La Belle France

Just back last night from two great weeks in France.Cycling in the Loire,the Le Mans Classic and then a week in Paris.Weather did not co-operate fully.Fine and hot for the first week but very mixed for the race weekend and really wet and quite cold for the week in Paris.The Le Mans Classic was superb-big and by far the best of the four I have been to despite the weather.Photos on the LMC to follow.
France was just wonderful but it always is.And I believe that it is getting better.I have visited it many times over the years and the old jokes about them being rude to foreigners and reluctant to speak English and willing to run you over as you crossed the street sadly used to hold true.But the French have changed and particularly the Parisiens.Now you can cross the street with confidence-but watch for those scooter riders-English is widely spoken-just as I finally have got a handle on French after all those years-and people are helpful,polite and even willing to have a chat.Quelle une difference!
And it was great to see so many smiling faces and so few ugly tattoos and studs and attitude.
I took quite a few photos-naturellement- but not as many as all those people killing millions of pixels at the Le Mans Classic and the DSLR toting tourist hordes in Paris.After another week there I am convinced that is now nigh on impossible to take an original photo of Paris.It's all been done before.Just look at the black and white postcards outside on the racks outside the souvenir shops.It's all been done-often in black and white and many years ago.
My humble attempt at an original Paris photo is above.That was the closest I came to originality in a week of Leica toting in Paris.
My trip was not all smooth sailing.Just when it looked like finishing without a hitch-apart from the weather that is-the complete check in luggage conveyor system broke down at Charles De Gaulle Terminal 1 on arguably one of the busiest days of the year.Result total chaos.It made Heathrow look like a monastery on a quiet night.Luggage everywhere and my A380 two hours late departing for Kuala Lumpur- not how you want to start a 22 hour flight- and as I write my luggage is still lost.
But I must say thanks to some of the wonderful French people I met and was lucky enough to photograph.
Starting at the top.Firstly the charming lady in the dressmaking shop in the little laneway in Chartres who mended the seam in my sweater which had come apart on the flight and who only charged me 3 euros.Madame you saved my life-I wore that sweater nearly everyday.
Secondly the very friendly Patron in a little bar Azey Le Rideau in the Loire Valley who served a very nice cold beer and who gave Patrick and I a great cycle route which we used.Thirdly the proud lady with her immaculate garden and window boxes also in Azey Le Rideau.Fourthly the cycle shop owner in Azey who rented us the bikes.It was a real old fashioned cycle shop which smelt of tyres and inner tubes and oil.And finally the wonderful man with dog having a smoke outside a quiet bistro in the heart of Paris a few hundred metres from the seething mass of tourists at Notre Dame Cathedral.
To you all thanks -- for the memories-and for letting me take your photos.
All Leica X1 photos.

Big Red

This is what happens on a very wet afternoon.Leica X1 photo processed in Nix Color EFX.

Montmartre

Montmartre must be one of the most photographed places in Paris-a very close second to the Eifel Tower.Very difficult to be original but here's my take on it anyway.Leica X1 photos

Under serious lock and key

Obviously theft of the very popular large capacity scooters is a major problem in Paris given the size of the kit owners use to secure them.
The chains and locks are so heavy that the owners leave them secured to a railing or post overnight and return to the same spot the next day.Presumably they have a duplicate kit at home.Paris 2012.Leica X1.

Paris Panorama

I took this photo of the Champs Elysees from the viewing platform on the top of the Arc De Triomphe in Paris on the 13th July 2008 when I was doing the tourist thing with friends.A day of very remarkable coincidences as it happened.I just rediscovered the image this week.It was taken with a modest Canon G7 and is surprisingly sharp and detailed.It does show some distortion but I have not corrected this in the processing as that would mean losing the edges of the frame.

I converted the original jpeg file to black and white using Nix SilverEFX software which I have just purchased as part of the Nik Creative Collection being offered at a big discount by Google- the new owners of Nik.I have had a lot of fun playing with the software over the last couple of days but I am trying very hard to not give into the temptation to start using creative filters and effects more than absolutely necessary as I could end up with many of my photos looking like all the other art filtered photos which are all over the web.You can do many of the effects in Nik Creative with Adobe Lightroom 4 (except the HDR which is really excellent in the Nik collection) but Nik Creative lets you do them much more easily.

If you own Adobe Photoshop,Lightroom  or Apple Aperture and want to purchase the Nik Creative Collection for $149 go to Nik Creative and strike whilst the 70% discount applies.It only works as a plug -in for these programs so you cannot use it as a standalone application.
The original of this shot was taken in colour but I reckon that it works so much better in B&W.