Chevrolet Corvette

Another nice old car, the Chevrolet Corvette. @ the old cars exhibition in Awans, Belgium. I couldn't get enough...

ISO 100 - 40mm (Canon 'pancake') - f/2.8 - 1/800s

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Yeah baby yeah!

When you see this for the first time you simply go like... "What the...?!". And then you wonder why they would set up a car this way, especially when you notice that the lower rear right part of the car is almost touching the tarmac! And then you go like "ok, ok, it's show time!"

Old cars exhibition in Awans, Belgium.

ISO 100 - 40mm (Canon "pancake" lens) - f/2.8 - 1/1600s

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"BIG JOB"

Here are a few details of that big Ford T800 truck, a truck badge "BIG JOB". This truck is one of these impressive old trucks. See it on the photo just below ;-)

Quite impressive uh!

1st photo (truck badge) : ISO 100 - 28mm - f/4.0 - 1/400s
2nd photo (truck itself) : ISO 100 - 18mm - f/3.5 - 1/640s
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Beware of the dog!

Big truck (Ford T800), blue dress lady, big "little" dog. Here again at an old cars exhibition in Awans, Belgium. Saw that lady going out of the truck for a cigarette...

ISO 100 - 35mm - f/4.5 - 1/125s

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Ford Mustang at a retro cars exhibition

I took a big slap in my face seeing all these beautiful retro/classic/vintage/whatever cars! This one, detail from a Ford Mustang (obviously) is one of many photographs I made at that exhibition in Awans, Belgium. Gotta love those details... VraouUuUum!

ISO 100 - 63mm - f/5.0 - 1/80s

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Windmills beyond the golden field

With those modern "windmills", I was only missing Don Quichotte/Quixote...
Little walk along the fields in Fumal, Belgium.

ISO 800 - 31mm - f/4.5 - 1/4000s (I probably forgot to lower the ISO value...)

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Baby frog (Natural park of the Burdinale & Mehaigne valleys)

Not really used to it (at least me) but a friend and I did a beautiful 12km walk yesterday, I can feel the "pain" in my muscles now :-)

That was a nice opportunity to discover one charming and picturesque stroll in the natural park of the Mehaigne & Burdinale valleys, Belgium. Reaching a pond, we crossed the path of some dozens of tiny frogs and this one accepted to pose for the photo... Thank you to this amphibian star!

ISO 400 - 200mm - f/6.3 - 1/30s
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Books, more books!

Friday the 2nd of July 2013, the warmest summer day of Belgium since ages, a lot of exhibitors probably chose not to expose on the flea market as the weather was very too hot. In the shadow though, under a bridge, this little scene from the (too) tiny flea market in Hermalle-sous-Argenteau, Belgium.

ISO 100 - 40mm (Canon 'pancake') - f/2.8 - 1/60s
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Little Lego people on big flea market

I really enjoyed having a slow lazy walk on this giant flea market of Saint-Vith in Belgium, the biggest flea market in the country with over 1000 exhibitors! People here are coming from the neighboring countries for this big event. So, these Lego little people were there and I found the way they were exposed quite funny and worth a shot.

ISO 100 - 40mm (Canon 'pancake') - f/2.8 - 1/125s

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When you don't dare telling it...

Then you, sometimes, simply write it on a bench. Untold lovely feelings in urban environment...

ISO 100 - 40mm (Canon 'pancake') - f/2.8 - 1/640s

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Just go forward

Yes my little one, life is an uphill battle sometimes but you'll get over it ;-)
It does not really matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop...

ISO 100 - 41mm (with macro ring) - f/11 - 1/50s
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Plump roast chicken

Enjoying street photography at the local market in Saint-Girons (Midi-Pyrénées, France) ;-)

ISO 800 - 50mm - f/5.6 - 1/500s
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The port of Antwerp

An impressive boat (containers sea transport) being towed and leaving the port of Antwerp in Belgium. You will notice the Doel nuclear power plants on the left.

ISO 400 - 40mm - f/2.8 - 1/4000s

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Forever

Lovely feelings on a bench.
Pretty little things are everywhere...

ISO 100 - 40mm - f/2.8 - 1/640s

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Little big fly...

Is it looking at me? It takes patience to get this one, especially without tripod which I couldn't use considering the angle I had and the spot where I shot this. Actually I took a bit more than 20 photographs to get THE one I was satisfied with. Stacked my 3 macro rings to get that close to the fly.

ISO 800 - 40mm lens + macro rings - f/4.0 - 1/20s

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Esneux, Belgium

Alongside the river "L'Ourthe" stands the small village of Esneux in Belgium. It's really a pity we're not having a beautiful warm Spring but from time to time we're lucky to have the sun above our heads. And there's a place out there to eat delicious homemade ice creams! But I'll keep it secret...

