Harold Davis

Chateau de Nazelles

Harold Davis — Thu, 16 May 2013 18:31:10 +0000

The Chateau de Nazelles is located a few miles from Amboise in the Loire Valley. Built by some of the same craftsmen that constructed Chenonceau Chateau, today it is a wonderful bed and breakfast that I used as a base of operations. This image, in monochromatic HDR, conveys the feeling that being there is like visiting old France—and is more like a line drawing, or lithograph, than a photo. However, color images to come will also show the incredible lushness of the Loire in spring.

Chateau de Nazelles © Harold Davis

Exposure info: Nine exposures, each exposure at f/22 and ISO 100, with shutter speeds ranging from one second to 1/200 of a second; tripod mounted; exposures combined using Nik HDR Efex Pro and processed in Photoshop, with monochromatic conversion using Nik Silver Efex Pro and Photoshop black & white adjustment layers.

Eiffel

Harold Davis — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:06:10 +0000

Reviled when it was built as a fun house rocket ship and aesthetic monstrosity, it’s amazing how the Tour Eiffel in fact manifests visual grace with decorative flourishes and curls in the ironwork. Seen from a distance with the lights of Paris turned on, the spectacle is a bit amusement park—but up close there’s an almost decorative art nouveau feeling, despite an anachronistic and blatant attempt at modernism.

Eiffel © Harold Davis

To make this image, I turned my camera up towards the tour. To exaggerate the open and lacy feeling of the structure, I overexposed by about 2 EVs. This made sure that the darker areas of the tower didn’t go entirely black, and allowed the filigree patterns in the less dense areas to emerge.

The final settings at 22mm focal length and ISO 200 were a 1/80 of a second shutter speed and f/4.5.

Katie Rose is Five

Harold Davis — Tue, 14 May 2013 23:27:12 +0000

Yesterday we celebrated Katie’s fifth birthday with parties at Step One (her preschool) and at home. Katie Rose is a charming, wonderful little girl—and living proof that there are miracles.

Katie Rose is 5 © Harold Davis

How time flies! Five years ago we were caught in that country where the boundaries of life and death come close. How reassuring it would have been to look forward those years to see her now.

Click here to read more about The Story of Katie Rose.

Au Sauvignon

Harold Davis — Mon, 13 May 2013 01:16:45 +0000

Across the street from the hotel and down the block, Au Sauvignon, a modest brasserie offered simple food and seats to watch the world go by. In the back, these narrow and steep stairs, lined with framed etchings, led to the toilet. This iPhone shot is looking back down towards the main floor and good cheer of the brasserie.

Brasserie Stairs © Harold Davis

La Tour Eiffel

Harold Davis — Fri, 03 May 2013 17:45:46 +0000

At night, the area under the Eiffel Tower turns into an exciting display of lights, colors and people—as you can see in this iPhone shot of this small carousel in the shadow of the Tour Eiffel, the king of all amusement park rides!

La Tour Eiffel © Harold Davis

Harold Davis Photo Workshop at Giverny

Harold Davis — Thu, 02 May 2013 08:52:47 +0000

Here we are after a very satisfying session photographing Monet’s famous gardens at Giverny. The happy but tired group is shown sitting on the steps of Claude Monet’s house. Thanks to Marianne Glosenger for shooting this group portrait. Our guide Valerie is shown on the lower left.

On the steps at Giverny © Marianne Glosenger

Parc de Sceaux

Harold Davis — Wed, 01 May 2013 21:31:49 +0000

Andre Le Notre is the Frederick Law Olmsted of France. Like Olmsted, Le Notre is the essential landscape designer of his country. In Olmsted’s case, much of the inspiration came from park-like wilderness such as the floor of Yosemite Valley, while Le Notre’s creations—including the gardens at Versaille, Fountainebleau and the Tuilleries—are formal, and involve long vistas with aisles of sight running to the vanishing point, as well as very regular and symmetrical shapes both small and large.

A lesser-known creation of Le Notre’s is the Parc de Sceaux, shown in the photo. The Parc de Sceaux lies on the periphery of Paris near the bedroom community of Bourg-la-Reine. It is one of Le Notre’s masterpieces.

San Sulpice

Harold Davis — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 22:04:30 +0000

San Sulpice is a marvelous, unfinished baroque church. It’s a few blocks from the Paris hotel my workshop group is staying in. The interior of this church was in an important scene in Dan Brown’s peculiar but popular book, The Da Vinci Code, which is largely set in Paris. The obelisk shown in this iPhoneograph plays a significant role.

I shot my image using my iPhone 5, and processed it using the Lo-Mob and Plastic Bullet apps.

Luxembourg Gardens

Harold Davis — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 05:34:03 +0000

I am staying around the corner from the Luxembourg Gardens, a fun place to photograph with its harmonious straight lines of trees and flowers in their springtime bloom. This is an example of iphoneography, shot with my iPhone 5, showing one of the aisles of trees.

Luxembourg Gardens by Harold Davis

I processed it through Lo-Mob and Plastic Bullet while waiting for an appointment with a gallerist here in Paris. The good news is that I’ll be having an exhibit next April here in Paris, of my Botanique work and some monochromatic prints as well.

Opera Garnier

Harold Davis — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 07:47:24 +0000

The Opera Garnier in Paris is baroque and magnificent. It’s mostly not used for opera any more as they’ve built a modern opera house (I’ve heard, however, from several people who’ve been to the opera here). It does host ballet performances. This is a shot of an ornate reception room. Since tripods are not allowed I put the camera with a fisheye lens on the floor, set the self-timer, ran away, and took my chances, coming back to the camera ten seconds later after the exposure!