link....
http://www.americanphotosafari.com/
ferry/bridge
Grin @ the Zoo...
there's a huge/old white alligator at the aquarium I'll take pics of later in the day, so I don't need to go to the Zoo for this 'Grin' - no matter there's a famou Mardi Gras song about the Audubon Zoo...
a great detailed statue, later I'll come back to zoom in on his shoes/laces/socks...he's the man they named the riverwalk park after, Woldenberg...
the riverboat Natchez at the dock along the riverwalk,
so tried to wait for the American flag to flap in the wind -
no time, late for showing up at 9:00am to the walking workshop tour...
to meet up with the American Photo Safari - NOLA group, with Chris at the lead...
So excited to finally be learning how to use my digi camera - or mostly...
like: White Balance Focus Action Running Child Freeze Water drops Flash at 10 ft ISO settings Shaking camera Framing...
Not to mention getting a few French Quarter Stories while walking the photog workshop in the French Quarter w/Chris - how could you not, if you live there (like he does) in a house with a courtyard, & of course there's a Celebrity story to boot, about Nicholas Cage who once owned a house on a corner we'll walk by...
Meet at Jackson Square - at the garden gate in front of St. Louis Cathedral (walking to it from the side street called St. Peters, which I continually want to call the church/cathedral St. Peters because of it...)
First meet Chris the photographer/owner of American Photo Safari - NOLA
along with 2 others braving the high humidity for our workshop/walking tour this morning...
1 lady am happy to see has a Sony CyberShot like mine too, or I think it is, & the 1 guy though has a 'good' (aka real) camera...but remember they did repeat that the workshop is for all camera/photographer levels, thankfully?!
Starting off from St. Louis Cathedral...
so many blah photos have been taken here in the past, even on postcards for sale...
but today we find new/New angles - thru the trees, under the banana palms (that one was my idea...)
Or up from the sidewalk thru the rose bushes...
there was mention of some photographers getting on the ground or their shots,
but I will not be doing this for prob any of mine - squating will be as low as I go...
on & on as you walk on & on - given a small cut out box in a card the size of a business card to look thru & see what the camera sees (kinda like when a film director in the movies holds up his 2 hands or 4 fingers to make a box frame to see what the motion picture camera will see - that's what these little cards remind me of...)
we were outside & then went inside - from 9 to 11:30 am in Southern Louisiana, near the water in New Orleans French Quarter in August you want to be sure to have not only shade to walk in when you can but a quick duck into A/C is a must as well...foggy glasses & camera lens are part of the indoors/outdoors game?!
first off learning how to focus foreground or background & then how to set the camera for light - that White Balance, which I'd never heard of before...so on my camera, thinking in icon's - I need to find the sunshine or the lightbulb?!
2 shots inside the cathedral entrance, working on White Balance...
I like chandelier type lights above or candle lights below, will try those later on...
inside the church put that to good use, as well as getting to see what a difference an ISO will make or having the camera set on something stable like the backs of the wooden pews in the church instead of in my still shaking hands no matter my elbows are locked at my side...
the real camera guy, has a bendie shortie tri-pod - that really if I didn't know would look like a kids rubber bendie toy instead of a camera gadget...still I saw for real it could take good pics, along with the real camera of course...he could wrap it around the side of the pew posts or set it on the floor to get some interesting angles/shots with that real camera?!
a Gorillapod octopus tripod image I borrowed from online, I did not take a photo of real camera guys bendie tripod for real - also taking note they're not pricey so could try to find one that fit my digital camera, possibly...(but would I use it, hmmm....)
if it hadn't been for Chris talking up different angles to look at things & then real camera guy putting his little tripod on the floor to take a shot here, I may not have tried this shot - as I squatted down...
at some point I tackle the old question of mine of how do you take a pic of stainglass windows - the ones upstairs are light brightly with the sun coming thru them while the ones downstairs are not, so they show up much better in photos...but you cannot know the many old churches I have been in while traveling as an ExPat & I have wanted/tried to take photos of stain glass windows...now I find out how I could of done it all better?! Argh?!