ISO 400 - 40mm - f/2.8 - 1/3200s

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Looking up, inside the huge cap

The huge "cap" that you see here is actually the entrance of the railway station 'Liege Guillemins' located in Liege, Belgium. And here below I'm inside, looking up at the beautiful architecture.

1st photo: ISO 100 - 18mm - f/8.0 - 1/15s
2nd photo: ISO 400 - 18mm - f/8.0 - 1/40s
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Random smile

Liege Guillemins, railway station in Liege, Belgium.

I just love it when random people see you taking their photos and then give you a smile. That's just a simple thing but that makes your photography day beautiful :D

ISO 400 - 18mm - f/8.0 - 1/40s
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"Voie 2"

Top view on Liege Guillemins train station; Liege, Belgium. I need to check that I do not bother people in a hurry next time, especially when using the tripod...

ISO 800 - 18mm - f/8.0 - 1/60s

Right on time!

What is better for travellers than a train arriving right on time! Another shot from my session in Liege Guillemins train station; Liege, Belgium.

ISO 400 - 31mm - f/8.0 - 1/30s

Le voyage

I was sitting there, waiting for something to happen, for a moment to capture; she arrived and sat there too while High-speed train/TGV "Thalys" was just arriving at Liege Guillemins train station; Liege, Belgium. A peaceful vision in a noisy environment...

ISO 800 - 78mm - f/5.6 - 1/25s

Ahead of time

So you're sitting there, you're way ahead of your next train, you've got time to chill out a bit, it's time to roll a cigarette, it's time for a break. This is happening again at Liege Guillemins train station in Liege, Belgium. No hurry here, just plenty of time...

ISO 800 - 78mm - f/8.0 - 1/20s

Out of time!

At the train station, you might be just in time to catch your train, you might as well be to early so you have time to chill out and appreciate the stunning architecture of this train station (Liege Guillemins, Belgium), or in the worst case you might be (too) late like this running guy. You'd better hurry! ;-)

Occasionally, you might be there for photographs hehe...

ISO 400 - 18mm - f/8.0 - 1/25s

Liege Guillemins Train station, a masterpiece.

The entrance of the impressive 'Liege Guillemins' train station in Liege, Belgium. This is also a station for TGV/High-speed train. A masterpiece from the spanish architect Santiago Calatrava Valls.

A place to wander, a place to stare at.

ISO 200 - 18mm - f/4.0 - 1/320s

Trainspotting

Herstal, a city of Belgium, is a small to mid-size city. However, the train station is surviving, they even renewed it which is quite cool. Weather was awesome, sky was very blue and I spotted that scene with the tagged train and that old yellow and green locomotive just arriving. I have applied split toning filter with Lightroom.

I need to go to Liege Guillemins train station, not so far from my place (about 20min drive), that's one of the most beautiful station in Europe there. Hope to show you this soon.

ISO 400 - 42mm - f/4.5 - 1/2500s

Bye bye winter?

Last week, it was freaking cold outside and today... what a nice surprise with warm pleasant weather, plain blue sky and sun. Not one single freaking cloud! So what else could I do except going out and shoot?! Joy, I was so delighted :-)

ISO 200 - 115mm - f/5.6 - 1/125s

Those damn water drops!

Gosh! It took me so much time to get this all right... Composition, background, focus and those damn water drops :-) Moreover, I was using extension tubes so the depth of field was very shallow and narrow. I had to let the water fall along that sculpting tool, little by little, sometimes too much so I had to do it all over again. Hopefully, that was worth it...

First shot: ISO 100 - 55mm (+ extension tubes) - f/29 - 1/80s
Second shot: ISO 100 - 55mm (+ extension tubes) - f/5.6 - 1/80s

Short-sighted

Don't you find it a bit uncomfortable to take photos when wearing glasses? I do. That's why I usually prefer wearing contact lenses when going out for a photo session.

The main (upper) blurred and bold word says in french "short-sighted". Here I'm just randomly experimenting macro photography as I was bored the other evening. I have stacked 2 extension tubes to get this close to the page with my standard 18-55mm lens and the more you stack those extension tubes, the shallower the depth of field becomes.

I was actually pretty close to the page with the lens, almost touching the surface of the dictionary page.

ISO 100 - 42mm (+ extension tubes) - f/5.0 - 1/160s

Frozen lake - Le lac de Warfaaz (II)

Seeing the lake almost totally frozen was just stunning. Here's another view of the Warfaaz lake in Spa, Belgium. I did a couple of shots there and this is probably the last one of the serie during the winter. I'm looking forward for Spring to be there so I can get colourful shots...

