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I am a man who does lots of stuff... I am a father... I am a husband... I am a bicyclist... I am a guy who brews his own beer... I am a photographer.. I know a thing or two about computers...
cycling, photography

Tour de France Stage 5 Chateauroux

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Wednesday was a great day to be in Centre France. My weekly tour group and I went to have a look at the big race, for the group it was the first time they’ve seen the Tour live, I told them it’s better on television but everyone should see it at least once in person.

I had some issues with the auto focus and rapid shots with the D70 and the 80-200 2.8 ED lens so I didn’t get as many shots of the peleton as I would have liked but here are a couple of them along with a photo from the CSC team truck. I have some more decent photographs from the day, I’ll post’em as I have the time.

The yellow jersey tucked safely into the pack.

Tour de France Stage 5 2008 Chateauroux

The leaders flying ahead. They’re caught in their valiant effort 200 meters from this photo.

Tour de France Stage 5 2008 Chateauroux

CSC Truck

Tour de France Stage 5 2008 Chateauroux

This is the last photo I got before the buffer filled up on the D70, note to photographers everywhere; Don’t shoot raw action shots.  This shot is George Hincapie leading out Team Columbia for the stage win for Mark Cavendash(sp?)  A guest who was shooting right next to me with his newer Canon got some amazing shots and fired at least 20 in the time my camera shot 6.

Tour de France Stage 5 2008 Chateauroux

The lesson has been learned for now, no more raw shots when trying to shoot professional sports with a D70. The time trial at St. Amand may lend it’s self better for it but I’ll try both and post the pics to this site.

All for now, I have some arty shots of Bourges that I may put up later.

L I F E, photography

Provence #2

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Today we revisit our vacation to Provence with our second day in Orange. We were there for a Thursday market, let me tell you…The southern French markets are what the hype is all about. Super fresh food, amazing quantities and selection of everything. We went to the market in Orange for supplies for the night’s dinner of stuffed zuchini blossoms with grilled eggplant and sauted Girole mushrooms and fresh goat’s cheese.  No Recipe, I made it up as I went along…

The eggplant.

Auburgine Photo Provence 2008

The girolle mushrooms.

Girolle mushroom photo Provence 2008

The assembly line.

Fleur de Courgette photo Provence 2008

A really old door and entrance way.

Doorway Orange Theatre France Photograph

An old door and entrance way.

Doorway Orange Centre Ville France Photograph

Nothing more to write.

L I F E, photography

Inspiration

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Sometimes the world seems to have a body down. No matter what life you lead or what you do, life will remind you of how insignificant you are. It will remind you that the world will exist without you and function as well as it did before you. Is this is a dark thought or a positive one? I’ll look at it from a positive, if I do not matter then every good that I bring to another is something that should not have happened. I’ve made someones day better than when they started, therefore I’ve affected someone and I’ve made a change in another insignificant life.  I suppose I’m trying to say, live your personal life the best you can and make as many positive impressions in others and you may or may not find a purpose.

I look for inspiration in my life to keep on rolling, I have a beautiful wife and daughter that keep the wheels on the truck but sometimes I need a non involved friend.

Gehard, Patinge France Bicycle

All of the time I need to look back to the beautiful wife and daughter though…

M & M Patinges France

Sorry for the arty, philosophical post, I’ll be back later with something else…

L I F E, photography

Provence #1

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This is the start of a few short posts from Provence. We start back up next week with 4 and a half weeks of tours so the postings will be sparse.

Provence is absolutely beautiful! I’ve said it, it does not need to be said again. It is a photographers paradise, everywhere is amazing color, ancient architecture, blooming botanics and plenty of people. I brought as big a kit as I would on vacation, with the D70, the Nikon 18-135 3.5-4.6, Nikon 80-200 2.8 ED, Sigma 10-20 3.5-5.6, SB-600 for lighting and the Manfrotto for all of those tripod shots. A whole lot of gear and I didn’t see any of it! I left the 18-135 on the front and the rest of the stuff in the bag. I’ve come to the realization that when your not very good at the taking the pictures part of photography, you don’t need a bunch of gear, it’s neat but it’s too overwhelming. Composition, exposure, ISO, lighting, F-Stop are what I want to perfect, so down with you Nikon and all your toys, I’ll buy you later.

We drove down to a camping club outside of Remoulins which is right close to Uzes (ooz -es) and took our time on the drive. It’s about 500km from Patinges to Provence so we stopped to visit and take some photos along the way.

