We’ll Always Have Paris

May 20, 2013 by Harold Davis | Leave a comment

I’m just back from France, where as you may know I led a photography workshop in Paris. This was a hugely productive workshop, both for me and for the participants. You can see some of the extraordinary photos created by workshop participants in the 2013 Photography with Harold Davis in Paris workshop by clicking here.

Mark Brokering and I are planning to lead another photography workshop in Paris in the spring of 2014. The tentative dates are April 26, 2014 through May 4, 2014. This is one day longer than the 2013 workshop.

City of Light © Harold Davis

We are planning in 2014 to include a visit to Monet’s garden at Giverny, along with exclusive access after hours, as this was one of the highlights in 2013 (I can’t wait to go back to Giverny!). Click here to see 2013 workshop participants on the steps of Monet’s house at Giverny.

We’ll also include many of the highlights and best locations of the 2013 workshop, along with some new destinations, such as the relatively unknown Parc de Sceaux. As in 2013, we’ll be hosted at the historic and extraordinary 4-star left-bank Hotel Lutetia.

Parc de Sceaux © Harold Davis

Luxembourg Gardens © Harold Davis

The dates for the 2014 workshop are still tentative, in part because I’d like the workshop to follow the opening for my planned gallery exhibition in Paris. I’m hoping it will work out so that anyone who wants to fly in a few days earlier can also come to my opening.

Participation in the 2014 Photography with Harold Davis in Paris workshop will of course be limited, and priority will be given to 2013 participants who (like me) can’t get enough of Paris!

If you are interested in the 2014 workshop, please drop me a (non-binding) expression of interest, and also feel free to ask me or Mark Brokering any questions you may have about the 2014 workshop.

A full prospectus and itinerary for the 2014 workshop, along with online registration, will be available in the next few weeks…stay tuned!

Posted in Paris, Workshops

Eiffel Tower from Sacre Coeur Dome

May 18, 2013 by Harold Davis | Leave a comment

Up about three hundred claustrophobic steps in a narrow, winding staircase lies the gallery around the exterior of the dome of the Basilica of Sacre Coeur in Montmartre. This place is anything but touristic—perhaps because to get here one has already climbed the famous stairs to Montmartre, then proceeded up to the top of the church. As you can see, there are panoramic views of Paris. Alas, years of visitors have scratched or drawn their initials on the gallery pillars and walls, so the place is far from pristine.

Eiffel Tower from Sacre Coeur Dome © Harold Davis

Exposure data: 24mm, nine exposures at shutter speeds from 1/800 of a second to 2/5 of a second, each exposure at ISO 200 and f/25; tripod mounted; exposures combined using Nik HDR Efex Pro, processed in Photoshop, and converted to monochromatic using Photoshop and Nik Silver Efex Pro.

Posted in France, Monochrome, Paris

Chateau de Nazelles

May 16, 2013 by Harold Davis | Leave a comment

The Chateau de Nazelles is located a few miles from Amboise in the Loire Valley. Built by some of the same craftsmen that constructed Chenonceau Chateau, today it is a wonderful bed and breakfast that I used as a base of operations. This image, in monochromatic HDR, conveys the feeling that being there is like visiting old France—and is more like a line drawing, or lithograph, than a photo. However, color images to come will also show the incredible lushness of the Loire in spring.

Chateau de Nazelles © Harold Davis

Exposure info: Nine exposures, each exposure at f/22 and ISO 100, with shutter speeds ranging from one second to 1/200 of a second; tripod mounted; exposures combined using Nik HDR Efex Pro and processed in Photoshop, with monochromatic conversion using Nik Silver Efex Pro and Photoshop black & white adjustment layers.

Posted in France, HDR, Monochrome

Eiffel

May 15, 2013 by Harold Davis | Leave a comment

Reviled when it was built as a fun house rocket ship and aesthetic monstrosity, it’s amazing how the Tour Eiffel in fact manifests visual grace with decorative flourishes and curls in the ironwork. Seen from a distance with the lights of Paris turned on, the spectacle is a bit amusement park—but up close there’s an almost decorative art nouveau feeling, despite an anachronistic and blatant attempt at modernism.

Eiffel © Harold Davis

To make this image, I turned my camera up towards the tour. To exaggerate the open and lacy feeling of the structure, I overexposed by about 2 EVs. This made sure that the darker areas of the tower didn’t go entirely black, and allowed the filigree patterns in the less dense areas to emerge.

The final settings at 22mm focal length and ISO 200 were a 1/80 of a second shutter speed and f/4.5.

Posted in Monochrome, Paris, Photography

Katie Rose is Five

May 14, 2013 by Harold Davis | Leave a comment

Yesterday we celebrated Katie’s fifth birthday with parties at Step One (her preschool) and at home. Katie Rose is a charming, wonderful little girl—and living proof that there are miracles.

