Erik Kim made me walk the streets of Nice

Sometimes one only needs to hear or see something to be creatively inspired... This is exactly what happened after I heard famous street photographer Erik Kim's interview on "The Candid Frame" podcast. By the way, make sure to check out the Candid Frame, it is one of my favorite photography podcasts!

The next day I happened to be in Nice, France for 24hrs. A perfect opportunity to work on my Street Photography skills with one single lens; the Nikkor 50mm 1.4.

I decided to convert all images to Black and White. Wanting to do a quick edit, I did not use SilverEfex 2 but developed them within the brand new Lightroom 4! My favorite Black and White tool however, remains the amazing Nik Software plugin.


The images in this post are just a selection of the final 36 images I came home with from the streets of Nice. To see all 36 click here.

Remember, don't just take pictures, make pictures,

BJORN

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Pic(k) of the week 10: DIFC - Dubai Arc

Another great place for Architectural photography in Dubai is DIFC, Dubai International Financial Center. Apparently the "tripod police" is known to patrol the area. I did however not see any "no photography" signs. 

Similar to the one in Paris, the main building at DIFC is an "Arc de Triomphe" like structure. Even though not officially called like this, I personally call it, "Dubai Arc".

In the middle section of the arc, we can see one of the oldest high-rise buildings in Dubai; The 1978 World Trade Center.

Another interesting perspective from below the Arc, can be found here.

Image details:

Nikon D700 with Nikkor 14-24 2.8

RAW development in Lightroom 4 (Yes, got it!)

CS5 for perspective correction

Nik ColorEfex Pro for contrast adjustment

Nik SilverEfex Pro 2 for Black & White conversion

This is one of the first images processed with the just released final version of Lightroom 4. So far, I'm really impressed. A great application just got even better!

Wherever you are, whatever you do, have a great weekend!

BJORN

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Pic(k) of the week 9: Sunset over Jazirat Al Hamra

The number one place for Urban Exploration ( Urbex ) photography in the UAE is without doubt the deserted fishing village of Jazirat Al Hamra, 18km South-West of Ras al Khaimah. Its inhabitants, members of the Za'ab tribe, left in the late 1960's for more comfortable homes. The houses, two towers which were part of a fort and a few mosques are in varying states of decay. Interestingly a lot of the local population do not know about the place and the ones that do, will tell you the place is haunted. A real ghost town?

I visited the place for a third time last week and noticed some renovating activity at the East site of the village. It looked like the RAK government is starting to rebuilt part of the village and will use it as an official heritage site. I must say, I do prefer the old deserted town!

Having said this, there is still plenty left to photograph, and I personally believe it is heaven for HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography!

Even though overall a lot of the buildings are intact, close to one of the Fort towers, they all look severely damaged. Almost out of a World War II movie scene!  The 9 shot HDR sunset image above, is probably my favorite one of the afternoon out.

Image details:

Nikon D700 with 14-24mm 2.8 Nikkor lens

ISO 200, 16mm, f8, varying shutter speed for the 9 shot HDR

Photomatix 4 for HDR development

Nik ColorEfex 4 for optimum contrast and saturation

I've also made quite a few black & white images from inside the mosques, which can be found in a new, "Abandoned village Jazirat Al Hamra" gallery.

My first (2009) blogpost about this ghost town can be found here. 

Wherever you are, whatever you do, have a great weekend!

BJORN

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Pic(k) of the week 8: Desert power

Just next to where I fly my remote control aircraft at Nad al Sheeba RCM airfield in Dubai, there is a large electricity distribution center with a few dozen large pylons.

I've been wanting to photograph these steel monsters for a while and finally got around it!  Even though they are not really the most photogenic models, they make for some interesting architectural photography! The image above was shot vertically from below the center of the pylon. 

Image details:

Nikon D700 with Nikkor 70-200 VR2

ISO 200, 70mm, f5.0

5 shot HDR developed with Photomatix 4

Nik SilverEfex 2 for Black and White conversion

Two more images with a different perspective of the same shoot can be found here.

Wherever you are, whatever you do, have a great weekend!

BJORN

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Pic(k) of the week 7: Hungry birds

Today I wanted to use my Friday off (Friday equals Sunday in the Gulf region), to go out and shoot for this weeks "Pic(k) of the week". I did have a few creative ideas in mind, but unfortunately a Shamal is blowing over the UAE today with widespread dust and a limited visibility. Outsiders call this a sandstorm. Anyway, no outside shooting for the time being. 

Browsing through my un-edited images of the last few months, I bumped into this shot of gulls being fed by somebody at Dubai Creek. The caption "Hungry Birds" came to mind in similarity to the famous iPhone/Android game "Angry Birds".

Image details:

Nikon D700 with 70-200 2.8. VR2

ISO1600, 130mm, f5, 1/640s

Raw development in Lightroom 3

Nik ColorEfex 4 for contrast adjustment

Nik SilferEfex 2 for Black & White development

Whatever you do, wherever you are, have a great weekend!

BJORN

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