Monthly Archives: April 2017

Bend in the Dronne River

April 29, 2017 by Harold Davis | 0 Comments

This peaceful scene along the banks of the Dronne River is in the small Dordogne town of Bourdeilles, France.

Dronne River © Harold Davis

Posted in France

French Signage

April 29, 2017 by Harold Davis | 0 Comments

French signage found in small towns in “deep France” around the Dordogne: Enchanted Mushroom (for a speciality restaurant); Dog on a toilet (for a doggie run); and two pigs for a charcuterie shop.

Enchanted Mushroom © Harold Davis

Doggie Do © Harold Davis

Pig 1 © Harold Davis

Pig 2 © Harold Davis

Posted in Bemusements, France, iPhone

iPhoneography as Art

April 27, 2017 by Harold Davis | 1 Comment

iPhoneography can be art, and a great source of prints. Doodling with the iPhone apps in post-production is also a great way to stave off boredom. Here are two new images!

Perigueux Cathedral © Harold Davis

Above: Perigueux Cathedral on a cloudy day (the architect who “remodeled” this cathedral at the end of the 19th century also designed Sacre Coeur in Paris, one can see the resemblance), camera app, processed in Waterlogue and blended with itself, then processed in Glaze, and blended with the Waterlogue version.

Below: A view to the abbey from the Brantome bell tower (probably the oldest bell tower in France); two camera app exposures, blended manually in True HDR, process in Glaze and blended with the HDR version, with a glow and a frame added in Snapseed.

Brantome © Harold Davis

Posted in France, iPhone

Window and Door

April 26, 2017 by Harold Davis | 0 Comments

Window © Harold Davis

Always nice to photograph interesting windows and doors. Window (above) photographed in the back streets of St Emilion, France. Door (below) an iPhone capture in Bordeilles, with the Waterlogue version layered over the original and masked in on the wall (but not the door) using the Leanardo app.

Door © Harold Davis

Posted in France, Photography

iPhone Workflow in Brantome

April 25, 2017 by Harold Davis | 1 Comment

Brantome Abbey © Harold Davis

To make these images of Brantome Abbey (above) and the so-called “dog-leg” bridge in Brantome (“dog-leg” because there is a 90 degree bend in its crossing of the Dronne River, below)), I started by using the Camera app to make two exposures of each subject, one darker and one lighter.

Next, I combined the two exposures by using True HDR to blend and align the differently exposed image sets.

Taking the blended image, I ran it through Waterlogue to create a watercolor effect. I dialed back the watercolor effect by using ImageBlender to combine the Waterlogue version with the pre-Waterlogue original.

Dog-Leg Bridge, Brantome © Harold Davis

Posted in France, iPhone, Photography

Wine Country

April 24, 2017 by Harold Davis | 0 Comments

This image shows a rose-tinted reflection in the extension to the Chateau la Dominique vineyard near St Emilion, France designed by well-known architect Jean Nouvel.

Wine Country © Harold Davis

Posted in France, Landscape

Don’t Even Think of Parking Here

April 22, 2017 by Harold Davis | 0 Comments

Posted in Bemusements, France

Le Moulin de l’Abbaye

April 21, 2017 by Harold Davis | 1 Comment

This is Le Moulin de l’Abbaye, the mill of the Abbey, and the hotel we will be based in Brantome, France for exploring the Dordogne countryside.

Le Moulin de l’Abbaye © Harold Davis

Two different interpretations! Above: 28mm, 4 exposures at shutter speeds from 1.5 seconds to 8 seconds, each exposure at f/22 and ISO 50; tripod mounted; processed in Photoshop. Below: iPhone 6s, processed in Waterlogue.

Le Moulin de l’Abbaye (iPhone) © Harold Davis

Posted in France, Landscape, Photography

Hang En Campsite

April 17, 2017 by Harold Davis | 0 Comments

This is the first campsite on the way to Son Doong, just within the entrance to the Hang En cave. The trail leads down the rock slide you see in the foreground to the wooden bridge on the lower right. To get to the campsite, you wade across the underground river.

Hang En Campsite © Harold Davis

In the rather elaborate campsite itself, if you look closely you can see the tents of the paying participants in a line on the left, the dining pavilion in the center, and the cooking cluster of the porters on the right. The trail onward and through the Hang En cave leads along the river the curves to the right, and into darkness.

I made this photo with the late afternoon light coming through the cave opening, on my way down to the campsite and to a much needed swim in the lake!

Exposure info: Nikon D810, Zeiss 15mm f/2.8, five combined exposures with each exposure at f/8 and ISO 250, exposure times from 2 seconds to 30 seconds; tripod mounted; processed in Nik HDR Efex Pro and Photoshop.

Posted in Landscape, Vietnam

Respite, Restoration, Catching Up and Moving On

April 16, 2017 by Harold Davis | 0 Comments

I got back from Vietnam earlier this week. Tomorrow (Monday) I leave for France. So this has been a brief respite with my family here in California. Maybe time for mind over matter considering the substantial time-zone shifts in two different directions! A time for catching up and being together, and also a time for catching up by processing a few of the images from my recent travels.

Entering the Hang En Cave

To get to the Son Doong Cave you must first enter Hang En, then pass through the cave to exit into the hidden valley that contains the entrance to Son Doong. This panoramic composite shows the entrance of Hang En, looking out from just inside.