the wrong way to take a photo of a brightly lit stainglass window...
these were upstairs & brighter than the ones downstairs...
also setting the camera on the stable/still wooden backs of the pews helps too...
so the little red warning icon doesn't show up, or if it does, at least have picked the highest ISO & have gotten a higher number in taking the shot on stable ground compared to holding the camera in my hand (Yes, I find out - kinda figured too - there are limits to digital cameras...)
after the stainglass question comes the zooming in on details in churches, so again the settings of the ISO, the keeping the White Balance on the little white light bulb for indoors & the putting the camera on a stable/wooden bench/pew backside (or when in a church...)
I still need practice w/this one, or it's my camera, & I'll have to just walk up as close as I can & not say down the carpeted steps near the pews for zooming in on shots like this attempt inside the church - this one with good lighting as well...
focus on twin holy water angels, instead of background...
an earlier shot was trying to catch the old balding guy w/backpack who just sat down to the left of the angel in the last pew in a shot, but I thought he might not like that (for me to share to the world, unless I guess you ask permission - since I would of been taking it on purpose & not by accident right...)
after church lights above, I like candle lights for prayers below...
usually I light a candle for my boys in the military, but thankfully one's home from his deployment & the other's on a safer assignment...
remember to change the White Balance - from light bulb to sunshine...
I do also love shadows - but indoors with the sunshine coming thru say a window & making a pattern on the wall I have never been able to capture, this tho is outdoors (now am anxious to try the settings indoors to see if I can get the sunshine/shadows or not...)
something to be said for looking at the lines going off to the horizon, on either side of the corner building here...architectural details of course abound in New Orleans, especially of course in the French Quarter (which can be a mis-nomer at times when you could swear you're looking at Spanish architectural details instead--which of course you'd be right, you are?!)
walking back outside we continue to the left & the curve in the road there - where if we'd just stand for some time we'd have had the most interesting shots of the day...
What passed us?
(note: that I did not take one photo of, as we were listening to Chris talk...what was I thinking, I shoulda been snapping away like some fashion model photographer at work on the streets?!)
First a goth dressed - or is it possibly steampunk dressed - girl on a small bike with a very high seat & handlebars...
Next a tour group on Segways, rolling down the street & toward Jackson Square in a chaotic loose line of possibly a dozen - am guessing they have to stop to get told anything as they go on this tour...still I do not like Segways & still don't in seeing this group pass by today - I would rather a Schwinn beach bike pedaling tour instead...
Soon come the horse drawn carriage tours - only they're not horses, they're mules...at some point an all white carriage comes down the street, many of these also have fringe along the tops...our real camera guy proceeds to try & take a photo of it passing the curve, but not out in the street, from the reflection in the window at the cafe along the street there...
We were originally standing on this corner to take photos of the curved end building across the street with the straight lines of the balconies going off on either side - w/o the aide of a fish lens or a landscape setting...
Sadly we must continue w/o any more interesting passersby at this corner...
one of my fav photos while traveling is street art, especially unexpected -
either grafitti or stickers or stencils or whatever else constitutes street art...
here a colorful summer window display--what doesn't spell summer like beach balls...
now the trouble with window displays of course is the glass, how to capture what's inside & not the reflections - or if you're after a reflection then how to capture it just right...
all this said to me was happy color & a reminder of the seashore...
walking the streets you cannot escape all the wrought iron or balconies...
here an after Mardi Gras parade bead collection wrapped around one...
next up our photo lesson on using our flashes at 10 ft, w/a shop sign hung above the walkway as our practice...as we took a number of them at different paces & trying to narrow the view from the sunlight to just the porch above & the sign hanging from the roof of the overhanging balcony...
w/o the flash
with the flash...and so much crisper/in focus too...
