Son's Car

Happiness is having a mechanic dad - son has already got his second car. Perhaps you remember he got a white VW Polo when he got 18. It was later exchanged to another old Polo which is in better condition and have a better engine. It is now renovated with help from his skilled dad and parts from dba.dk (Danish eBay), you aren't rich when you are an apprentice. The result is really good and had to be celebrated with a photo session, where I got the honour of being the photographer. When we got home, son's good friend, Thore, who is a talented graphic artist, edited all the photos. Here are the results:

We drove to Refshaleoen at the Isle of Amager, where there were some lovely old and decayed buildings, perfect background:

Son has painted the brake drums bold green as a contrast to all the black:

We sneaked into the great hall of B&W (the one where the huge International Song Contest just has been held) and took some photos:

When we were almost done, we by incident found this great graffiti wall and had to shoot a few more photos:

I think we were quite good at finding different backgrounds for our photos:

This is one of my favourite photos. I lured son to climb up on the old tree stem and look down at his car:

Son's favourite photos, shot in the hall of B&W, hand held camera and no flash:

I also lured son to take a few photos with him and his car. I suppose this one is quite good, since it ended as his Facebook profile photo:

And here is the proud owner:

When we were done I demanded an ice cream as my humble wage, since it was damn hot crawling on the asphalt in the burning sun. But it was a very cosy day with the boys, which I will remember for long.

Paris, Part 3: Nice and Mixed

Here I have collected funny photos, because I always see details which I suppose most people would not take photos of.

Here the mouse shows a vertical garden in the metro:

A great idea if you only have a balcony.

And a false bridal couple at the stairs up to Sacre Coeur:

They looked so sweet and lovestruck, but when they walked away she lifted her dress and you could see she was wearing blue jeans and black flats underneath. Well, the world wishes to be fooled.

One of the old metro signs, which unfortunately didn't function any more:

Our shadows in front of the Eiffel tower:

I'm at the right side.

We enjoyed a cup of coffee with a view to the Eiffel tower:

A UFO!!!

It was an exhibition of very modern and futuristic furniture at the very expensive antique flea market.

And we saw scooters with three wheels:

I have never seen them before, but since they were everywhere, I suppose they are great.

A very typical French magazine kiosk:

In Paris lovers lock padlocks to the bridges and throw the key into the water as a sign of eternal love:

There were LOTS of padlocks:

A house boat with an amphibian car:

Parma ham for the people:

And we attended a speed divine service, which we didn't understand:

Fabulous shadow writing in La Fayette:

I really want this at my home, but I think you have to bend a lot before making the text.

Decisions, decisions:

DH and the best friend, who could not help himself:

We were in the country of cheese, but didn't get any cheese at all for breakfast, so we bought a small selection ourselves. Here it hangs in the shadow outside our window:

Minion Easter eggs:

Do they also have Rent a Wreck in France:

In France they let out water at the highest place which then runs down the streets and cleans the gutters:

A very nice tea pot cake.

And a mystical man who walks through the wall:

On our way up to Sacre Coeur.

Well, that's all folks. :)

My Picture Book

I've been on Pinterest for over a year now, and I LOVE it! It is my break at work when I need to relax a few minutes. And when I was down with stress a year ago it was my rescue. Looking a lovely pictures was the only thing my poor brain could manage to do. I collect inspiration and nice photos. I've found a lot nail inspiration, but I also pin from nail blogs I read, if I see something nice I want to make some day. I only pin for my own amusement, but I've got about 200 followers withing a year without doing anything. But I suppose my pins are both inspirational and realistic. I e.g. only pin nail art which I think I can do myself. I never pin anything that is out of reach.

I have six nail boards in total, which are all a great success:

• My Own Nail Art
• Miscellaneous Nails
• Taped Nails
• Dotted Nails
• Stamped Nails
• Holiday Nails
• Essie Ads

My most pinned picture ever is this:

More than 600 repins! Crazy! I think it is due to my descriptions (under the pins), so other members find my pins when they search and think they are inspirational.

But I also have a lot of other boards, for fun or for inspiration:

• My Style
• Vintage style (almost the same ;))
• Fabulous Fifties Frocks - to drool over and dream about

I would LOVE to own this lovely gingham dress.

I have boards with movie stars and handsome men:

• Beautiful Marilyn - which is very popular
• Dita von Teese - new board, but she is such a great vintage inspiration
• Gil Elvgren - my favourite pinup artist
• Male Dish - it is always nice to have some handsome men to look at ;)

Like Don Draper, yummi!

I have boards for each season and holiday:

• Spring
• Summer
• Autumn
• Winter
• Easter
• Halloween 
• Christmas

Send me some snow so I can make this lovely and funny snow man. :)

And I also have practical boards like:

• DIY
• Tips'n'Tricks
• Creative cooking

I want to bake myself an Indiana Jones cupcake some day. ;)

But I also have boards just for fun, like:

• Pink - everything pink, from cat paws, to cakes and shoes
• Green - everything green, from beetles, to cars to Mike (below)
• Humour
• Favourite Movies

Mike, from Monsters Inc., is from my green board.