Inside the Entrance to Hang En Cave © Harold Davis

Mountains of the Far North

The otherworldly aspect of the mountainous landscape in the far north of Vietnam is partially offset in this image by the farm and fields sown int he foreground.

Mountains of the Far North © Harold Davis

Related story: Mountains near Meo Vac.

Hmong Girl

I had fun photographing this girl beside the road, who was very friendly and I believe about the age of my daughter Katie Rose.

Hmong Girl © Harold Davis

Related story: Flower Hmong Girl.

Floating Restaurants

These restaurants are in the bay opposite Cat Ba Island’s largest city. You call them, and they send out a launch. Photographed from the rooftop bar of our hotel in Cat Ba.

Floating Restaurants, Cat Ba Island © Harold Davis

Related story: Cat Ba Island Sunset.

Fishing Boats

I photographed these fishing boats with a moderate telephoto focal length along the estuary in Dong Hoi, a provincial capital.

Fishing Bats, Dong Hoi © Harold Davis

Related story: Yesterday and Tomorrow.

Saigon Fine Art Museum Stair

The Fine Art Museum in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) houses an undistinguished collection that is poorly displayed. However, the buildings themselves of the museum, although badly in need of some maintenance, have some quite interesting French IndoChine architectural touches. The spiral stair in the building housing the antiquities part of the collection is shown here in two iPhone images.

Saigon Fine Art Museum Stair (Up) © Harold Davis

Posted in Vietnam

Tulips and a Clematis Vine

April 15, 2017 by Harold Davis | 1 Comment

It’s wonderful to be back—if only for a brief while—in the flowering springtime of northern California. It’s always hard for me to resist spending some time photographing flowers, and today was no exception!

Tulips and a Clematis Vine © Harold Davis

Posted in Flowers

Media Coverage; Workshop Opportunities; Way Station between Vietnam and Europe

April 14, 2017 by Harold Davis | 0 Comments

I’m back this week from Vietnam for a few days to embrace my beloved family, do laundry, archive images—and get ready for the next adventure! On Monday I am off for France, where I’ll be leading a great group of photographers in the beautiful Dordogne countryside, and then next to Malta, where the Malta Photographic Society has invited me to give some lectures.

I’m excited by the media coverage of my new book, The Photographer’s Black & White Handbook. Prestigious publications such as Library Journal have reviewed my book positively, and so have many readers, as you’ll see on Amazon (it will likely come as no surprise to you that my readers are the more important to me!).

You may also be interested in the following recent YouTube videos related to me and my work:

Harold Davis: Google Talk
Harold Davis: Photographing Flowers for Transparency (Masters of Digital Photography, School of Visual Arts)
Black & White in the Digital Era (B&H Presents)

Please keep in mind the following workshop opportunities that still have openings (click the links for more information, or to register!):

Flower Photography Intensive: 4-Day Masterclass in Flower Photography—click here for details and registration, 4-day workshop in Berkeley, CA., June 22-25, 2017 (only four spaces left!)
Photographing Flowers for Transparency at Maine Media Workshop, July 31 – August 5, 2017; click here for details and registration.
Black & White in San Francisco: A Weekend Workshop with Harold Davis, September 16-17, 2017—click here for details and registration.
Advanced LAB Color Seminar with Harold Davis, September 23, 2017—click here for details and registration.
From iPhone to ART: A weekend iPhonegraphy workshop with Harold Davis, January 20-21, 2018—click here for details and registration.

Posted in Workshops

Harold Davis: Talks at Google

April 13, 2017 by Harold Davis | 0 Comments

Here’s the recording of my recent interview and talk at Google regarding The Photographer’s Black & White Handbook and the Zen of Photography!

If the embedded video doesn’t display, please click here to view it on YouTube.

Posted in Writing

Vietnamese Viagra

April 10, 2017 by Harold Davis | 1 Comment

When a guy in Vietnam feels the need for an increase in, shall we say, manliness, potency, and virility, he reaches not for a little blue pill but rather for a concoction of snakes fermented in alcohol, such as the blend shown in a glass jar in the image.

If you want to try this at home, note that King Cobras are best. Thanks to my friend and traveling companion Eric Ryan for his wit, and for this caption. To the best of my knowledge these are farmed snakes (the Vietnamese army runs a snake farm in the Mekong River delta, where we photographed this jar of snakes), rather than wild or endangered species.

Posted in Bemusements, Vietnam

Entrance to the Warlord’s Palace

April 9, 2017 by Harold Davis | 4 Comments

In the early years of the twentieth century a Hmong warlord ruled in the remote and high mountains in the triangle between Vietnam, Laos, and China. Opium poppies were the source of his income and power.

Entrance to the Warlord's Palace © Harold Davis

There’s some confusion as to who built the palace for the “King of the Hmongs”. The guidebook says it was built by the French. Our local guide credited the people the warlord ruled, as a kind of tribute. In any case, the warlord was clearly sought after by the great powers, and also handled all issues of life and death for those who lived under his sway.

Incidentally, like many a building of the rich and powerful, the entrance to the warlord’s palace is far grander than any of the chambers on the inside.

Posted in Monochrome, Vietnam