(nice we'd picked the word "Dream" too, I like that)
across the street from here, the famous 'cornstalk fence'
& yes, we will take photos from the outside & the inside & at the fountain too -
because Chris will just open the gate & step inside for us to snap practice shots of the water...
a corn row iron fence...
in front of the 1/2 and 1/2 house - the 1/2 Victorian for the wife & the other 1/2 Castle for the husband...apparently some debate on the fence, was it someone said Sears Roebuck ordered or them so said being from Iowa (or the wife) & she was missing her corn...as we stepped inside though with the lack of said yellow corncobs there's some doubt - because her view from her 1/2 of the house would of been corncobless (as they're only painted on the sidewalk side of the fence...)
a more interesting shot of the fountain I didn't know we'd be visiting directly,
as seen thru the corn row fencing...
here with the help of setting our little digital cameras to the what we'll call 'running boy' setting for the motion, finding it on the top of my camera (where I thought it was only either a take photos or take video selections) we can nearly freeze water & this a lovely shade of aquamarine - am I ever gonna use this setting next trip to the beach or any other fountain photos I want as well...
I love the little almost pouting angel at the fountains side, would love to know his story -
but another time...
here is one of my fav shots all day, that I hadn't a clue I'd captured until I got home...
I was trying to zoom in on the detail of the bottom of the fountain when I see the face of the pouty angel was caught inbetween the hole at the bent part - how perfectly cute is that, nothing like doing something when you're not even trying very hard?!
stepping back out to the streets we continue walking, but this time we talk about changing the shots to black & white or sepia colored - I will only try 2 in black & white...there's mention of when there's texture that would maybe normally not be attractive with say chipping paint of colors or crumbling brick or some such like that, in black & white it would change the perspective on the subject...
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American Photo Safari photos to be continued...
Thanks for waiting for more until I sleep in?! :o)
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continued...
You can't walk down the narrow streets of the French Quarter & not look thru or between buildings to spy a touch of courtyard greenery & so it was on our tour...one courtyard we'll come to will have a story with it that I'm sure is included on any of the Haunted Walking Tours in the evenings - will ask later at a Tourist/Tour Kiosk on the street about if there are Night Cemetery Tours & of course there are not, only the ones in the French Quarter...
a bike, a balcony, a glimpse of a courtyard, from across the street...
and everywhere as well are the gas carriage lanterns still flickering - most likely in their original time the carriage doors would of been closed to the courtyard garden, but now today without the horsedrawn carriages to park they are open & I would guess especially for the breezes?!
and here an unexpected open door, as there's remodeling going on for new owners - of the once owned/then lost LaLaurie mansion by Nicholas Cage & some claim the most haunted house in New Orleans in the French Quarter...so not unexpected a lot of stories about why it's haunted - as we're not on the night time tour we can hear some of them without worry...
summary of the haunted house story...
a slave girl fell to her death from an upper balcony & even tho investigated for cruelty, it was not until the fire in the kitchen in the 1800's, which maybe the cook had set for the slaves to be found, was to open up the house for further investigation wherein other slaves were found chained/ naked/ tortured/ mutilated (experimented on or sadistic treatment has been written both ways) & then the locals on alert so said stormed the house as a mob to tear the house apart with the mistress LaLaurie fleeing to perhaps Paris, France where she died (or so a copper marker in the cemetery says so) - oddly or not the slaves were put in the jailhouse afterwards for viewing by the public to see what was done & thousands did just that...it has been written that bones have been found on the grounds/in the water well at later excavations too, assumed more slaves...
LaLaurie house (ex-Nicholas Cage house) now innocent looking front door...
at some point the house was restored & used for many different purposes before it was bought by the famous actor, who did so without having his name on the deed if I read correctly - later he would lose his NOLA properties for taxes it seems & now the house is being restored once again & one could hope they'd make it into perhaps a museum to architecture and/or for the history of slaves (one can wonder if it's been exoricised more than once after the horror years too...)
Wiki link to read more & more about this haunted house story...
so there were more views of courtyards, seen thru bricks or fences or holes in fences or framed by greenery...
a walk down the side street from the Convent, the oldest bldg in the Quarter, we stop for another story & photos of Croissant d'Or...so obviously on the original sign a golden croissant hangs up before the newer one...
