Photography by Katie!

[guingel]

So, as it's Katie's birthday today, I thought I'd show off some of her amazing photographs. She's such a good photographer. My dad's also really into photography and they're both excellent, technically and artistically. Obviously I'm biased, but when Katie was in Paris studying a few autumns ago, she really took some gorgeous, gorgeous pictures. I was looking at them the other day and realized I need to show this off to the world.

You can also glean something about my asthetic sensibilities from this list as well - I tended towards the ones where she did something beautiful with light, or with perspective (I also pulled out a couple that I know are Katie's favorites). Katie also loves to do stuff with close-ups, and with shadows and geometric patterns - those generally appeal to me less, so I didn't use them, but if you go to the website you can see them. :D I also tended away from a couple of the more modern architecture just because I was all "Parisian oldey stuff" when I made this list. But really, it was very hard to choose, there are lots more gorgeous pictures - they're all gorgeous. Some of these will be going on my wall - lucky me.

I kept Katie's original captions, but anything in parentheses is me. I restrained myself because the photos speak for themselves, but I could talk about how awesome they are for a long time.

There are 23 pictures in this sample, in honor of us turning 23!


Christmas lights at BHV with the Hotel de Ville (BHV=Bazaar de l'Hotel de Ville, a beautiful historic department store.)



Ecole Militaire


Pillars of the Carrousel


Base of the Eiffel Tower


A fuzzy plant (somewhere in France XD - Giverny I think - Monet's house, where the water garden is)


Geraniums at Giverny (OK so Giverny is so beautiful it's hard to do an unattractive picture of it, but still!)


Reflection of houses


Looking down a street at the Eiffel Tower (she didn't say which one)


A theater kiosk


Flowers in front of the Senate


Autumn trees at the Jardin de Luxembourg


The pyramid of the Louvre


Notre Dame and a statue of Charlemagne


A chandelier inside Reims


A path and bridge by the Seine


Shiny shutters


Sainte Chappelle


"The world is full!" (different from the other pictures but she captured this so well, I think)


The dome of Les Invalides with a rose


Saint Xavier's, near les Invalides


Notre Dame at Christmas


Fountain [at Place de la Concorde] with the Eiffel Tower


A street near République


Once again, the complete collection can be found at Katie's study abroad photo website. I took photos when I was abroad too but they are less pretty - I'm always more concerned with recording the appearance of something.

Comments

[ilanala]

Those are gorgeous pictures. It makes me miss France, even though I wasn't anywhere near any of these places. XD

[guingel.livejournal.com]

Oooh, where were you? I've only been to Paris, Versailles is the furthest out I've been. XD Well, I guess technically we were in the Paris suburbs, that's where some of our family is and where I've stayed.

[ilanala]

I spent 6 weeks in Avignon, plus short trips to Marseilles and various smaller places in southern France. My only time in Paris was a bus ride from the airport to the train station, and while we drove past some of the famous places, I hadn't slept in at least 24 hours and I was so exhausted I feel like I dreamed most of it. XD

Oh, and I forgot to say this yesterday because I didn't read your entry properly until after I commented (sorry, braindead XD), but happy belated birthday!

[guingel.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, that's so cool! Katie got to go to Nice and my parents went to Lyon, but I've only been to Paris. Still, hard to feel too bad about that - much as I'd love to see the south of France. I love Paris, you should try to be awake there sometime ^_^

Thank you!! Yeah, I'm not a LOOK IT'S MY BIRTHDAY sort of person so no worries about not catching that. ;) I was trying to make it unobtrusive.

[kegom.livejournal.com]

&hearts &hearts &hearts HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LAURA!!! &hearts &hearts &hearts


&hearts &hearts &hearts HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KATIE!!! &hearts &hearts &hearts



And wow, those pictures are pretty! *________* Katie really has a talent for photography - some of those would be awesome as postcard-pictures, if you didn't want the usual stuff. I especially loved the street-view to the Eiffel Tower, the flower in front of the Senate, the "La Terre Est Plaine!" one (that one would make a great poster) and the fountain in the snow. &hearts



Also, what did you do today? And what presents did you get? (I swear, I'm never going to grow out of my interest in presents. ^^")