Katie Rose is 5 © Harold Davis

How time flies! Five years ago we were caught in that country where the boundaries of life and death come close. How reassuring it would have been to look forward those years to see her now.

Click here to read more about The Story of Katie Rose.

Posted in Katie Rose, Kids, Photography

Au Sauvignon

May 12, 2013 by Harold Davis | Leave a comment

Across the street from the hotel and down the block, Au Sauvignon, a modest brasserie offered simple food and seats to watch the world go by. In the back, these narrow and steep stairs, lined with framed etchings, led to the toilet. This iPhone shot is looking back down towards the main floor and good cheer of the brasserie.

Brasserie Stairs © Harold Davis

Posted in iPhone, Paris, Photography

La Tour Eiffel

May 3, 2013 by Harold Davis | Leave a comment

At night, the area under the Eiffel Tower turns into an exciting display of lights, colors and people—as you can see in this iPhone shot of this small carousel in the shadow of the Tour Eiffel, the king of all amusement park rides!

La Tour Eiffel © Harold Davis

Posted in iPhone, Paris, Photography

Harold Davis Photo Workshop at Giverny

May 2, 2013 by Harold Davis | Leave a comment

Here we are after a very satisfying session photographing Monet’s famous gardens at Giverny. The happy but tired group is shown sitting on the steps of Claude Monet’s house. Thanks to Marianne Glosenger for shooting this group portrait. Our guide Valerie is shown on the lower left.

On the steps at Giverny © Marianne Glosenger

Posted in Workshops

Parc de Sceaux

May 1, 2013 by Harold Davis | 1 Comment

Andre Le Notre is the Frederick Law Olmsted of France. Like Olmsted, Le Notre is the essential landscape designer of his country. In Olmsted’s case, much of the inspiration came from park-like wilderness such as the floor of Yosemite Valley, while Le Notre’s creations—including the gardens at Versaille, Fountainebleau and the Tuilleries—are formal, and involve long vistas with aisles of sight running to the vanishing point, as well as very regular and symmetrical shapes both small and large.

A lesser-known creation of Le Notre’s is the Parc de Sceaux, shown in the photo. The Parc de Sceaux lies on the periphery of Paris near the bedroom community of Bourg-la-Reine. It is one of Le Notre’s masterpieces.

Parc de Sceaux © Harold Davis

Posted in Landscape, Paris

San Sulpice

April 30, 2013 by Harold Davis | Leave a comment

San Sulpice is a marvelous, unfinished baroque church. It’s a few blocks from the Paris hotel my workshop group is staying in. The interior of this church was in an important scene in Dan Brown’s peculiar but popular book, The Da Vinci Code, which is largely set in Paris. The obelisk shown in this iPhoneograph plays a significant role.

San Sulpice © Harold Davis

I shot my image using my iPhone 5, and processed it using the Lo-Mob and Plastic Bullet apps.

Posted in iPhone, Paris

Luxembourg Gardens

April 26, 2013 by Harold Davis | Leave a comment

I am staying around the corner from the Luxembourg Gardens, a fun place to photograph with its harmonious straight lines of trees and flowers in their springtime bloom. This is an example of iphoneography, shot with my iPhone 5, showing one of the aisles of trees.

Luxembourg Gardens by Harold Davis

I processed it through Lo-Mob and Plastic Bullet while waiting for an appointment with a gallerist here in Paris. The good news is that I’ll be having an exhibit next April here in Paris, of my Botanique work and some monochromatic prints as well.

Posted in iPhone, Paris

Opera Garnier

April 26, 2013 by Harold Davis | Leave a comment

The Opera Garnier in Paris is baroque and magnificent. It’s mostly not used for opera any more as they’ve built a modern opera house (I’ve heard, however, from several people who’ve been to the opera here). It does host ballet performances. This is a shot of an ornate reception room. Since tripods are not allowed I put the camera with a fisheye lens on the floor, set the self-timer, ran away, and took my chances, coming back to the camera ten seconds later after the exposure!

Posted in Paris

City of Light

April 24, 2013 by Harold Davis | 2 Comments

Paris is often called the “City of Light”—perhaps it should also be called the City of Lights. Plural. As in many. You can see in this photo that everything is lit at night, like a giant playground for adults. But wait! There’s more. Every hour on the hour la Tour Eiffel starts giving off sparks like a giant fireworks candle. Stay tuned, many more photos of Paris to follow.

Posted in Digital Night, Paris

Beside the Seine

April 22, 2013 by Harold Davis | 2 Comments

Amazing that one can leave San Francisco and in one day be photographing in Paris! This is a view of the Seine River from the Ile St Louis in the center of Paris.

Posted in Monochrome, Paris, Photography

Piggyback Waterdrop

April 20, 2013 by Harold Davis | Leave a comment

The simple pleasures of waterdrop photography can be entrancing, and there is often ample complexity close to home, as in this composition of a waterdrop on a leaf, piggyback on yet another leaf!