A walk about Paris…
“A walk about Paris will provide lessons in history, beauty, and in the point of life.” ~Thomas Jefferson
During our week in Paris, we absorbed so much history, beauty, and Parisian culture. We walked almost the entire city, and Scott took over 5,000 pictures. We like to think our trip was very successful! Special thanks to Helena Crevel for her help in finding, and mapping out, almost 100 unique doors and secret passageways to photograph.
Have you ever wanted to go to Paris on a photography trip? We are discussing the idea of creating a Paris photography trip tour in the future. Let us know your thoughts if you may be interested.
We are very busy preparing for the upcoming photography show and the Gwynn’s Island Festival. If you live in the area, make sure to plan a visit to Gwynn’s Island on Friday night, June 27 for Coastal Reverie, and Saturday, June 28 for the Gwynn’s Island Festival.
The much-anticipated Gwynn’s Island Cookbook, Shared Memories Buoyant Life, is at the printer! We should have them available for the Gwynn’s Island Festival and cannot wait to share them with everyone. And as promised, you get the first look! The link below will take you to the pre-order page with photos and a video of the book.
Share Memories Buoyant Life, https://mermaidcoveproductions.com/mermaidsshop/p/shared-memories-buoyant-life-recipes-spirits-and-the-essence-of-gwynns-island-virginia-preorder-now
Just remember, “The Eiffel Tower was once thought impossible to build.”
True life mermaids (or mermen) believe in themselves, they embrace their creativity and live life to the fullest.
Update from the writer’s desk…
It's been a week since we got back from Paris on the photography and book project. It was a great trip, we saw a lot of Paris and I took over 5000 photos! That sounds like a tremendous number of photos, however I take my photos in what is called 'bracket mode' where the camera automatically takes the same photo in three different exposures (under exposed, normal exposure, over exposed). So, every time the shutter button is depressed, three pictures are taken. This is helpful to assist in making sure every photo is taken in the correct exposure and also, in post-production, all three can be 'stacked' to get a better overall photo.
Stacking is helpful when you are trying to maintain a truer likeness of the subject in color and detail while also ensuring depth by keeping rich shadows that tend to mute brighter colors when under exposed. You see in 3D and the goal of a photo is to transition that 3D element to a 2D print. We do that in part through depth of field and exposure setting which is the F-stop (aperture) setting and the shutter speed setting respectively. I shoot in what is called AV, Aperture Priority, mode most of the time. This allows me to select the F-stop (aperture size) and the exposure bracket (1, 3, 5 or 7 pictures per shutter button press) and the camera decides which shutter speed to use (I use ISO Auto so I don't have to think about that but we won't go into ISO today). Sometimes I use TAV or TV which is Shutter Priority, and it allows me to control F-stop, exposure bracketing, and shutter speed.
If you have a DSLR camera, you can use the Auto picture mode in which the camera selects all of that automatically depending on what the sensor believes is correct. There is nothing wrong with taking photos in Auto mode and you will get wonderful pictures with today's technology. However, with AV and TAV (or even full Manual) modes, you get to determine your creativity and put your style in your photos. Maybe you want a large depth of field to showcase the object in the foreground. Or maybe you want to show all of the objects in the picture in relative clarity. You can achieve that by switching out of Auto and into a different mode. This should be the way we approach our art, whether it be photography, painting, illustrating, crafts or writing. We should switch out of Auto mode and into something that takes us out of our comfort zone and makes us creative and inventive. This makes our art better. It makes our art more expressive of who we are. It makes it ours. Do not be afraid of something not coming out right or failure. Failure is a process of development. Development gets us to the next level. From a tricycle to a bike with training wheels, to a mountain bike traveling through a beautiful forest trail. I would love to hear or see what you have done this month to get out of Auto mode with your creativity. As always, thank you very much for your support and encouragement. Talk to you soon.
I just added a new event to my schedule! I have been invited to exhibit my photography at the 76th Annual Virginia Highlands Festival in Abingdon, VA. Find out more on my website here, https://www.jsclawson.com/events/virginia-highlands-festival.
If you are a fan of The Hawk and the Hummingbird books, make sure to check out Red and Ruby’s new social media accounts. On Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/hawkandhummingbirdbooks/ and FB at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576974003672
Stay in touch with Scott and keep up with his exhibits and book signings here, https://www.jsclawson.com/