I so wanted to stop for a coffee/croissant here, or another time as we'd already passed a CC's somewheres along the way for a quick espresso for me at least while we took a quick rest in the A/C & a pitstop for some...
and Mr Real Camera had already been in earlier to take pics of the black/white tile floors - was wondering how he'd get very much space in there or without people walking all over the shot?!
a busy window, a lot of reflection - remembering there is cropping that can be done, or that I could of focused in closer or to a more interesting reflection say then me in my hat w/my digital camera in hand & I see I didn't even get all the name of the shop in gold into the shot...(can I call do overs?! I will have to return to New Orleans, to the French Quarter & try many of these shots over again I'm thinking...as well as maybe read my manual, you'll note I didn't say reread--as it was more like flip thru the first time...)
next stop/lesson...
stopping for another viewpoint example, using the horse headed rein posts along a shop's sidewalk...
trying different foreground/background/angles to look at the view, with our camera eye or a photographers eye perhaps (or at least pretend?!)
a complete horse headed rein ring post - it seems the sunlight is still getting the best of me/my camera in the background...so an ordinary shot, how to make different...
this one reminds me of my old Chihuahua rather than a horse head - the rings are missing from it's nostrils I see too, many are, where the reins of the real horses were tied...
one last stop at courtyard with sunlight, with mention of the different angles one could take with it - to the ground or up or along one side or the other or that full on it's a bit busy with green greenery so more fun to play with the shadows & the light or the fence...
this may have been the last photo with Chris the photographer/safari leader...
it was here too that Mr Real Camera took some pics of the antique looking metal mailbox slots in a sidewall with numbers/names - I thought about it, but then I got the feeling of being a copycat so I didn't (I'd rather pass by something & come up with my own ideas...)
here following are some shots I took while walking inbetween the real lessons & with that idea of seeing something as I'm passing & getting the idea on my own I'd like to take a photo of that...
meow...
roarrr...
I love doors & windows...here the oldest bldg in the Quarter, the Convent...
before Ursulinas road & the Croissant d'Or...
the street signs of tile on the walls & street names spelled on the sidewalks -
from the days of the Spanish...here we have 'Ursulinas' mentioned - a name given from St. Ursuline & following that the Ursulines Sisters, who were noted for being the First Catholic Sisters to come to the New World...
And I didn't get a shot of the Romeo & Juliet iron fans with spikes at the ends of balconies before other balconies of the next building, along our walk thru the Quarter - though why they're called that except for the idea of the young lovers getting together on balconies, because I thought in Shakespere's tradegy Romeo climbed up from the ground & didn't jump one balcony to the next?!
ancient/antique fish head drains...
always one to look up--look down--look all around for something interesting to the eye...
or my eye, it's the problem when it's the camera's eye I have to depend to translate that?!
walking back from the photo workshop/walking tour...
took these photos, with a more interesting eye to my camera/to my focus/to my white balance/to more than I had appreciated before...
passing a street cafe before the riverwalk, behind the umbrella out on the walkway, at the mid-wall where a chair rail might be inside a house--a little man float walking in his jacket, a stencil, black & white, possible an Alfred Hitchcock resemblance, grafitti/street art...
I would so love to 'think' it's a Bansky - he has in the past been to New Orleans & the French Quarter... so why not (I can dream can't I?!)
And further on that idea--am wondering how a Street Art/Grafitti Photo Tour would go over? I for one would go to run around to find Bansky to start with & all the others I don't (yet) know about as well...
Come on Chris--add this to the American Safari Photo Tours in NOLA?!
a butt, a bird, a pair of shoes...
I know all shots are candidates for cropping - but I could only learn so much in 2 1/2 hrs time right...
next class on the computer, maybe...
An End (the butt) to a day I flew (the bird) thru the French Quarter walking (the shoes)
with my guide (thanks Chris) to direct my camera eye, a one eye'd creative monster in the making?!
And of course in New Orleans, you are never far from Mardi Gras...
or a Jester...or the colors green/gold/purple...
"Laissez les bons temps rouler" y'all?! :o)
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