Weekly Header Challenge -- Back from Break: My Favorites

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Fishing Guy 

Kathy 

Imac 

Lew

I'm joining in the group above for this weekly challenge.

Click on the other participants' blogs to see

what they've come up with!

Theme ~ Back from Break:  My Favorites

Chosen by Tom.

Happy New Year!  We Headbangers are back from Christmas break, and ready for a new year of photography adventures together.  Starting with the image I used for my header, here are some of my favorites from our time away.  These were taken on Fernando's and my driving date to see local Christmas light displays.

The above wasn't the best Christmas light display, or the nicest image in composition, but I was able to crop it nicely for my header.  My favorite Christmas light display is this one, below:

Across from that house, was this one, below, bedecked in a cascade of white lights.

And, the below is a close-up from another display.  It was such a mild day that we got out of our car several times to enjoy the lights, and in many cases, accompanying music.

This was our own "light display."

I collect snowflake ornaments and hope to have our tree covered in them.  But this Christmas, our tree also sported several leaf ornaments.  These ornaments are all actual leaves; a local artist turns them into amazing works of art, and I love them hanging on my tree.

Finally, I can't not post a food photo from our time away!  Here is one of my favorites from New Year's Day, when we had a traditional Italian meal of ravioli.  My parents celebrated with us, and my mom and I spent all afternoon making these beauties.  I messed up the recipe a bit, but the ravioli turned out yummy, so all was forgiven.

Again, Happy New Year!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Evening Along Avenue Champs-Élysées | Paris Travel

Evening scene along avenue Champs-Élysées.

 

Our Silver Paris

Welcome to my Paris travel journal,

where I share our experiences of our special journey to Paris.

Please use these posts as a guide for your own travels

to this amazing and wonderful city!

Or simply read, and dream...

Fernando wanted to stroll down this famous street one last time, and to see l'Arc de Triomphe at night.  Since this was the last night we were going to be out (the next night = early bedtime to catch our wee-morning-hour flight home), we decided to forgo our nightly visit to the Berthillon ice cream stand. and do something special.  Plus, this was my birthday, and this street is pretty romantic at night.  (In my opinion, almost anywhere in Paris is romantic at night.)

We stepped in to stroll through this indoor mall, which was not that much different than an American one--except the architecture and design were much prettier.

We saw Ladurée again, and although the storefront was closed for renovation, there was a temporary shop set up along the sidewalk.  We decided we definitely needed to go in and buy something yummy.  I snapped one picture (didn't turn out), then casually and stealthily aimed my camera up at their chandelier.  A chandelier--in a temporary shop!

One of the sales associates called out, "Please, no photography!"  I was in trouble.  I put the lens cap on my camera.  Once we made our purchase and exited, I staged a shot of the bag which held our goodies.

Macaroons inside!

We continued walking, stopping to take night shots along the way.   Here's a typical evening scene along the avenue.  You may recognize Fouquet's, a famous restaurant on the avenue, from the movie Taken.  Liam Neeson and his French associate have a conversation in front of this spot, almost at the point where I'm standing to take the picture!

From that point on, our focus turned to l'Arc de Triomphe as we got closer and closer.

Yes, I'm standing in the middle of the road!  You can cross the avenue in two stages, since there is a middle "area" (see the traffic light in the center above?) where pedestrians can stop, then cross the rest of the way.  (Or stop and take pictures first!)

I decided to have a little fun with my camera, instead of taking the same picture of the arch from varying distances.  I had read briefly about this technique called zoom effect, and decided to try it.  Slow shutter speed, camera on a tripod.  I set the ISO to 100, and the aperture to f4 to achieve a shutter speed of 1.3 seconds.  My left hand held the lens, and my right hand pressed the shutter release.  As soon as the shutter release was pressed, my left hand twisted the lens from wide angle (17mm) to zoomed in.  The result is streaks of light leading toward the subject, which looks a little blurry but that's just due to the shadow of the image that the camera captured as I turned the lens.

I like the above image best, because I caught the streaks evenly.  I did crop it to where the streaks stopped, so they filled the entire frame.  The below image shows the streaks ending about halfway through the image, with car headlights traveling all the way through the image on the left.  Still, the overall effect is pretty cool with all the colors!

Here's a personal picture below.  See, Fernando got hungry.  There was a McDonald's.  'Nuff said.  This became a half-hour stop, and the slowest McDonald's we've ever encountered (not that I've eaten at one even once in the last ten years!).  At least it was on the Champs-Élysées!

Back to pursuing l'Arc.  We finally made it to the first stoplight in front of the arch--no more obstructions!  We had to wait our turn, since I wasn't the only one with this brilliant plan.

We crossed the avenue to the corner and took another shot.

Back at the center stoplight area, I wanted to turn around and take a picture looking back down the avenue.  And then, it started to rain.  Just a shower, but really--I got temporarily miffed at that half-hour McDonald's delay which was causing rain on my camera.  But, once I got the images downloaded, I realized that the water droplets on the lens added to the overall charm and romance of the avenue and the image.

I couldn't decide which of these two images I like better.  I think the below one, with its colorful and bright lines of car lights, edges out in front.

They're both special enough for me to share with you.  :)

• Nearest Métro station:  We got off at Avenue Franklin D. Roosevelt (lines 1 and 9) and walked west toward l'Arc de Triomphe.  Line 1 runs along the entire avenue, so you could get off at any point depending on how much you want to walk.
• Cost:  Free.
• What to look for:  In the evening, the streets are beautifully lit (of course!), and many stores and shops are open.  We enjoyed visiting car dealer showrooms (Renault and Mercedes Benz, see this post for some cool cars), people watching, a stop at Ladurée for macaroons, indoor mall shopping, and l'Arc de Triomphe, naturally!

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Welcome

Welcome to the Lake--

The light is on,

Glowing warmly through the porch

In soft greeting.

Christine Anne

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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365 Project -- #337-343

This is the time in my week when I look back at the images I've captured

throughout the previous week, and choose my seven favorites.

These seven--one for each day of the week--are featured below.

December 3 - December 9

If you keep up with my family blog, you have already seen these images.  Instead of taking my Ellie out every day and just snapping "something/anything," I've purposefully taken her out to shoot things I actually want to remember, or to blog about.  I guess I've done that for most of this project, but now that it's winter, and I'm not running out and about much, I'm being more deliberate in my photography.  Since this "event" was pretty much the only major occasion in our home, it is all I shot and so I am repeating images here.

Anyway, if you want to read the full story of one of the ways our family (both us and our extended family) celebrates Christmas by giving to others, click here.  (Psst--you'll also see all of the photos I took that day.)  Otherwise, skip that post and scroll on down for the abridged version.  :)

 [337] Sorting names

[338] Sorting gifts

[339] Wrapping the gifts

[340] The gift receipt?!

[341] Line of gifts

[342] Bag of gifts

By way of explanation, the above bag of gifts went to my dad's church, where it will be given to the family we shopped for.  :)

Below is our family Christmas tree, all decked out and sparkly in this nighttime shot.

[343] The tree

Twinkling tree, shining lights, silver bells, frosty windows...  I'm so excited about Christmas this year!  I hope you are, too, as you look forward to the birth of our Savior.


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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