Rhapsody in GNU

Rêves de Patagonie

Thomas PARIS — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 01:16:00 +0200

It wasn't easy but I've finally completed my "folio" project, 10 prints encased in a hard paper cover.

You can find more info about it, including a short video that will give you a better idea of what it really looks like, on my Google+ stream. See you there!

Welcome!

Thomas PARIS — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 19:17:00 +0200

Hi!

If you're reading this, you're probably not aware I've moved most of my activity over to Google+. I'm not sure what will happen with this blog. I might start using it again later on, but for the time being you'll find all of my recent photography over there. Don't worry, you don't have to create an account to see my work.

Hospitality Club founder's reaction to Couchsurfing's raising of VC money

Thomas PARIS — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 16:08:00 +0200

Here is an interesting read from the founder of Hospitality Club about Couchsurfing's recent raising of VC money.

I do wonder how CS intends on making enough money to please its investors.

Google+ has killed me.

Thomas PARIS — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 16:31:00 +0200

Now, that's not quite true, Google+ hasn't killed me. But it has killed my involvement in this blog, however. Since I've joined Google+, I have found it that much easier to only post there. Part of the reason is how easy it is to post there, but it's almost as easy here. More important is the fact that there I don't feel like I have to write a long post, a couple of lines are enough. So, while I've posted quite a few images to my Google+ stream, I haven't written anything for this blog in ages :(

What should I do? Is it enough for you to read me on Google+? Or should I keep on writing posts here as well?

In the meantime, you can see the images I've posted there on my Google+ albums and follow my (short ;) writings there in my Google+ stream.

I've even set a short url to get to my Google+ profile: http://mercen.org/+

Photographing strangers

Thomas PARIS — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 18:53:00 +0200

About a week ago, some friends and I went picnicking by the Seine in a very popular area, the kind of which quickly gets crowded. Parisians may have a reputation for not being friendly, but they're really not that bad ;) And in these kind of situations, where people are so close to one another, it's not uncommon for them to start chatting with strangers. Actually, that's even one of the reasons why so many of them go there: to meet new people.

So, we were spending a nice evening and I was playing with my photo gear and especially with my external flash and associated Lumiquest diffuser. I'm really very much of a beginner when it comes to portaiture and need all the experience I can gather. And the results of that part of the evening are actually not too good... Anyway, I was photographing my friends when they began chatting with some of those people we didn't know and I used the opportunity to get my first experience in photographing strangers. I had read many articles on the web about that kind of photography, but just like many others I had always been too afraid to actually do it. This occasion was making it much easier to give it a try by giving me an excuse.

So, I took a few snaps and some of them even turned out fairly good. This one, for example, even though I messed up a bit on the lightning and really must learn to make a better job, isn't half bad:

I took some later in the evening that I consider to be stronger, but I haven't heard from those people yet and don't want to publish the shots without their authorization.

Why would I hear from them if they were strangers? Because I've told them they could get a better quality version of the portrait I had made of them if they gave me their email address, of course. Better quality? Better than what, I can hear you ask. Well, I had brought not only my camera and flash but also my very little but oh-so-useful Polaroid printer:

This little thing can print a picture on a 5x7.5cm sheet of paper in about a minute, runs on a small battery and doesn't require separate ink cartridges (the ink is in the paper). Great way to immediately share your photographs with the people you've just met. And you should see the smile on their face when you give them that print! It may not be the best quality (far from it, actually...), but it is so much fun. It does make the experience even more enjoyable.

When I got tired of playing with the flash (which didn't take long because I had not planned on spending the evening doing that kind of photographer ;), I got back to something I'm more experienced with. There were two guys playing the guitar next to us and gigs are the main reason why I got my current DSLR. So, back in my comfort zone, I managed to get a few more nice shots. Such as these:

Learn a language for free

Thomas PARIS — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 17:08:00 +0200

I often hear people say that to learn a foreign language, you need to immerse into the culture, to live in the country. The idea is that you would need to be somewhere where people speak the language to learn it. Well, my personal experience kinda contradicts this popular wisdom as my English was good long before I ever left France. But I do think there is some truth to it. However, I believe it's not so much about being with people who speak the language as it is about actively using the language. You see, my English is what it is because I started reading books and articles in English soon after I started learning the language. Then came movies and finally occasions to chat in English, mostly on the web. I could also tell you about this friend who's greatly improved his understanding of spoken English by watching TV series.

Why the sudden rambling about this? Because I've just watched a presentation by a guy who may have invented a great way to get people to learn a language by practice. As I understand it, it's limited to reading and writing but that would already be a lot more than not knowing the language at all. So, if you'd like to know about this potentially great idea, here is the presentation: Duolingo

Helsingfors

Thomas PARIS — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 00:57:00 +0200

As promised a few days ago (what do you mean, more than a few?), we're now going to Patagonia!

