Sunday, February 27, 2011
...The Night
Saturday night was “
La Frenchy Festivale” for which I shoot the promotional portrait of
Brigitte and
Johan & Dominique.
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| Me in all my Frenchness!! |
The night was great and people got into dressing the part
To see pictures from the night, click
here.
Friday, February 25, 2011
…On Display!!
It’s quite fun to see your friends having one of your photo
(I mean picture of them taken by me, not MY picture!) as their Facebook profile picture.
So far there is:
Or and I also have pictures from my trip to Budapest displayed on our guide’s
Facebook page!!
>br>
Thursday, February 24, 2011
...of the Photo Shoot
Here are some more photos of my models goofing around.
Such posers!
Playing along
Future runway models?!
And some of Dan (aka “Slave”) I choose him as an assistant more for his music talent than his photographic knowledge!! He since learned the difference between a flash and a lens: baby steps, baby steps ;-)
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
…For “La Frenchy Festival”
On Monday I had another photo shoot, still part of “
La Frenchy Festivale” which is on this Saturday night at
Tou Scene in Stavanger. This time I was photographing 2 musicians: Johan Egdetveit with his accordion and Dominique Brackeva with his trombone.
I also wanted to say thank you to Dan for being my slave (I think the politically correct term is Assistant!!)
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
…By ‘Norway’*
and you’ll get the idea what I’m dealing with, weather wise ;-)
* except for last one… Norway won in 2009!
Finnish weather explained (Finlandlive)
+15°C / 59°F
This is as warm as it gets in Finland, so we'll start here.
People in Spain wears winter-coats and gloves.
The Finns are out in the sun, getting a tan.
+10°C / 50°F
The French are trying in vain to start their central heating.
The Finns plant flowers in their gardens.
+5°C / 41°F
Italian cars won't start.
The Finns are cruising in cabriolets.
0°C / 32°F
Distilled water freezes.
The water in the Vanda river (in Finland) gets a little thicker.
-5°C / 23°F
People in California almost freeze to death.
The Finns have their final barbecue before winter.
-10°C / 14°F
The Brits start the heat in their houses.
The Finns start using long sleeves.
-20°C / -4°F
The Aussies flee from Mallorca.
The Finns end their Midsummer celebrations. Autumn is here.
-30°C / -22°F
People in Greece die from the cold and disappear from the face of the earth.
The Finns start drying their laundry indoors.
-40°C / -40°F
Paris start cracking in the cold.
The Finns stand in line at the "grilli-kioski".
-50°C / -58°F
Polar bears start evacuating the North Pole.
The Finnish army postpones their winter survival training awaiting real winter weather.
-60°C / -76°F
Korvatunturi (the home for Santa Claus) freezes.
The Finns rent a movie and stay indoors.
-70°C / -94°F
The false Santa moves south.
The Finns get frustrated since they can't store their Kossu (Koskenkorva vodka) outdoors.
The Finnish army goes out on winter survival training.
-183°C / -297.4°F
Microbes in food don't survive.
The Finnish cows complain that the farmers' hands are cold.
-273°C / -459.4°F
All atom-based movent halts.
The Finns start saying "Perkele, it's cold outside today."
-300°C / -508°F
Hell freezes over.
Finland wins the Eurovision Song Contest.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
...Conference
Friday was Chloe and Jeremy Student-let conference at school.
Here's Chloe's 360 degree feedback by her classmates for mid-term grading:
- you have nice eyes
- you are nice x 2
- you are great at art
- you care about others
- you are adventurous
- you care for people
- you are a good friend to me
- you are kind and lots of fun to talk to
- you speak French very well
- I like how she does not get angry
- you are a good reader
- you are good at drawing, especially dogs.
Chloe playing shy
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| "You are embarrassing me..." |
Jeremy showing us what he learned in 'Electricity'
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| 'Maman' enjoying the refresher course!! |
Saturday, February 19, 2011
...Norway ;-(
I wrote about Stavanger being
And also about Norway being
But it can also be
this…
Stella Mwangy has won Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix and thus the right to represent Norway in the
Eurovision in Düsseldorf. But the Norwegian/Kenyan has been the target of what many are calling blatant racism, with even a local politician caught in the scandal. Singer Stella Mwangi herself, however, doesn’t want to talk about it.
Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) was forced to shut down the comments section of its website after a string of offensive items were submitted by viewers who clearly don’t think Mwangi is “Norwegian enough” to represent Norway at the Eurovision finals. Mwangi was four years old when she arrived in Norway with her family 20 years ago. She grew up in Eidsvoll, northeast of Oslo.
The most serious racist incident this past week involved a politician from Norway’s Conservative Party (Høyre), who wrote a sarcastic reaction to Mwangi’s victory in the song contest in heavy local dialect on her Facebook page. Roughly translated, Rita Ormbostad, deputy mayor of Aure County on Norway’s west coast, wrote that she would rather have “Sami, polar bears and muskox” as winners and that “that’s what we should sell, not that we are open to asylum seekers!”
Ormbostad later added that she had “sharpened a spear and bought bongo drums” in anticipation of the Eurovision finals where Mwangi will represent Norway. “Maybe I’ll travel to Africa and watch from there, where I can eat wildebeest!”
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| Stella Mwangi - Haba Haba |
Thursday, February 17, 2011
...The My Past
I have a few rituals in the morning and one of them is to look at the news on google and read my RSS feed or at least have a first quick scan. For some reason I clicked on this one particular feed first and was surprised to have my photography teacher from Beijing talking to me featured in an article about a project he has in Afghanistan.
Lukas who’s from Austria was the one who taught me the creative side of photography: being patient (!), zooming with my feet (he strongly suggested I invest in the nifty fifty lenses -50mm- and I thank him for introducing me to prime lenses!), light painting, etc, etc...
Other classes I took, also in Beijing, were with Benj who is from Australia. Benj taught me more about the technical aspect of photography: Aperture, Shutter speed, Lighting, Composition, etc…
Both of them were not the kind to take candid, portrait pictures but more creative one: One of
Lukas’ projects was “
tourism in conflict zones around Pakistan and Afghanistan”(!) but my favorite was “
a moments departure” and
Benj worked on a documentary about
Mongolian’s hip hop. I have already mentioned Benj in the first two post of this blog because he strongly encouraged me to write about our new adventures on another blog and he’s not the last one to encourage me with my pictures.
So here’s Luka’s project about camera box in Afghanistan: :
And this is the
article I read.
And here are two posts from my previous blog I wrote about Photography and Art in China... one of
Lukas' exhibit and
DaShanZi
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
… From Above 47° 37’ N 122° 20’ W?
And now this…
And a couple of weeks ago I read
this (use Google translate!)
Starbucks, which has nearly 17,000 stores in over 50 countries, is planning to set up in Oslo in 2014. According to Dagens Næringsliv the chain will first open stores in airports and railway stations, and then in Oslo.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
…Valentine’s Day
I forgot to post the picture of my cute pillow
(on the same model of the Kid’s Christmas ones) with our wedding anniversary on it.
And here’s a little ecard with our first address in Paris
Monday, February 14, 2011
...Valentine’s Day
Welcome back to my male readers… Today is THE post you have been waiting for. Last time I saw you on my blog was
2010, or even
2008, or maybe even as far as
2007 and I know I disappointed you in
2009; still so sorry about it !!
I’m well aware that it won’t help the French reputation but what can I say I’m just doing a community service by passing the information!!!
So next time you are in Paris or if you ever plan on living in Paris… keep this address in a safe place!!
“Réservation d'hôtels pour quelques heures, en journée...sans carte de crédit, tarifs négociés ! ” - Hotel reservation for a few hours, during the day… no credit cards, negotiated prices!
FYI...we are not the only ones to have room by the hour. When we lived in Buenos Aires there were plenty of those hotels in town.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
...Happy Norwegian Mother’s Day
We’ve killed two birds with one stone: Mother’s day AND Valentine’s Day!!
We’ve decided to avoid the ‘we are so in love’ crowd of Monday night and celebrated with a tête-à-tête at City Bistro yesterday night.
Nothing else to report
No picture either
Saturday, February 12, 2011
...Valentine Guy Anyway?
Craft day at the Suiter’s for Jeremy’s Valentine's day cards to share with his classmates on Monday.
Chloe is way too cool to make Valentine's cards nowadays!! The question is will she receives any and will she tell me?!!!