(Btw, in case you're wondering about your congratulation colors - yes, I do associate you with a violet-ish color and Katie with red color. I don't know why - maybe it's your names. ^^")



Edit: Also, I know you watched the newest Star Trek movie (I read and got all excited because I also watched the movie with my dad, but didn't have the time to comment) and I have no idea whether you've already read this or not, but in case you haven't: If you want to read one of the most hilarious fics about the newest movie ever, I'd whole-heartedly recommend How to Avoid Kicking Puppies and Other Valuable Lessons in Leadership, which is just glorious. I think my most favourite quote is this (pretty non-spoilery for the new movie) one:

McCoy: “I think what would disturb me the most is that after you peel away the surface layer of: ‘I’m so awesome! I’m so awesome! Ow! I just got punched in the face! Hey! Look! Boobs! I’m so awesome! I’m so awesome! Ow! I just got punched in the face.’ that I would just be staring at a vast black hole of nothingness.”

Jim frowns. “I check out asses too.”




That's all! ^-^ I just got reminded that I'd loved this fic, so I wanted to share it, in case you hadn't read it. ^-^ (Kind of like a really sucky birthday present. ;P)

[guingel.livejournal.com]

Thank you!!! :D ♥♥♥ I will pass the birthday wishes on to Katie - she's actually in Berlin until Wednesday. I told her to shout your name while she's in Germany until she runs into you. It's a small country, right? ;)

You know, I don't think the fountain is in the snow? The whole time I was putting the post together I thought it was and then once I posted I realized I think it's just the water from the fountain, spraying like that! I'm not sure though. Either way, it's a nice effect!

I'm intrigued about the color associations. I can actually kind of see how they go with the different names! But actually, I wear a lot of red and Katie wears more pink and purple. ^_^

On my birthday I worked. XD But I was very productive! I used my birthday energy to inspire me to greatness. And I was really happy cos I was getting birthday calls and facebook messages all day, I felt very remembered. With Katie gone we didn't do a birthday party or anything. But I went home to my parent's place and my mom made me my favorite dinner (potatoes, onions, and kielbasa - it was delicious!) and we played games and had a nice evening. (Today I went to the dentist and got a cavity filled. ::sigh:: Oh well, better done than not!)

As for presents, I just got one - a new laptop! It's very nice. :D A 13 inch Macbook. Katie says she's getting me stuff in Berlin. The plan is for her to buy lots of stuff with German writing on it. XD (In Vienna we both got some cute Sheepworld (http://www.sheepworld.de/index.php) stuff.) And a friend at work ordered me something that she says is awesome, but it hasn't arrived yet. Also today Dad got me an exercise mat, since I've been doing sit-ups and stuff.


HAHAHAHAA that quote is AMAZING. XDDDD I haven't been reading fics, my fandom participation has been limited to laughing at macros, but I will definitely be checking that one out! XD

[guingel.livejournal.com]

UM THE AWESOME THING FROM MY FRIEND AT WORK ARRIVED! She got me a really, really nice little desktop dartboard! I've honestly always wanted one of those even before I tried real darts. But I was looking at the little magnetic ones, and this is a lovely corkboard one mounted on wood with real tiny, adorable darts! AND she got me this "magnetic sculpture" thing that's all these little stars and moons that stick together and to a magnetic base and you can move them however you want, which is perfect for me cos I'm always messing with stuff.

I'M REALLY EXCITED! :D

[shadowflute.livejournal.com]

I missed your birthday?!?! I am very very very VERY sorry! I spent Friday stuck in sucky traffic trying to pick up some concert tickets I'd won (they were in Boston), and then walked along a beach in New Hampshire, and then saw the latest Harry Potter. Clearly, the sucky traffic was a punishment for forgetting about your birthday! But I had many tasty drinks that day, so we'll say those were unconsciously in honor of you and Katie :P

Those pictures are very beautiful, but I do have to ask... how many people do you know who still have dial-up?

[guingel.livejournal.com]

No worries! You went to New Hampshire? I love NH! So it's like you were celebrating my birthday. :D And the tasty drinks, of course. :D

Hey, people, um. People could have dial-up. Or at least some kind of slow internet! Or not a lot of time!