Blue439
New member
Thanks a lot! Makes all the difference.
Dominique’s old stones (mostly)
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Blue439
New member
The Red Manor (2015)
The manor of Trévarez in central Brittany is often referred to as “the Red Manor”, for obvious reasons. It is a neo-Gothic affair built from 1893 by a wealthy Breton politician with all and every creature comforts known at the time: elevators, central heating, running hot and cold water everywhere, a refrigerator, etc.
The alliance of dark Kersanton granite and red brick gives off a weird feeling, and the truth is, I very much dislike the look of this building, which gives me the shivers. I like this photo, though, maybe for its eerie and dreamy quality, probably stemming from using the lens wide open.
Nikon D810, Nikkor 24mm, ƒ/1.4 G lens, handheld.
The manor of Trévarez in central Brittany is often referred to as “the Red Manor”, for obvious reasons. It is a neo-Gothic affair built from 1893 by a wealthy Breton politician with all and every creature comforts known at the time: elevators, central heating, running hot and cold water everywhere, a refrigerator, etc.
The alliance of dark Kersanton granite and red brick gives off a weird feeling, and the truth is, I very much dislike the look of this building, which gives me the shivers. I like this photo, though, maybe for its eerie and dreamy quality, probably stemming from using the lens wide open.
Nikon D810, Nikkor 24mm, ƒ/1.4 G lens, handheld.
Clovishound
Senior Member
Beats the heck out of many of the older British houses that are basically grey monoliths.
I think it makes for an interesting image. It would make a good set for a horror or mystery movie.
I think it makes for an interesting image. It would make a good set for a horror or mystery movie.
Blue439
New member
You're right... and it already has! You'd have to pay me (a lot) to live there!
Blue439
New member
Is Aruttas (2015)
The white quartzite beach of Is Aruttas, on the western coast of Sardinia. It is a protected site, taking away any of the “sand” (in fact, small crystals of quartz) is subject to a heavy fine.
Nikon D810, Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 15mm, ƒ/2.8 ZF.2 lens, manual focus. Handheld.
The white quartzite beach of Is Aruttas, on the western coast of Sardinia. It is a protected site, taking away any of the “sand” (in fact, small crystals of quartz) is subject to a heavy fine.
Nikon D810, Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 15mm, ƒ/2.8 ZF.2 lens, manual focus. Handheld.
Blue439
New member
A tree that’s 4,000 years old (2015)
Sardinia numbers a few extremely venerable olive trees. This one, in Santo Baltolù near the town of Luras, is estimated to be around 4,000 years old, which means it was already an extremely old tree when Julius Cæsar was around...
Puts things into perspective when you start to think about it...
Nikon D810, Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 15mm, ƒ/2.8 ZF.2 lens, manual focus. Handheld.
Sardinia numbers a few extremely venerable olive trees. This one, in Santo Baltolù near the town of Luras, is estimated to be around 4,000 years old, which means it was already an extremely old tree when Julius Cæsar was around...
Puts things into perspective when you start to think about it...
Nikon D810, Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 15mm, ƒ/2.8 ZF.2 lens, manual focus. Handheld.
Blue439
New member
A Summer in Rome (2012)
Long exposure (21 seconds) on the bridge over River Tiber in front of the Castel Sant’ Angelo. This was designed as a mausoleum for Roman Emperor Hadrian. Construction began in 125 AD and was completed in record time by 139. The central part at the top is a chapel that was added during the Renaissance. It served at least twice in History as a place of refuge for Popes fearing for their lives and who fled from the Vatican using the secret passage known as the Passetto, made famous by Dan Brown’s novel of 2000 Angels and Demons. The passage connects Saint Peter’s basilica and the Castel Sant’ Angelo.
The “Saint Angel” in question is Michael, whose bronze statue (the latest in a long series), made in 1752 by Flemish artist Peter Anton von Vershaffelt, crowns the chapel and can be seen at the very top. It commemorates the coming of the Archangel to Rome in 590 to end a black plague epidemic that had decimated the city since the previous year. That episode was in fact the latest upsurge of a pandemic that began in 541 and is known as Justinian’s Plague. The Michael episode brought it to an end and the black plague did not return to Europe until the mid–1300s.
Nikon D3s, Nikkor 24-70mm, ƒ/2.8 G lens. Gitzo tripod, natural light.
Long exposure (21 seconds) on the bridge over River Tiber in front of the Castel Sant’ Angelo. This was designed as a mausoleum for Roman Emperor Hadrian. Construction began in 125 AD and was completed in record time by 139. The central part at the top is a chapel that was added during the Renaissance. It served at least twice in History as a place of refuge for Popes fearing for their lives and who fled from the Vatican using the secret passage known as the Passetto, made famous by Dan Brown’s novel of 2000 Angels and Demons. The passage connects Saint Peter’s basilica and the Castel Sant’ Angelo.
