Cathedral (église Notre-Dame) – it stands on the site of a former neo-gothic church that was destroyed in 1945 (as was much of Royan). Designed by architects Guillaume Gillet and Marc Hébrard and built between 1955-58 entirely of concrete, it is considered one of the leaders of French contemporary architecture.
Lumix G9 – New Firmware 1.1
On 30th May Panasonic issued the first firmware update for the G9. It can be downloaded from Panasonic’s website here.
Citadelle de Brouage
Founded around 1555 Brouage was at first the centre for European salt trading, before it became a military base under the drive of it’s governor: Richelieu. It was once the most impressive sea-port of France and Louis XIV, today the bastion lies some distance “inland” surrounded by brackish marshes and provides some interesting photographic opportunities although is perhaps best appreciated from the air.
Talmont sur Gironde
15 kilometres south of Royan, Talmont sits on a rocky peak overlooking the Gironde estuary.
Carrelets
Dotted along the banks of the Gironde Estuary are circa 400 wooden fishing huts which have been built on stilts. Their main implement is a square pulley-operated net (or “filet carré”) which has given the humble shacks their name “carrelets”.
La Grande Roue
Big and Round – and on the seafront at Ronce-les-Bains on a sunny and busy Sunday afternoon. Only one approach to such a subject – Fisheye of course.
Huitres
Huitres (Oysters) are a favourite of the French – the marshes around the river Seudre and L’ile d’Oleron in the Charentes Maritime are awash with the small scale infrastructure used to raise and harvest the mollusc.
Blue Hour & Dust
I have yet to capture a good sunset with the G9 – not because the G9 isn’t capable but because I have not seen a decent sunset for what feels like months – we really are having some odd weather in Western Europe this year with spring seemingly bypassed and summer still some way over the horizon.
Coffee & Cake
It’s almost de rigeur to test a lenses bokeh in a trendy coffee shop – not wishing to disappoint I have given it a go. All with the PL 12-60mm f/2.8-4.0 hand held. Quite pleased with the results – the coffee and cake were good too.
Canarian Wildlife
Not the most obvious location for a wildlife safari but when needs must the migrant photographer must make do with what’s around.
Testing AFC in very testing conditions
So yesterday I decided to do some more long exposure photography and push the boundaries a bit with really long exposures of several minutes, so with my Lee Super Stopper in hand I trotted off to the Faro de El Toston (Lighthouse) which I thought would make a good subject with the clouds skudding overhead.
Lumix G9 – Slow Shutter Test
A very quick and non-scientific test of the Dual2 IS on the G9 with the PL 12-60mm f/2.8-f4.0.
All images taken hand held no other support i.e no leaning on anything. Three images taken at all shutter speeds and best image selected, all images taken in single shot mode at 12mm.
Lumix G9 – Bexhill on Sea
A trip down to Bexhill on Sea today to give the G9 a run out.
The De La Warr Pavilion is an Art Deco grade 1 listed building buit in 1935 – it makes a fine photographic subject.
Lumix G9 First Impressions – EVF
As a mirrorless camera the G9 has an electronic viewfinder (evf) – in the case of the G9 this is a 3,680k dot OLED panel.
Lumix G9 First Impressions – Ergonomics
Panasonic have clearly spent a lot of time working on the ergonomics of the G9 and it really shows. They have managed to squeeze into a relatively compact body the best features of both m43 and DSLR formats. In the hand this camera feels superb – it is as good if not better to handle than any other camera that I am aware of and feels exceptionally well built. For me it is neither too big nor too heavy.