I went Martha again and put a little twist on the Valentine’s card…
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| Lollipops and Cupcake casings were involved |
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| Which results in Lollipops Flowers |
Friday, February 11, 2011
...Sunrise
Every once in a while getting up early has its advantages…
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| 9 Feb 2010 (8am!) |
Thursday, February 10, 2011
...In Photos
Here are some pictures of our girls’ trip (did I mention that we had 2 men on this trip?!) to Budapest.
I have to say that I had major pressure from the group to post those pictures online presto. Since I was referred several time as “the photographer” during our visits. Now I have to work on the other girls’ trip: Riga (November 2010) and Paris (November 2009!).
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| House of Parliament from the Castle |
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| Chain Bridge |
 |
| Liberty/Freedom Bridge |
 |
| Castle |
And we are so cool we even travel with our own private pianist!!
 |
Dan
(one of the 2 men who was daring enough to travel with 12 women!) |
You can see a LOT more pictures
here
If you are my "
friend" on Facebook you've seen the pictures already and if you are not (well too bad for you BUT) you can still see them without registering...how cool is it?!
Oh and in case you are visiting Budapest, do check out our wonderful tour guide Andrea (
Facebook page &
Website). She is even highly recommended in the travel books of Rick Steves, the American travel Guru :-)!!
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
...All Over Again
And it’s not even Valentine’s yet!!
Its (it’s not a he) first name is Lightroom and last Name Abode. Its bigger brother is called Photoshop and you might be more familiar with him.
Since I was already part of the family why or why didn't I get to know you better sooner? I was already in love with Photoshop, I should have known we were compatible ;-)
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| So glad we've finally got to know each other!! |
Sunday, February 6, 2011
… While I’m Having Fun in Buda and/or in Pest
You can even click on the pictures to enlarge them ;-)
Friday, February 4, 2011
...Another Bear Hunt Girls’ Trip
Yep
so soon already… Going to Buda and I might even cross the Danube to check out Pest!!!
Viszlát Stavanger, Szia Budapest
Once again let's get you situated on the Europe Map!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
...I Can't Believe It's Already 4709!
After La Chandeleur and Groundhog day… let’s talk about Chinese New Year.
Well nothing much to say either… missing the 2-week long of crazy fireworks the most
(I still to this day cannot be impressed by fireworks anymore!). If you want to know more about the traditions and haven’t read my previous blog you can find some info here (
2009) and here (
2008) and here (
2007)
So :
新年快乐
(Xin Nian Kuai Le)
or
您吉祥
(Nin Ji Xiang)
or
过年好
(Guo Nian Hao)
 |
We are leaving behing the Year of the Tiger and
entering the Year of the Rabbit. |
According to Chinese tradition, the Rabbit brings a year in which you can catch your breath and calm your nerves. It is a time for negotiation. Don't try to force issues, because if you do you will ultimately fail. To gain the greatest benefits from this time, focus on home, family, security, diplomacy, and your relationships with women and children. Make it a goal to create a safe, peaceful lifestyle, so you will be able to calmly deal with any problem that may arise.
...Home, Shadow?
According to Chloe it’s going to be a short winter (well at least near Pittsburgh, PA) because the “bullfrog didn’t go home” yesterday. I told her maybe it was a groundhog not seeing his shadow!
Groundhog Day is an annual holiday celebrated on February 2 in the United States and Canada on which folklore tells if a groundhog emerges from its burrow and fails to see its shadow because the weather is cloudy, winter will soon end. If on the other hand, it is sunny and the groundhog sees its shadow, the groundhog will supposedly retreat into its burrow, and winter will continue for six more weeks.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
...or Crêpes Day
Today is "
La Chandeleur" or Crêpes Day....
Nothing else to say, just wanted to mentioned it.
Nothing to show either, I just don't have enough time on my hands this week to flip some crêpes! If we don’t get rich this year I guess I'll just blame it on the economy like everybody else
Crêpes in culture
In France, crêpes are traditionally served on Candlemas (La Chandeleur), February 2. This day was originally Virgin Mary's Blessing Day but became known as "avec Crêpe Day", referring to the tradition of offering crêpes. The belief was that if you could catch the crêpe with a frying pan after tossing it in the air with your left hand and holding a gold coin in your right hand, you would become rich that year.
La Frenchy Festivale…
