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Summer: In Short
It has been a while since I added new pictures to this website. So here is a small gallery showing some of the shots that I took during the summer. They include photos of the renaissance festival in Vianden, the Steampunk convention in Fond-de-Gras, a medieval battle on horses which was part of the making of a movie and pictures of Oostende to name but a few. More photos can be found in the galleries. Enjoy ;)
The First Art Exhibition
Hi guys! I just want to draw your attention to an art exhibition I'm taking part in. A large number of drawings and paintings by different artists and a selection of my favorite photographs are displayed. Every artwork is on sale. The exhibition is organised by Point Info Jeunes and takes place at their headquarters:
10, rue du Commerce
L- 4067 Esch-sur-Alzette
The exhibition runs from Mondays to Fridays (11:00 - 17:00) until August 2016. Everybody is welcome to visit and have a look at the beautiful artworks. Entry is FREE so don't be shy, my fellow exhibitors and me would be more than happy if you'd come along and visit the exhibition!
Vernissage
The opening took place on the 25th of February 2016 and was a big success! Unfortunately I couldn't attend as I was in London at that time.
In the Year 2015
The past year definitely was one of the most interesting and amazing ones I ever had so far and it gave me so many different photo opportunities. This blog post will focus on some of them and show you my favourite shots I took in the year 2015.
You can click on the following pictures to be redirected to their relating categories.
Horses
As I already wrote in my last post A Year With Horses, these stunning creatures played (and still play) a major role in the last couple of months.
London
As some of you may have noticed, the photos I uploaded during the last four months were mostly shot in England. Moving to London in September surely brought good changes with it but leaving home wasn't as easy as I expected.
As the pictures above show, my University's campus already has some great places to take photos. A short walk leads me to Richmond Park which is the home of hundreds of deer. They are quite easy to photograph because some of them don't run away if you approach them.
As a film student, visiting the Film Museum and movie premieres certainly was a highlight.
One of the many things I love about London is that most of the museums are free. You just walk in and spend hours looking at awesome things from all around the world. What's more is that they are often so big that you can't manage to see everything in only one day and need to revisit the museum.
Of course I also try to get out of London from time to time to explore the rest of England. My previous daytrips included Bath, Oxford, Warwick Castle and Stonehenge. I especially enjoyed the trip to Oxford. This stunning city has so many interesting places and a beautiful architecture. I definitely want to go back there another time and also visit some more of the awesome places England has to offer.
Project 365
I tried to accomplish Project 365 during 2015. I did my best to take one photo on every single day of the year and it went well until September. I didn't find the time to take a lot of photos during the days before I went to London and the first days I spent there and I think I just lost the motivation to continue with the project. It was interesting, though. However, I won't run this project in 2016 but I may give it another try in one of the following years.
A Year with Horses
Horses have played a very important role for me during the past twelve months. Not only because I had to take care of fifteen different horses and ponies where I worked but also because they
offered me many exciting experiences and a large number of fantastic photo opportunities.
The Favourites
First of all, I want to write about the horses I took care of nearly every day for almost one year.
They include Irish Tinker, Haflinger and a number of ponies. Every single of these horses has its very own and individual character which made it so interesting to work with them as it was always a completely new and different challenge.
These horses quickly grew on me, especially Viva (the mare you can see on the bigger picture), and they are one of the few things that I really miss now that I moved to London.
I'm already looking forward to see them again when I'm back in Luxembourg :)
Equitana
The world's biggest equestrian sports fair took place during March in Essen, Germany. The highlight was the Hop Top Show Amirando where the performers showed the most amazing acts with their
horses.
It was quite a challenge to photograph this spectacle because of the low amount of light in the arena. However, I really like the photos I took there, especially the ones of the white horse
on the left and on the last photo on the right. I think that these are my favourites of the many pictures I made during the show. More pictures can be seen by clicking on the following
link:
Echternach
During the last weekend of May, there was a historical horse-drawn carriage event that took place in Echternach, Luxembourg.
On Saturday I took photos of the horses, carriages, drivers and passengers. The participants, including me, wore clothes that were as old as the carriages which gave the whole event a very
special atmosphere.
