Category Archives: Paris

Beautiful Photography of Paris, France

Le Centre Pompidou

Posted on February 7th, 2013 by

Pipes Galore

A quick photo from Paris for today’s image. It’s of the Pompidou Center, the wonderful modern art museum in Paris, France. It is general for museums of modern art to have a striking design, but the French really outdid themselves on this one. The style is really more post-modern and something they call hi-tech. The facade is a internetworked crosshatch of pipes and conduit all of which are brightly colored making a visual delight for the eyes. This was also the first time on our trip the sun had come out so the new found light played well off the building. This photo is of the not often seen escalators at the left front of the center.

HDR Photography
Le Centre Pompidou by W. Brian Duncan

Joan of Arc

Posted on February 4th, 2013 by

On Callings

Joan of Arc was a simple peasant girl who felt a strong calling. A calling so strong, that she lead the French army to a number of victories during the Hundred Years War. She was later captured and transferred to the British where she was tried for insubordination and hetrodoxy. She was burned at the stake for her crimes when she was 19 years old. 25 years later the pope declared her a martyr. She was beatified in 1909 and canonized as a saint in 1920. She is today on of the patron saints of France. Today’s image is of her statue located in Notre Dame. It holds a place of honor gazing up at the awesome Southern rose window that graces the cathedral.

This photo got me thinking about callings. What are we here to do? Why do so few of us seem to know? Do you think if for just a moment, we could turn off out egos and still our minds, we might catch a glimpse? Perhaps divine providence is there for all of us, if we simply listen.

HDR Photography
Joan of Arc by W. Brian Duncan

The Magic of Cartier

Posted on January 31st, 2013 by

100 Photos

Today is a special day. Today I am posting my 100th photograph. It’s an interesting feeling really…it feels good. I have always had a bit of trouble with follow through. There always seems to be something newer vying for my attention. A new gadget, a new film, a new fleeting hobby, how do people stay focused! Maybe my ease is because I have never really enjoyed a hobby as much as I do photography. It is a sort of home, no matter where I am in the world. I love it enough to fly around the world to explore it more. It does of course help that I also love the travel, seeing new places, tasting new foods, finding different ways of living. But in the end, all of these seem to coalesce around my camera.

Magic

I have been saving this photo for a day like today. My first exploration of HDR photography was in Paris and this photo was one of the first that let me know I had really found something in photography I wanted to explore more. I hope you like it as much as I do and if you work for Cartier, call me, I think this would make a great ad spread!

HDR Photography
The Magic of Cartier by W. Brian Duncan

Hidden Treasures

Posted on January 7th, 2013 by

Hidden Things

Sometimes the most wonderful things are hidden in plain sight. While I was walking around the grounds of the Louvre in Paris, I happened to (as I often do) look up. I was greeted by this wonderful piece of artistry attached to the ceiling. I am sure it serves some purpose. I am sure it has wonderful meaning. I am sure the artisans who created it put great effort and love into its birth. I am however not sure why it was there or quite why I enjoyed its company so, but what can tell you is all around us, there are things of beauty. We only have to look for them, and see.

HDR Photography
Hidden Treasures by W. Brian Duncan

Winged Victory

Posted on December 24th, 2012 by

Dangerous Waters

The Louvre is a sea of people.

I was thinking this as I stood on the platform of the staircase that displays one of the most famous sculptures in the world, Winged Victory. Along with the Venus De Milo, Winged Victory is one of the must see sculptures at the Louvre. It is impossible to see all the the Louvre’s treasures in a day (you actually would need a week or more), but there are highlights your first time through which you don’t want to miss. It’s best to have a plan, and my plan that day was to capture a bracket of Winged Victory with no extra people in shot. This brings me full circle to my ocean of fellow gawkers. In an odd way this struggle made me appreciate the photo more, and the victory of battle at sea.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah Everyone!

HDR Photography
Winged Victory by W. Brian Duncan

Evening at The Louvre

Posted on December 13th, 2012 by

Comic Experiments

In a continuation of my processing experiments I made a little something that ended up making me think of graphic novels. I usually try my best to not have any preconceived set of parameters for my photos, rather I try to let them lead me where they want to go. I have been working on this photo for some time honestly. The coloring really was giving me trouble. This is actually shot at sunset and the sky is a nice blue and purple, but the lights of the palace grounds are in full blaze making a heavy hue of tungsten. I processed the photo twice for each color temperature, but still couldn’t get things feeling right. I ended up trying black and white which I really liked but then started playing with selective color, something I generally dislike. In this particular instance I think it came out very fun!

HDR Photography
Evening at The Louvre by W. Brian Duncan

Glass Pyramid and the Sky

Posted on November 22nd, 2012 by

Sky

There is quite a bit riding on the weather…photographically speaking. You generally have only a limited time at a location, and if you have a completely blue sky or a really dull grey one, you tend to get boring pictures. Sure there are ways to fake interesting clouds, but I don’t do that. I take what mother nature gives me and try to work on it from that vantage point. Not every shot will be great, but hopefully you always come away with something you find helps you learn. Other days, as in life, you get a bounty of great clouds. When that happen…collect as much as you can and be thankful!

HDR Photography
Glass Pyramid and the Sky by W. Brian Duncan

Musée d’Orsay

Posted on October 22nd, 2012 by

Secret Cameras

I have shared my love of train stations in the past. This one is perhaps one of the oldest and coolest of the bunch I have photographed so far. It was built for the 1900 Exposition, over the years, the station because unsuitable for modern trains. It went through a number of lives, then in 1970 it was slated for demolition. WHAT!

Luckily for everyone a very smart person in the government ruled against demolition and it was decided the old train station would make a wonderful museum. I can’t image the wonderful architectural treasures we have lost…Orsay is a testament to what can happen to these treasures when they are given modern jobs.

HDR Photography
Musée d’Orsay by W. Brian Duncan

Roses on the Streets of Paris

Posted on August 16th, 2012 by

Les Fleurs

Walking down Rue Cler in Pairs, there are quite a number of shops that have wonderful little surprises sitting on the sidewalk for you to explore. This is one such vendor that had a bucket of roses in a multitude of colors. The funny thing is a really wanted to do this one in black and white despite all the wonderful color. I usually saturate the bee-Jesus out of my photographs, but for some reason I felt like exploring the texture and tones in this photo. I always feel like a need to do more black and white, I just get caught up in my love of color.

Technials

This is a three shot (-2, 0, +2) HDR, combined in Photomatix enhanced in Lightroom. I then exported to Photoshop and use Nik (color efx pro, and silver efx) I then saved and did all the finish work in Lightroom.

HDR Photography
Roses on the Streets of Paris by W. Brian Duncan

Moulin Rouge

Posted on August 13th, 2012 by

Pig Alley

The world famous Mouiln Rouge in Paris is a cabaret built in 1889 and is known to we Americans as the place that made the cancan famous. It is located near Montmartre though I believe it is technically in Pagalle, a section of the city know for its more lurid nature. We though perhaps it was better to avoid some parts of the Quartier at night, but honestly I think Times Square back in the 90’s was more of an event. The shows can get sort of expensive at Moulin Rouge (Red Windmill literally translated) and there wasn’t anything we particularly wanted to see though from the photo you can see we missed Les Petits Chevaux du Moulin Rouge (The Small Horses of Moulin Rouge)…oh well maybe next time.

Technicals

This is a three bracket exposure (-2, 0, +2) taken on a gorillapod. The brackets were combined in Photomatix, cleaned up in Photoshop, enhanced with Nik Software, and finished in Lightroom. Total processing time was around 1 hour.

HDR Photography
Moulin Rouge by W. Brian Duncan