The “Saint Angel” in question is Michael, whose bronze statue (the latest in a long series), made in 1752 by Flemish artist Peter Anton von Vershaffelt, crowns the chapel and can be seen at the very top. It commemorates the coming of the Archangel to Rome in 590 to end a black plague epidemic that had decimated the city since the previous year. That episode was in fact the latest upsurge of a pandemic that began in 541 and is known as Justinian’s Plague. The Michael episode brought it to an end and the black plague did not return to Europe until the mid–1300s.
Nikon D3s, Nikkor 24-70mm, ƒ/2.8 G lens. Gitzo tripod, natural light.
Blue439
New member
A Summer in Rome (2012)
During my last visit in Rome in 2012, I had the great privilege of being given a private tour of places in the Vatican that are normally out-of-bounds to visitors. During that tour I caught a glimpse of the Vatican’s... tennis court! To the right is the wall that marks the border of the City-State; beyond are the streets of Rome.
Nikon D3s, Nikkor 14-24mm, ƒ/2.8 G lens. Gitzo tripod, natural light.
During my last visit in Rome in 2012, I had the great privilege of being given a private tour of places in the Vatican that are normally out-of-bounds to visitors. During that tour I caught a glimpse of the Vatican’s... tennis court! To the right is the wall that marks the border of the City-State; beyond are the streets of Rome.
Nikon D3s, Nikkor 14-24mm, ƒ/2.8 G lens. Gitzo tripod, natural light.
Blue439
New member
The Benedictine abbey church of Conques (2017)
The Mediæval village of Conques (southwestern France) is all about Saint Faith (sainte Foy), a young Christian martyr put to death in 303. When miracles began to happen around her sepulture, a first sanctuary was built in the 5th century to organize a pilgrimage that was ever-growing in popularity. To better benefit from it, the bishops of Agen had that young saint’s bones transported to their city. The site of Conques fell back into silence and isolation. Then, a hermit named Dadon came to settle there around 790, and around 800 his hermitage was turned into a monastery —hence the legend according to which the abbey of Conques had been founded by Emperor Charlemagne, which has no basis in historical fact.
The abbey remained a small and out-of-the-way monastery with no particular claim to fame, until one of those most juicy and humorous Mediæval episodes happened around 870: ten years before, a monk from the abbey named Ariviscus had left and gone to Agen, where he, hiding his quality, put himself to the service of the church where the sacred bones of Saint Faith were kept. For ten years he worked diligently his way up the clerical ladder until, his devotion and hard work having earned him the trust of the bishop, he was put in charge of the surveillance of the relics. Then, on the evening of the Epiphany, he did what he had meant to do all along: he simply stole them and brought them back to the saint’s native village of Conques, in what is officially termed by the Church a “pious translation” (i.e., stealing, but with a good reason
). Back in what would be their truly final resting place, the bones brought forth a slew of miracles, throngs of pilgrims and an abundance of donations.
Several abbey churches needed to be built successively to accommodate the ever-growing crowds. The one we can still see today was erected during most of the Romanesque age, between 1000 and 1200. It is famous worldwide for its tympanum that depicts The Last Judgment. It was on the first list of French Historic Landmarks drawn up in 1840, and is a major stop on the Via Podiensis Path to Compostela, and hence a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1998.
To adequately photograph the entire façade of the abbey church with not a lot of space to step back, I had to use the Nikkor 19mm tilt-shift lens. This 2017 photo tells me I already had one back then, associated with the D810. Over time, I had three copies of that lens. One was stolen from me with the rest of my gear on a high-speed train in France, and another I am terribly ashamed to admit I have simply lost. It was in Brittany, on a dark and rainy day, on a windy clifftop near Crozon. I was still on-site when I realized the lens was gone, but I never could find it again, no matter how hard and methodically I re-traced my steps and went all over the place with a fine comb —or so I thought, considering the bad weather and the scarce light. At nightfall I had to leave, I returned the next day and searched the area again, to no avail. The disappearance of that costly lens remains a mystery, and so I had to buy a third one, which fortunately is still with me today (fingers crossed!).
Telling this story made me look at my accounting software, where I saw I bought one in March 2017 for 3,200 euros (the one I used to take the photo below), then another one in August 2020 for 2,800 euros. With the last copy I still have today, the total bill would have been around 9,000 euros for one single lens, except that the copy that was stolen from me was paid for by insurance. So, “only” 6,000 euros...
Nikon D810, Nikkor 19mm, ƒ/4 PC-E tilt-shift lens, manual focus, handheld.