You might know Helsingfors as the Swedish name of the current capital city of Finland and consequently might be surprised to hear it was our first stop in Patagonia, but that would be because it's also the name of an estancia/hotel. But before we get there, we've got a bit of driving to do.

So, we flew from Buenos Aires to El Calafate, the hub of Argentinian Patagonia, on December 29th. As you can see on the map (don't hesitate to click on it to see a bigger and more readable version), it's a very long distance. A bit over 2000km actually. Which is why we did that leg of the trip by plane. But once in El Calafate, we were met by our very friendly and competent bus driver, who would take care of us until the end of the workshop. He was driving a full size bus, making it possible for us to have quite a bit of gear with us, as opposed to in the trunk. That would prove handy for when one of us would ask that we stop to photograph something.

And would you know it, that's what's just happened as Thom, our teacher, has spotted an armadillo next to the road. And so, we all get off the bus and start shooting the poor animal who tries to run away from us.

Not an easy task, however, when you've got so many of these scary shooters around you:

Sadly, that was our only armadillo in the whole trip, but we did see a fair bit of wildlife, as you'll find out in future posts.

To recover from our emotions, we made a stop in what is apparently a must for everybody going through this area, a little cafe and shop named La Leona. A friendly atmosphere and good tasting cakes made for an enjoyable break before continuing our drive to the estancia, even though Thom was disappointed by the lemon pie. You see, on previous trips to Patagonia he had every single time stopped by La Leona to eat a piece of the best lemon pie he had ever tasted and this time it was apparently only ok. And I say apparently because, not being a great fan of lemon, I had chosen another, apple-based, cake. Anyway, it was all good enough to prepare us for what was coming next.

Along the road, we also got our first glimpses of the amazing clouds that can be seen in Patagonia. Some, known as lenticular clouds, are eerily reminding of flying saucers. But others are even crazier as you'll see in a future post, where I'll be showing Fitz Roy at sunset.

But I can hear you asking what is Fitz Roy. Well, it's a famous peak in the area that ou can see on this map:

But why make do with a map when we can have the real one instead?

And that's the kind of scenery you get here. Not too bad, heh? Note the iceberg. There's a huge ice field on this continent and we'll see quite a few icebergs during those two weeks.

But what's that I see over there? Isn't it the estancia?

Why, yes it is! And something tells me we're welcome ;)

Well, just give me that kind of view and I'll feel welcome

Of course, the fact that Helsingfors is so cozy doesn't hurt either.

Ok, that was a long day. And our first in Patagonia. Time to get some rest. And next time, we'll get to see horses.

Eric Whitacre on the distributed choir

Thomas PARIS — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 21:09:00 +0200

About a year ago, I mentioned the astonishing distributed choir. Well, Eric Whitacre, the composer and director behind it, talks about the whole experience in a TED talk titled "A virtual choir 2000 voices strong". A recommended watch if you liked the choir.

Lentils salad with spring onions, nori and apple

Thomas PARIS — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 16:14:00 +0200

Long time since I've last told you about food. Because I wouldn't like you to believe I don't eat anymore, here is what I had for lunch today, a simple yet tasty lentils salad:

I'm sure I don't need to tell you how I made it, but here it is anyway: I cooked the lentils for 20 minutes in boiling water then got rid of the extra water and added chopped spring onions, fresh nori and apple. All that was left was to mix it all, with a little bit of balsamic vinegar to add a little bit of bite to it. Voila! Served with hazelnuts bread, it made for a quick, simple, tasty and probably healthy lunch.

I'm still working on the pictures from Patagonia but should have the first ones online very soon.

Still in Buenos Aires

Thomas PARIS — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 22:36:00 +0100

I'm not in Buenos Aires anymore, of course, but this post is another one of shots of Buenos Aires. This time we'll be visiting La Boca, a very colourful neighbourhood

and Recoleta, an old cemetary with the tombs of once powerful people.

The latter reminded me of Cimetière du Père Lachaise, in Paris, albeit smaller and looking less like a city park than Paris' famous cemetary does.

Next stop will be in Patagonia.

Buenos Aires

Thomas PARIS — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 14:31:00 +0100

I've been back from my trip to Patagonia for over a month now and I'm finally about ready to start publishing the pictures I took there. I think you'll quite like some of them. But let's start with the beginnings. On Christmas Day last year, I flew to Buenos Aires, where I was to meet the group for the photography workshop. I spent a couple of days there, certainly not enough to get a good sense of the city, but what very little I did manage to see looked very interesting.

Buenos Aires is, of course, a very large city. And it does feel like it.

With large streets bordered by tall buildings. One big difference with Manhattan was that the sun was visible in the middle of all this, whereas New York's highrise buildings were hiding it a lot of the time. Could also be because I was in NYC in late November, when the sun is lower.

