Photo-Blog Hans-Josef Jeanrond

Spring at Collobrières

Printemps à Collobrières

Frühling in Collobrières

After our first attempt at Spring in January, which might have cost the lives of a few early mimosa trees and bushes in the ensuing frosty period (see here), we are now already storming towards summer - at least concerning daytime temperatures.

The "sea of twigs" in the images above and below (click to enlarge) is un an uncut vineyard. All the images are taken within about 150 meters of our house.

Blosoming trees with the Massif des Maures as a backdrop

Fission Tree

Arbre fendant

Spaltbaum

Walking along a beautiful trail along the "Balcon des Iles", near Hyères, I had been watching this small cork oak tree splitting the big rock for some time, wondering when it would finally make it crumble. But the "Forces of Order" were not having it and cut the small tree down in the spring cleaning of the waysides. Too dangerous to let a big rock fall on a forest path that serves the forest office and the fire brigade, as well as walkers and hikers. "Cleaving the cleaver" put an end to the danger - unless the forces of water and ice are going to continue the entropic work.

Other trees cut down in this "spring cleaving" showed signs of decay from the inside.

Lichtbögen

Arcs of Light

Arcs de lumière

Tour Exaltis is a relatively late addition to La Défense (2006), designed by architects Bruno Willerval of Bridot-Willerval and Bernardo Fort-Brescia of Architectonica, and built by Bouygues. It houses the headquarters of Mazars.

The arcs of light are lighting strips in the interior of the big entrance hall. The architects have extended them onto the pavement outside the building, as you can see in this image (click to enlarge).

I have taken up that idea and “extended” the arcs of light into the surroundings, structuring the mirror images of la Défense, and blurring the distinction “inside – outside”.

The first image is closely cropped to the pedestrian level of La Défense, with Tour Total and Tour Areva framing the image left and right. The second shows the lower street level - with pedestrians, and the photographer in the lower left corner. (Contrary to Erich Kästner's proverbial saying that the photographer is never in the picture: "Merk's dir, du Schaf, weil's immer gilt: der Photograph ist nie auf'm Bild.")

Here we have two emblematic buildings of La Défense reflected in cascades in the concave structure of Tour Exaltis: La Grande Arche and one of the towers of Société Générale.

"Breaking through"
The reflected image of Pei's EDF tower seems to be breaking through the façade of the Exaltis tower from the inside.

Berliner Reflektionen

Reflets de Berlin

Berlin Reflections

Back to Berlin for a 4 day conference, with just the Nikon body and one lens (only one hand luggage! and the computer bag is the obligatory one on this trip), I try to redo some of the images taken 4 years ago with a little compact camera.
After the switch from summer time the previous night, I calculate that 4 pm would be a good time to be on location. Alas, I do not take into account Berlin's north-eastern geography, and light is fading from 3:30 pm onwards!
That results in a few nice (I hope) twilight images, but I have to return another time to get the images I am after. Construction work prevents me to get to the right spot, but I am rather pleased with some of the reflections.

"Lila Dämmerung", Potsdamer Platz

"Fuzzy Geometry", Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus

On the way back to the government district, I pass by Neue Nationalgalerie

and "Legoland" at Potsdamer Platz

The afternoon light and the reflection make the geometry of Paul Löbe Haus and Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus soft but no longer fuzzy:

"Soft Geometry"

"Wege der Demokratie": Stairs, balconies and a bridge linking members of parliament and their staff to each other.

And then, there is Gehry! I did not think one could simply walk past the guard at the entrance of DZ Bank at Pariser Platz, but the guard even holds the door open for you. I had heard about the explosion of "Gehry-forms" behind the stern facade imposed by the city rules around Pariser Platz. But I did not expect this. Magnificent! The meeting room inside the "whale" inside the glass-roofed inner court (“under water”?).

Enfants !

Kinder!

Children!

While making a portrait it is tempting to not just show the person in front of you but also the person he or she may have been and may become. With children, the focus is naturally more on what kind of person they may become or would like to become. No problem with girls: They like to project themselves into the future as soon as adolescence begins. Which is more and more early, it seems.

Reflets - Réflexions

Continuing the series of exhibitions on this theme that has occupied my mind and my time for a number of years now, some of the recent images of Montparnasse (Paris) and New York will be exhibited for the first time. (See the posts below)

Here we are back to the theme I meant to exploit mostly while in New York. But of course, in outside photography you are depending on so many factors. In the particular case of reflections, not only on the weather and the daylight, but also on cleaned windows, traffic, people, etc. So in the end, I did not catch too many good reflections.

Twilight

Crépuscule

Dämmerung

The onset of night in New York makes many people think of Times Square. One might argue that the jostling crowds are part of the place. But I have chosen another characteristic: Skyscrapers and billboards. Even this old-fashioned bill board (rather than the omnipresent giant electronic screens) still captures the spirit of the place quite nicely, I think.

Click on the images to enlarge

After taking this picture we turned on our heels and went straight up to the roof-top restaurant of the Marriott Hotel to have dinner in the revolving restaurant - like good tourists. Not a place where you expect to take great pictures - unless you make the blending of inside and outside lights a theme of your photographs. Like in my "interior - exterior" series. The results may not be "great", but they are quite surprising.

Chrysler Building in sunset and, below, in real "twi-light" with the lights of the restaurant being reflected in the windows.



"Above Times Square"
Some of the giant advertising screens are reflected in the lower part of the building, in the center of the image.

The lights of the restaurant being reflected in the windows

Le printemps est de retour

Spring is back

Der Frühling ist zurück

Nuages ou ciel clair ? Peu importe ! - Je vous souhaite beaucoup de bonheur et de succès en 2011

Whether under clouds or clear skies - I wish you a happy and successful year 2011

Ob unter Wolken oder blauem Himmel - ich wünsche Euch ein glückliches und erfolgreiches Jahr 2011

Hans-Josef Jeanrond