Roadside Ruins on the winding climby road down to Provence.

Roadside Ruins almost Provence

We stopped for lunch in the town of Florac and had a nice little wander around this beautiful town.

Waterfall Photo Florac France June 2008

Thelma thought a drink of this water would be a good idea on a 33 degree day!

Thelma drinking from the source Florac France June 2008

That’s it for day 1.  I took quite a few photos of this leg and they’re on my gallery page if you care to see more of my photos.  Check back for more soon!!!

L I F E, photography

Miscellaneous photos from my world

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Everything is fairly status quo around the Old Mill this week. We had a super fun week again with our guests here, the weather was not at it’s photographic prime but great for cycling through the countryside of central France. We are on vacation for the next two weeks now, we’ll be heading to Provence in the next couple days to decompress and hangout in all that is good and right with the world. I should have a ton of photos to put up on the gallery when I get back. Here are a few for now…

Interesting wood work in the chateau of Ainay-Le-Vielle. The oak wood is from the Foret Troncais.

Architecture in Ainay-Le-Vielle tower

Just to have no rhyme or reason for this post, a shot of some strawberries from the market in Sancoins last week.

Fresh Strawberries at the Market

Purple flowers blooming in the new butterfly garden at Le Vieux Moulin

EDIT from Michelle:  Silly Dad, even the 4 year old knows this is a Buddlia Davidii !!

Purple flowers in the butterfly garden

Another picture of a lily pad flower in the L’Aubois river

Lilly pad flower Le Vieux Moulin

Interesting (to me at least) photo of a red pillow sitting on the chair.

Red Pillow Photo

I’m working on a ton of photos that are on the hard drive now and I’ll be shooting up a storm in the next few weeks. Have fun!!

L I F E, photography

Photos from Patinges…Again…

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We’re coming of a super busy three weeks now with time to breath before another weeks tours before the first vacation to Provence this year. We’ve had an amazing bunch of clients so far this year at Le Vieux Moulin It’s a bummer how fast time flies when you’re having as much fun as we did. I haven’t had much inspiration with the camera lately, but still shooting at interesting things for fun.

Wednesday was a family trip to the market in Sancoins.  Fresh strawberries were in season along with the beginning of cherry season.  The Loup de Mer and Coquille St. Jauques were very fresh from the fish monger and made for some delicious suppers the following nights.  I went very simple with the Loup and pan seared it to medium rare and had it with some simple butter/cream potatoes with glazed carrots fresh from the market.  It’s amazing how good food is when it’s in it’s natural freshest state.  No photos of it though as I’m still working on lighting for food shots, not enough time in this world to learn everything we want.

Here are some photos from the week in my life…

Baby chickens from the live animal room at the market in Sancoins

Baby chicken photo Sancoins France 2008

Monster rooster across the isle from the babies, might have been Daddy.  Probably not but he did start posing when he noticed me taking his photo.

Monster Rooster photo Sancoins France 2008

Slugs and snails are a bountiful pest here in central France.  We caught this one in the garden the other day and decided photographing him before relocation to the forest down the road was a good idea.

Huge snail caught in the garden

Wandering around the island at home, waiting for the dragonflies to come back on a gray day.  These are the first lillies to come up after the flood last week.

Lillies on the L'Aubois river Patinges France June 2008

One of the first apples from the tree we planted in Tree’s memory.  The label said it would not produce fruit for 3-4 years and his tree has about 20 of these soon-to-be delicious specimens on it.  Pommier r Blanche du Canada is what the tree is called, with sweet/slightly sour fruits.

POMMIER r Blanche du canada Patinges France

I suppose that’s all for now.  I’ll be back in a couple weeks with more updates on Julien and photos from Provence.

L I F E

No Photos Today…

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My cat is gone…The irresponsible people at http://www.tierheim-ruesselsheim.de/ scanned Julien’s EU microchip and put him up for adoption. The people who adopeted him took him to a vet and they killed him. They said he had a stomach ailment and he died of some mysterious German stress illness. May he rest in peace, those at http://www.tierheim-ruesselsheim.de/ may you pay for your negligance, in one way or another.

I have not had the heart or mind to take any photos, I’ve been spending time with my daughter drawing and thinking. I will be back in a few weeks.

Steve

A little birdie, sitting on my branch the other day…

Bird Illustration

Miscellaneous flower…

Flower Illustration