I used my "pancake" 40mm lens from Canon for this little sequence.
ISO 100 - 40mm - f/2.8 - 1/250s

Frozen lake - Le lac de Warfaaz (Panorama)

Still at the Warfaaz lake in Spa, Belgium. I like panorama's when I have wide open spaces in front of me. This lets you appreciate more of the scenery with all the ducks and that frozen water. Just an advise though, stay on the plain ground, you won't bear the low temperature water as ducks do ;-)

Panorama is made out of two horizontal shots.

For each shot: ISO 100 - 40mm - f/2.8 - 1/125s

Frozen lake - Le lac de Warfaaz

So yeah, in less than a month now it'll be Spring time, and just as last year we're (finally?) having the snow very late in winter. I can't tell you how strong the temptation was to walk on that pure white surface, on the frozen lake of Warfaaz in Spa, Belgium. Of course I've been careful and stayed on the edge of the lake, making sure I was stepping on plain ground! The lake is artificial and has been dug about a century ago to avoid flooding of Spa, a thermal city of Belgium, during storms and heavy rains.

(Sources: www.lacdewarfaaz.be)

ISO 100 - 40mm - f/2.8 - 1/250s

Photostuff challenges on deviantArt

Hey folks! Some of you may know deviantART (a.k.a dA) already -an art community- and photography is a major part of this community (among many wonderful others). And among all those artists, some of them created groups you can join (or create your own yours). #Photostuff is one of these groups managed by user =MarioGuti and he's doing a photography challenge each week based on themes. This is all done for free, nothing to win, just fun!

I took part in 2 of these challenges so far with the following photographs:

Challenge #6 - Silhouettes

Challenge #7 - In movement

° The first image for Challenge #6 (Silhouettes) has ended up ranked #5 on 47 submissions. You can see all submitted photographs here on dA website and the winner here.

° The second image for Challenge #7 (In movement) has ranked #3 on 28 submissions. You can see all submitted photographs here on dA website and the winner here.

Not bad uh... but not enough, hope to do better next time. I must admit though that the winners do deserve their #1 rank so congratulations to them!

How is the winner chosen?

Democratically, after challenge closing time (every friday), each photo is numbered and all users can vote for their 3 favorites during the week-end. Your first favorite will get 3 points, your second one 2 points and the third one 1 point. Results are given on mondays and next challenge takes place.

This week is Challenge #8 with theme "Yellow". I'll be participating as well so wish me good luck! :)

Challenges are good, they keep you in the loop and pushes you to get better and better each time, do participate as much as you can!

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Goods friends for a few minutes

There are (sometimes) times when these two can share the same sheet ;)
Kildou (the cat) & Humphrey (the basset hound).

ISO 800 - 40mm - f/2.8 - 1/25s

"Lights will guide you". Liège, le pont Saint-Léonard.

First snow here this winter, I thought it would be time for a panorama picture! This is one of the numerous bridges in Liege (Belgium), this one's the St-Leonard bridge (hence the french title) also called the Maghin bridge (le pont Maghin). That's not the most beautiful bridge of the city but surely is interesting due to the lighting of it. Bridge is crossing the Meuse river.
It was freaking cold outside and it froze my feet and hands but that was definitely worth it! I took three panorama's of this bridge but this one came out the best.

I was not sure exactly at what time they would light the bridge so I went there just a tiny bit before sunset and they switched on the lights 10min after my arrival, good one! As this is the last of the three panoramas I did, the sky here is already dark and polluted by street lamps which gives quite a nice effect though. It also has this cute little blue lit pathway on the right side.
This is a long exposure photo (15 seconds).

Lights will guide you...

Panorama is made out of 5 vertical shots
For each individual shot: ISO 100 - 18mm - f/14 - 15s

The Old Castle of Saive Go Round

Lovely place, lovely ruins of the old castle of Saive in Belgium and lovely memories. This is where we used to live. Oh well, not exactly in the castle which is kinda falling apart but in the renovated old inn that you can barely see in the lower left part of the planet (yes, I live on a planet, don't you? hehe). The land Lords (and neighbours) are also lovely people, lots of lovely things and atmosphere I guess, heh.

The castle is from the 13th century. The last Lord who lived there, Jean-Denis de Monsen, sold the seigneury to the Méan's family in 1692. The Mean's will have another castle built (in Cahorday, another part of the village of Saive) and will abandon this one. Everything remaining now are ruins but the domain belongs now to the Herrmann's (if they happen to read this... greetings!). They are the administrators and founders of a non-profit association "Les Compagnons du Vieux Château" created to prevent the castle from totally collapsing and promote the site. The ruins are nowadays (and since 1971) classified as historical monument.

Sources: "Les Compagnons du Vieux Château" asbl (association sans but lucratif).

The panorama planet is made out of a 360° panorama. Enjoy!
For each individual shot: ISO 100 - 18mm - f/5.6 - 1/30s