Noel à Paris

Christmas Day in Paris.  forgot the dots above the "O"

tree filled up

julie got me some safety gear

I got a B+W 77mm Kaesemann Circular Polarizer with Multi-Resistant​ Coating

here it is without the filter on there so you can see how dark it is.

you rotate the filter to get the anti glare powers out of it.  here is it before

here it is after.  i saw that the human eye actually shows the rooftop above as blown out.  of course the garden isnt black to the human eye but there are all part of the photography battle.  i have to play around with this more

harry potter wands

the weasly family wands for 40 euros each

demonic chocolate papa noel

next to chez marianne in le marais.  did my new polarizer help this shot?  i'm not sure cuz i don't know what i'm doing yet.

school next to chez marianne

love how there's so many windows jammed in everywhere

lamp and dress.  color combo

from les philosophes in le marais

that bridge between il de la cité and ile st louis (pont saint louis)

contents of my stocking.  puzzle cube, lollipops, a top, pez dispensers and pez, candy cane, toothbrush, xbox live 800 points card, metro tix, metal bird, santa and snowman figures, nerds not part of it they just ended up in there somehow afterwards.  possibly made of tin from seattle frog was not in stocking.

got "on the road" by jack kerouac, i've been meaning to read it for years and now i finally can.  i tried to but the forward was like an hr long.  also go Paris vs. New York, the book that you see everywhere in real life stores and online.

le petit chaperon rouge, uniqlo heat tech shirt, i've never actually tried it but have purchased it for my whole family.  Kitsch calendar.  Not pictured: more presents from my cousins and others including a mug and hot sauce that are upstairs and i'm too lazy to get them to photograph them.  Thanks for the gifts everyone!

rubber lens hood that is too big even in its smallest "setting".  check out the pics below.  Canon focusing screen.  from what i gathered it has a grid on it so you can get straight shots because my are always crooked and then i have to crop and rotate them and lose precious inches of photo.  I didn't know that you had to install it inside of the camera body, i thought it just slipped in the eye piece part!!!!!  also i looked again and this is not the screen with the grid, this one helps you do manual focusing better.  oops

here is the lens hood full extended.  WTF!!!! If this is truely the Fotodiox 3-Section Rubber Lens Hood, Sun Shade, 77mm then WTF!!!! also amazon recently started compiling all the customer reviews into one, meaning if i am looking at this 77mm fotodix lens hood reviews they also include the reviews for the 50mm, 72mm, etc... This is not cool!  they are definitely not the same product and shouldn't be treated as such.  and WTF, to all the people that reviewed this lens hood and said it was good, this is totally unusable.  were they all using 100mm lenses when they reviewed this?  I'm using the 24mm f/1.4 L lens.  It also screws INTO the filter and not onto the lens which feels very bad

look even in the lowest setting you can still see the lens hood in the corners!!!! WTFFFFFFFF.  Thanks for the gifts mom and dad, this lens hood was a trail thing for me anyway.  Well Joyeux Noel from Paris!

Vacature Magazine - My First European Job

My first European job !!! (continental europe not counting all the UK jobs i've had).  Cover for Vacature magazine in Belgium.  Its about the 12 sectors that are hiring in 2013 in Belgium.  they wanted a me to change his skin to a realistic tone and then open up his eyes (he's looking down so that was a challenge to say the least) and then add more blue squares to super flesh out the shape of the guy.  and then in the end it got killed.  let's just say there were too many non-art directors involved in the final decision.  

this is the cover they ended up using.  

spots that did end up running inside the magazine.  insurance, financial and banking services

flemish government (this lion dude is on the flemish flag), federal government

technology, chemistry, health industry, energy

pharmaceuticals, construction, e-commerce, automotive

La Veille de Noel

Christmas Eve

Bercy village across the river.  it doesn't feel like paris anymore and there's no need to go there unless you need to buy something.  there is a park over there in that area and probably other stuff too so maybe its worth checking out again although i didn't see much on my bike ride around there.

from la coulée verte, which is like the highline in new york but way longer.  i only went about 200 meters on it before i decided i would do it another day when i had my wide lens.  on googlemaps it shoes that it goes from close to bastille all the way to the perpherique which is like the end of paris.  its loooong

I discovered a way cool street today, rue de charonne.  lots of cool hip shops, a few cafes including cafe pause and a few streets like this that make a U and come out the other side one street over.  and lots of courtyard entrance streets

some french dudes bought the distribution rights to feiyue, an ultra cheap crappy chinese shoe brand a few years ago and turned it into a cool thing.  they have some cool shoes in new designs.  i used to wear these for kung fu class years ago when they cost $10

this has got to be illegal.  these trash "bins" that are all over are just a hoop witha  trash bag hanging down.

this is what im talkin' about!  i love these entrance way corridor courtyard things.  most of the time they are private property but rue de charonne has a few that are open.  this one has a toy shop and who knows what else.  it was christmas eve so most things were closed.

looking back at the entrance from the other side

what the entrance looks like from across the street.  looks like its called passage l'homme.  well i guess these are called passages but theres gotta be more to this kind of architectual structure than that.

closing up to go home and celebrate xmas eve.

passage du chantier.  gotta check it out when everything is open.  lovin' the passages

the boats by bastille

xmas tree at our house

Bûche de Noël (yule log) is a traditional french dessert and is made with yellow sponge cake usually.  it tasted like there was a little rum or brandy soaked into the bottom which was nice.  the crazy part is how much they can get away with charging for these things, this one was 18 euros from our boulangerie down the street!!!!  This is definitely not worth it but it was my first xmas in paris so we go it.  There are plenty tastier desserts you can get with 18 euros or less.

Presque Noel

Presque Noel (almost christmas).  a few days til christmas in paris

a shopping trip with the cousins

somewhere in the 11th

Bonsai trees at Paris Bonsai in the 15th 

various bonasai training tools 

this is the tree we got josh for christmas.  he is the perfect candidate for raising a bonsai because he loves asian culture and likes to respect the most minute aspects of it, he researches things thoroughly, he's got a green thumb, and he is responsible and reliable.  He also has the heart of an artist and patience.  You need all of these, I had 2 bonsais in tokyo and they both died.  This is an 8 year old tea tree originating from China.  it needs to be repotted in april and flowers with white flowers.

place vendome via rue st honoré

velib double up

charging the free electric cars.  on the side is written "libre comme l'air" (free like the wind).  I love that

place de la concorde xmas time ferris wheel seen from the tuilleries

pigeons and hooves

pedestrians

searching for their next target at the tuilleries.  there are quite a few seagulls in Paris for some reason

trampoline playground area in the tuilleries looks super fun.

rollerblading weirdos again this time on ile st. louis

looking out from a table outside at the St. Regis 

I went out to get some photos of people and just as i was unlocking my bike i turn around and the best shot of the day was standing right there.  I'm guessing she's a northern european pixie who has lost her way