The Mediæval village of Conques (southwestern France) is all about Saint Faith (sainte Foy), a young Christian martyr put to death in 303. When miracles began to happen around her sepulture, a first sanctuary was built in the 5th century to organize a pilgrimage that was ever-growing in popularity. To better benefit from it, the bishops of Agen had that young saint’s bones transported to their city. The site of Conques fell back into silence and isolation. Then, a hermit named Dadon came to settle there around 790, and around 800 his hermitage was turned into a monastery —hence the legend according to which the abbey of Conques had been founded by Emperor Charlemagne, which has no basis in historical fact.
The abbey remained a small and out-of-the-way monastery with no particular claim to fame, until one of those most juicy and humorous Mediæval episodes happened around 870: ten years before, a monk from the abbey named Ariviscus had left and gone to Agen, where he, hiding his quality, put himself to the service of the church where the sacred bones of Saint Faith were kept. For ten years he worked diligently his way up the clerical ladder until, his devotion and hard work having earned him the trust of the bishop, he was put in charge of the surveillance of the relics. Then, on the evening of the Epiphany, he did what he had meant to do all along: he simply stole them and brought them back to the saint’s native village of Conques, in what is officially termed by the Church a “pious translation” (i.e., stealing, but with a good reason
). Back in what would be their truly final resting place, the bones brought forth a slew of miracles, throngs of pilgrims and an abundance of donations.Several abbey churches needed to be built successively to accommodate the ever-growing crowds. The one we can still see today was erected during most of the Romanesque age, between 1000 and 1200. It is famous worldwide for its tympanum that depicts The Last Judgment. It was on the first list of French Historic Landmarks drawn up in 1840, and is a major stop on the Via Podiensis Path to Compostela, and hence a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1998.
To adequately photograph the entire façade of the abbey church with not a lot of space to step back, I had to use the Nikkor 19mm tilt-shift lens. This 2017 photo tells me I already had one back then, associated with the D810. Over time, I had three copies of that lens. One was stolen from me with the rest of my gear on a high-speed train in France, and another I am terribly ashamed to admit I have simply lost. It was in Brittany, on a dark and rainy day, on a windy clifftop near Crozon. I was still on-site when I realized the lens was gone, but I never could find it again, no matter how hard and methodically I re-traced my steps and went all over the place with a fine comb —or so I thought, considering the bad weather and the scarce light. At nightfall I had to leave, I returned the next day and searched the area again, to no avail. The disappearance of that costly lens remains a mystery, and so I had to buy a third one, which fortunately is still with me today (fingers crossed!).
Telling this story made me look at my accounting software, where I saw I bought one in March 2017 for 3,200 euros (the one I used to take the photo below), then another one in August 2020 for 2,800 euros. With the last copy I still have today, the total bill would have been around 9,000 euros for one single lens, except that the copy that was stolen from me was paid for by insurance. So, “only” 6,000 euros...
Nikon D810, Nikkor 19mm, ƒ/4 PC-E tilt-shift lens, manual focus, handheld.
Blue439
New member
A Summer in Sardinia (2015)
The peninsula of Sinis on the western coast of the island of Sardinia features, on its inner side where the Mediterranean is always peaceful, the ancient Phœnician port city of Tharros, which was later taken over by the Greeks, then the Romans. Its unique location allowed port activities to be conducted in a relatively risk–free maritime environment.
Nikon D810, Carl Zeiss Apo-Sonnar T* 135mm, ƒ/2, ZF.2 lens, manual focus. Handheld.
The peninsula of Sinis on the western coast of the island of Sardinia features, on its inner side where the Mediterranean is always peaceful, the ancient Phœnician port city of Tharros, which was later taken over by the Greeks, then the Romans. Its unique location allowed port activities to be conducted in a relatively risk–free maritime environment.
Nikon D810, Carl Zeiss Apo-Sonnar T* 135mm, ƒ/2, ZF.2 lens, manual focus. Handheld.
Blue439
New member
The cemetery of Loyasse (2017)
In 2016 and 2017, I went several times to the old, monumental cemetery of Loyasse in Lyon (France) to document the interesting and curious sepultures that are to be found there. Loyasse is the oldest remaining cemetery in Lyon, and is traditionally considered the proper place of eternal rest for the wealthy bourgeois families of the city.
Nikon D810, Voigtländer Nokton 58mm, ƒ/1.4 lens, manual focus. Natural light.
In 2016 and 2017, I went several times to the old, monumental cemetery of Loyasse in Lyon (France) to document the interesting and curious sepultures that are to be found there. Loyasse is the oldest remaining cemetery in Lyon, and is traditionally considered the proper place of eternal rest for the wealthy bourgeois families of the city.
Nikon D810, Voigtländer Nokton 58mm, ƒ/1.4 lens, manual focus. Natural light.