And many more. See you there?

If you want to follow me on Pinterest, I have a button at the top right.

Photo Order

Last week I wrote about taking photos manually vs automatic and I mentioned that I take a lot of photos and also delete a lot of them. Because the problem with digital photos, in my openion, is that most people do not sort them and you really have to or else your drown.

Many years ago I have invented this tree-structure in my photo folders:

Photos
     2012
          2012-08-12_Harzen_vacation

I have a main folder named Photos, which is on the harddisc I save all my files on. I have two harddiscs - one I install on and one I save files on. Under this folder I have the years and under these I have the ISO-format for dates so the order is always correct. I don't use Danish letters and spaces in my filenames, because I'm an old it-nerd. I use underscore (_), but perhaps it doesn't matter anymore. This way it is very easy to make a backup, since I only have to copy the main folder named "Photos".

When I have copied all the photos from my memory card to a folder like the one above, then I start sorting - the first sorting is easy. The first ones to go are wrong shots and these are also the ones that are over og under exposed. Delete, delete! Then I go through them all again a few more times, and now I delete photos in which people look stupid (I would thank others for doing this) and photos that are unimportant. I often ask myself if I would look at this in ten years? If not - away to the bin it goes. Many photos are not saying anything - they also have to go. And then there are all those I have been experimenting with - I can sit for long and change back and forth before I decide which one I keep. I do read the "Properties" of the photos by right-clicking and read its "Details", so I learn something from my experimenting.

I hope I have inspired you to sort out and keep your photos in order, so your photos also will be interesting for others and yourself in ten years. :)

Hey! Did you notice? A post about photos - without a single one. That's not good, so here is a decent one of me (thank you, sis) wearing my nice vintage dress at DH's fifties birthday garden party:

Manual vs Automatic

I love to take photos. I will never say I'm an expert, but I can see the motifs and I think it is important. I take a lot of photos and delete about 50 to 70% of them, because I experiment a lot with manual settings. I have two cameras: a Canon EOS 450D, the one DH gave me for Christmas. I specifically wanted the 450 model since it was the model all the nerds on the internet praised. I have bought a great all-round lense, a Canon 18-200, which can be used for almost everything. I have also bought a big flash and close up lenses, so now I don't need much more. But it is big and heavy and not always practical to carry with me, so I have also invested in a small Canon Ixus 310, and since the photo shop had to order it especially for me I decided on a pink one. :)

It is smart because it can take semi-manual photos. I use AV a lot, which is diaphragm prioritized, which often can make a huge different combined with correct ISO settings, look at this:

The custom Trabant is shot at the parking basement of our hotel at automatic settings - deadly dull.

Here it is shot with ISO 800 and a little  diaphragm :

This is completely different and this is what it looked like in real life. The problem with a little diaphragm and high ISO is that you have to practice holding the camera very still because else the photo will be blurred. Here a tripod is great but how often do you carry such one with you?  But if you stand solid on both feet, hold the camera with both hands and your elbows in to your body, take a deep breath (and hold it) and shoot - then it most likely will be a good shot.

I have attended two photo courses, the first one held by a young guy who was really talented, but unfortunately he was not a talented teacher, so I only became more confused. A few years later I went again and then I saw the light - now I photograph manually.

If you want to read about basic photo technics Sophie has written a great text about it. (In Norwegian and English).

Close Up

I love taking photos, and I especially love taking macro photos. I have considered investing in a macro lens, but I know I’m not good at changing lenses. I am a Canon-fan and started with an EOS 300D. Later DH gave me an EOS 450D for Christmas (LINK). I got two lenses with my EOS 300D: the usual 18-58, and then a bigger one going up to 300, but I never changed, so it ended for sale on the internet. I bought an 18-200 lens and it is perfect for me – it works for everything and stays on the camera. I subscribe to Canon’s news mails and read about “close up lenses”. I had to learn more about them, so I ran to my local photo pusher. It is simply just a magnifying glass you can screw onto your lens, so you can come closer, really close:

 

I bought a set of three: +1, +2 and +4. The bumblebee is shot with +4, this peony is too: 

 

These two are shot with +2: 

Now I cannot think of more gadgets I need for my camera … oh, perhaps a cordless release. I have one with cord, which I hardly ever use, but one day …

Wallpapers

I love to change the wallpaper at my desktop, so it suits the season, the holiday or just my mood. Not long ago I uploaded 82 (!!!) new wallpapers to my Download section at my website, so if you also like a suitable wallpaper at your desktop, please feel free to use mine. There should be something for every one.