Patricia Sands

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photography

Weekly Photo Challenge: The World Through Your Eyes

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IMG_4110What photo challenge sites do you follow? There are many choices and several I follow but WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE is a fine place to begin. Along with the challenge it also offers excellent photography tips from technical and creative perspectives. Got a good idea for a challenge? Submit it here!

This is a quick shot from our balcony last week. You never know when a photo op will stop you dead in your tracks!

Do you love to take photos? If you have a challenge site to share, please leave a link in the comments. Whether you simply point and shoot or study and practice the art of photography, it’s the pleasure you get that counts.

Here are two other favourite photo challenges sites. Join in!

CBBH PHOTO CHALLENGE – at Marianne’s fabulous East of Malaga blog

WHERE’S MY BACKPACK – Weekly Travel Themes

A story waiting to happen …

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There’s a story waiting to happen here. What do you say?

Through the gate- PSandsPhotos
Through the gate- PSandsPhotos

I passed this setting on my way to pick up my four-year-old granddaughter this afternoon and nearly drove off the road as my eyes were drawn to the shot with such intensity. Kate and I walked back up the street so I could take the photo. The fragrance that filled the air was almost overwhelming but so exceptionally beautiful.

Does that ever happen to you … where you simply MUST get the shot? Remember, you can click on the photo here to enlarge it and wander through that gate.

I just had to pop back in and add this comment – I took the shot with my iPhone! I didn’t have my trusty Canon SLR with me at the time but didn’t want to miss the moment. Gotta say, I’m lovin’ that phone’s camera! Thanks for the stories and thoughts you are leaving … lovin’ that too!

Travel theme: Beaches

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I love the photo challenges … getting lost in memories …

The travel theme this week at Ailsa’s Where’s My Backpack is beaches and she has some enticing shots on her page. There was no question in my mind as to which beach I was going to invite you. Our favourite, bar none: Plage de La Gravette in … need I say … Antibes, France.

Plage de La Gravette-PSandsPhotos
Plage de La Gravette-PSandsPhotos

Even on a crowded day in August like this, it was a treat to be there, floating in the Mediterranean. Those boats in the background are privately owned by one person. One very wealthy person. Seriously.

Plage de La Gravette-PSandsPhotos
Plage de La Gravette-PSandsPhotos

We liked laying claim to our little patch of beach and staking our umbrella.

It’s not lined with swaying palm trees. There aren’t endless miles of golden sands.  In fact, although sand has been brought in to cover the pebble shore, as soon as you get to the water the flat rocks (galets) begin again which prevent any sort of graceful entrance or exit – at least on my part.

We kept meaning to buy beach shoes but never got around to it so I simply stumbled in and out each time.

les galets -PSandsPhotos
les galets -PSandsPhotos

The sand beaches begin immediately on the west side of Antibes and continue through Juan Les Pins and Cannes and all along the coast into the Var region … I still have to look up why that is …

This beach ‘restaurant’ is not exactly a gourmand’s delight … never mind, the baguette sandwiches are delicieux.

LeSnack-PSandsPhotos
LeSnack-PSandsPhotos

This little gem is tucked into an incredibly picturesque protected cove overlooked by the 500-year-old castle that houses the Picasso Museum and the remains of the original centuries-old ramparts. The atmosphere is fantastique. Only a ten-minute walk from where we were living, it was a siren call to us on the sultry summer days …

Plage de La Gravette-PSandsPhotos
Plage de La Gravette-PSandsPhotos

Oo-la-laaaa …

Where is your favourite beach? Do you like to swim or simply find a cool spot and soak in the atmosphere? Sunscreen and umbrellas are part of the drill these days but a day at the beach is still one of my favourite summer pastimes … especially when it’s in the south of France.

Worth waiting for …

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If it’s Friday, it must be France …

Yes, I know it’s Sunday and this post is a bit late. Désolée!

We dashed off for a few days to visit the Gulf side, play some tennis and bridge and relax in the warm and hilarious company of dear friends. I have to admit it was good to break my obsessive and all-consuming writing routine. Please forgive my tardiness but I think you will agree this post was worth waiting for.

logo-01As you know, Bonjour Paris is one of my favourite websites and the following article by Ashlee Girdner from the most recent edition took my breath away.  I was SO excited to see it there! Don’t you love those kind of surprises?

The man known as Brassai, arrived in Paris from Hungary in 1924 and began to associate with the avant-garde artist community, in particular with Picasso and the Parisian surrealist circles. His proclivity to work at night produces a combination of unique authenticity and surrealism. I treasure his book Paris By Night, which can be found here on Amazon.

Brassai - Photo from Wikipedia
Brassai – Photo from Wikipedia

A multi-talented artist he was truly a pioneer in the art of candid photography.

Even if you are not a photography buff I think you will appreciate the reminder of the times evoked here. I hope so. Here’s how this beautifully-written article begins. Enjoy!

Brassai: Capturing the Beautiful Underbelly of Paris
By Ashlee Girdner
There is a jovial group of youths sitting in the shadows of an ambiguous dance hall. Their expressions show the serenity that only absinthe and rich French wine can provide.

There are dark, mist-filled streets that only the seediest creatures of the world could populate. The whores of Pigalle lurk, like deep-sea creatures with luminescent lures to attract prey on the streets of Paris.

Pablo Picasso creeps like a cat along the walls of his studio, studying his newest sculptures with his calloused hands.

The cafes of Montparnasse in the 30’s are crowded with the highest creative minds of the 20th century. Full of ambition and hunger, men like Jean Cocteau and Ernest Hemingway write opuses and operas. There to capture every sparkling, surreal moment is a heavy browed man, stalking about the filthy rooms. This man is Gyula Halasz, otherwise known as Brassai.

To read the rest of the excellent article about this masterful artist, please click here. You’ll be very glad you did!

5186e3jVcYL._SX240_How about you? Are you familiar with Brassai’s work? Do you share a fascination for Les Années Folles, as I do? Do you find his subject matter too gritty at times? Do we need to see all sides of life captured forever on film?