One of the fascinating features of Buenos Aires was the architecture, on the one hand the grandeur of it

and on the other hand the strange mix. See, the thing is different neighbourhoods were built in different styles, according to the latest fashion, which already messes things up a bit. But as buildings were being replaced (mostly because of wear, I believe),

the style wasn't preserved so that even in a given neighbourhood, there isn't too much homogeneity.

One thing I didn't get to see as much as I would have liked was tango. I did see tango dancers in the very touristy area of La Boca (area you'll see in a further post) but they were dancing for tourists and that was not what I had hoped to see. I didn't even photograph them, though retrospectively, I really should have anyway. Maybe next time?

Talking about next time, the following post will be about La Boca and Recoleta, two areas of Buenos Aires I visited with the group. That was the beginning of the workshop.

Matcha and berries

Thomas PARIS — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 22:09:00 +0100

Long time no see but I've been pretty busy with work and preparations for the photography workshop in Patagonia. Until I have more time for the blog, here is something I expect will whet your appetite:

This little piggy

Thomas PARIS — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 20:04:00 +0200

Did you know that bread wasn't necessarily vegetarian? That's one of the things I learned watching this TED presentation about How pig parts make the world turn.

Aurora Borealis

Thomas PARIS — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 21:37:00 +0200

I was writing on Tuesday about my hope to go and photograph the Northern Lights this winter. Well, I don't think I can do better than this shot of the Aurora Borealis.

Of course, that doesn't mean I shouldn't try ;)

The universe is telling me something

Thomas PARIS — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 21:48:00 +0200

As some of you know, I had to cancel several of my planned trips to Finland lately. Well, it so happens that I've heard about Finland in several ways these past few days, when I usually seldom hear about it. All these mentions of Finland or of things Finnish must be the way the universe has found to tell me I should be there. Considering next year is supposed to be one of high solar activity, I must now seriously consider all the options to finally succeed in going to Lapland in the winter to watch (and photograph) the Northern Lights. I just need to find the way...

But that's not all the universe has been telling me (it's been more vocal than usual lately). I've already mentioned my future trip to Patagonia. Well, I was considering my options for when the workshop is over. After all, there's no reason why I should come back to France right after leaving the group. So I was looking for possible destinations from Punta Arenas, where the workshop ends. One obvious option is Tierra del Fuego, just a bit further South. Well, believe it or not, Tierra del Fuego happened to be the topic of one of the podcasts I was listening to on the way back from work tonight! Actually, a program from Radio France about an explorer who traveled to uncharted areas there. I didn't even know there was any uncharted place left on Earth. The guy (more or less my age... gosh did I waste time with that computer engineering thing), named Christian Clot, wrote a book about the experience, which I think I'll add to my (already far too long) list of books to read.

What about you? What has the universe told you lately?

Another day, another stir fry

Thomas PARIS — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 19:47:00 +0200

Stir fries are probably my most basic recipe for bentō. Easy and fast to make and easy to change in a thousand different ways, everything about them is just about perfect. This time, I used green and red bell peppers, carrot, minced meat and apple, cooked in sesame oil with a bit of soy sauce and coriander seeds. Here are the ingredients, ready to be put into the wok:

And to make the bentō even more colourful, I added some curry powder to the cooking water for the rice. Here is the result:

What about you? What did you put in your bentō?

Home Sweet Home

Thomas PARIS — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:09:00 +0200

I've been thinking, for a couple of months now, of refurnishing my place so that it feels more like, you know, home. If you know me, you won't be surprised to learn it's been a difficult process. Fortunately, I've now made (almost) all the necessary decisions, in part thanks to a nifty piece of software I've recently found: Sweet Home 3D. Using it, it was very easy to create a model of my room, filled with all the furniture I was interested in and then move it around to see how well it would work that way. The design is done in 2D: you draw the walls, create rooms, add furniture with specific dimensions (and possibly a colour or texture). From that design, Sweet Home 3D is able to generate a 3D view that's most helpful when trying to visualise the result. In two words: highly recommended.

Carrot cake

Thomas PARIS — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 20:44:00 +0200

My first ever carrot cake:

Edit: Here is the carrot cake recipe (fr) I used.

Ginger pork

Thomas PARIS — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 21:37:00 +0200

Another Sunday, another cooking session for my bentō.

This time, I made some ginger-marinated pork (fr):

and, as I often do, a vegetable stir fry. This time with carrots, red bell pepper and the green parts of green onions:

Caramelised fish

Thomas PARIS — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 20:57:00 +0200

I've been experimenting with a new recipe for my bentō this week: caramelised fish.

First I marinate it in a mix of shoyu, mirin, sugar and sesame seeds:

Then I cook it on a very hot pan:

Makes for a very tasty source of proteins for my lunch. The idea comes from a book I bought recently, the excellent "mes petits bento (fr)" from the talented Laure Kié.

And once the fish is done, I mix the marinade with two eggs and make a very tasty omelette, which will be my source of proteins the following day :) Simple and tasty recipes for a bentō, what more could I ask for?