I finally got to visit the Louvre on our most recent trip to Paris. The museum is huge and holds an incredible collection of art, I barely scratched the surface of what’s there. I did get to see some of the famous works including the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and Winged Victory of Samothrace. Seeing those was quite an experience on their own.

This shot is from inside looking through the Louvre Pyramid. A trick I learned from shooting with my iPhone is that you can put small camera lenses in places you don’t normally go with bigger cameras. I literally stuck the lens right under the base point of the Pyramid and shot upwards.

These next few blog post will highlight some of my favorite shots I took on my afternoon there. All these shots were taking with my Lomo. And don’t forget to subscribe to my RSS feed if you want to keep up with the blog from the comfort of your own RSS Reader.

An interesting feeling happened to me while I was in Paris. It’s a little hard to describe, but I just wasn’t feeling my camera. I was enjoying being there and the first day or two I had fun shooting. But very quickly, I realized I wasn’t enjoying lugging around a body and three pro lenses (or about $6000 worth of gear) all day. I wanted to lighten up. Take it easy. Relax…. I needed something simple. Plus, my 5D MK II is the camera I use for “work” and I was trying to be creative in a non “work” kind of way.

In researching where we were staying, I discovered that a Lomography Store was only a few blocks away from our rental apartment in the Marais. Lomography Stores sell all kinds of toy cameras including Holgas and Lomos. I have a Holga, but was never that stoked on it. It’s a little too toyish for my tastes. I like cameras that don’t have light leaks

I had read about the Lomo LC-A+ a long time ago and really wanted one. They’re not too hard to find, but I never wanted one at the same time that I could buy one easily. Walking in to the Lomography Store, the right impulse buy happened at the right time and I knew this was the camera I wanted to shoot for the rest of my trip.

This camera is pretty basic and it’s not fussy at all. It’s really fun to shoot. One of the funnier things about shooting film again is every so often, I’d catch myself chimping after I clicked the shutter. Old habits die hard.

Anyway, these next couple Ides of May posts will be all Lomo and all film. Thanks for looking.

As you may or may not know, Lauren and I took a little trip across the pond to Paris and London last month. Going in November, we were expected cold and rain. Instead we were treated with blue skies, sun, and even some warm days. Over the next week or so, I’ll be sharing some of my favorite shots.

This view is pretty famous and if you’ve ever been to the Trocadéro, you know exactly where this spot is. There’s a famous black & white photo from this same vantage point that’s used on a postcards at every gift shop you go to in Paris. The problem is that when you go there now, tourists are everywhere.

I really wanted to isolate the statues, the building and the Eiffel Tower, so that’s why I choose to shoot at this cropped angle. Just below the frame are literally dozens of tourists taking snapshots of the Eiffel. I wanted something a little calmer.

Side note: as an experiment, I’m going to post this image on Facebook and Google+ to see what gets more reaction.

I can’t imagine traveling anywhere now without a GPS like my trusty Garmin here. We took the long way home from a shoot the other week and traveled through a beautiful part of Eastern Washington. Neither of us had been in that area before and it was well worth the detour.

Shooting landscapes in motion reminds me of photographing the ocean. The constant changes of view create unique moments that are fleeting to capture. Like waves crashing, each second is different with light and land changing rapidly. If you see a moment, you shoot it because it won’t ever exist again.

If you need a pair of shoes, I know a great tree just outside of Madras, OR.

It’s finally sort of becoming summer around here. Still have cool temps, but at least it’s stopped raining every day. We had something like 14 inches of rain between April & May. Our average is 7 for that same time period. On the bright side, all our plants and garden are very happy this year.

Here’s some snaps from the backyard yesterday.

Yeah, that’s where I was yesterday.

Last set of shots in this Truth or Consequnces series on Ides of May. I think I like the cross process experimentation. I could see this look blending into my lifstyle work.

Trying to get my 5D Mk II files to look like my iPhone shots. It’s only a little ironic.