On Sunday I drove a carriage by myself since I got the licence to drive a horse-drawn carriage in April. Therefore I unfortunately couldn't take any photos but it was an unforgettable
experience :)
Show Jumping
Since I had to run a booth for my work I spent the whole four days at the Jumping Weiswampach.
This gave me a lot of time to take photos of the event. I took so many photos that I didn't manage to edit them all therefore I only edited and uploaded the ones that I think are the best.
It was the first time that I took photos of a show jumping event but I think they turned out really well.
Working during Holiday
or
Going on Holiday during Work
My boss kindly sent me and my workmate to a horse riding stable in Germany for a week in August. Regardless that this was meant for us to go on vacation, we started to help mucking out the stables and taking care of the horses. At the end of the week we nearly did everything on our own.
We had a nice stay and I absolutely loved to work with other horses than the ones I was used to at home. However, I was really happy to see 'my' horses again when I came back
home.
Touraine
I took part as a groom (the one who takes care of the horses and helps the driver) on a puzzle hunt in the area of Tours, France. Actually it was just about answering questions and enjoying the
beautiful landscapes, the old buildings and the majestic castles I saw during the trip. It was a little challenging to take the photos while sitting on an ancient carriage but I think the results
are quite good. To see more photos I took during this relaxing weekend in August follow this link:
CIAT
This well known carriage event in Celle, Germany took place on the last weekend of August. I once more took part as a groom and my job was to take care of the only two donkeys that participated in this competition. One of them can be seen on the photo on the top of this text.
I managed to take a few photos on Saturday since we were the last participants which gave me some time to see the other carriages.
On Sunday morning however I had to attend a round trip to Celle and it was impossible to take any photos. When we came back we realised that one of the donkeys went lame. We decided not to attend
the second presentation and the obstacle driving course which took place in the afternoon. Of course this was a shame but at least it allowed me to take photos of the other
participants.
On the whole it was a wonderful and unique experience. More photos can be found by clicking on the following link:
☙
This blog post is dedicated to all the horses, ponies and donkeys I could take care of and which filled me with so much joy. Furthermore it is dedicated to all the great people I met during this
time and which were mostly related to the horses or the events I participated in. This time has offered me so many amazing experiences and I will always keep it in good
memory.
❧
Sorry!
Dear visitors, fans and newsletter subscribers,
I'd like to let you all know that I'm very sorry for not uploading any photos and sending newsletters since April. I was so busy doing other things but I didn't forget about photography. I took a lot of photos during the last months and most of them still need to be edited so it's going to take some time until I can upload them. Here's a list of places and events of which I took pictures recently:
-
Europapark (D)
- Medieval Festival in Useldange (L)
- Historical Carriages in Echternach (L)
- Jumping Weiswampach (L)
- Visiting the Van der Wiel Harnessmakers Showroom (B)
- Visiting the Carriage Museum in Valkenswaard (NL)
- Historical Carriages in Touraine (F)
- CIAT - Concours International d'Attelage de Tradition de Celle (D)
Of course I also took photos of other things and I continued to take a picture for every day in order to complete my 365 project.
As I moved to London last week I'm quite sure that I'm going to take a lot of photos of this exciting city and its surroundings. But for now I'll just leave you some of the photos I took at the university's campus here.
- Monique
How to get great Macro Shots with two Lenses
This tutorial shows you
how to get extreme macro shots without a macro lens
or any other special macro gear
You'll need:
• an SLR or DSLR
• a zoom lens
• a prime lens
optional:
• reverse ring (coupler)
• step up ring
• tripod
• tape
• piece of folded paper
What I used:
• a Nikon D3200
• a 55-200mm zoom lens
• a 50mm f/1.8 prime lens
• tape
• piece of folded paper
Attach the Lenses!
Combine the zoom lens with the prime lens. You have to take the prime lens and turn it upside down so that it's face to face with the zoom lens. I used some tape to fix the two lenses but it's better and safer to use a reverse ring and/or a step up ring.
The aperture on the 50mm (or whatever lens you're using) has to be wide open. My lens doesn't have an aperture dial so I had to wedge the slide open. I used a folded piece of paper to open the aperture.
Now you can mount the zoom lens to your camera.
Setup your camera!
• In order to allow more light onto your camera sensor set the aperture ring on your prime lens to its smallest f-stop number. (This would be f/1.8 for the lens I used).
• Set the focus on your prime lens to infinity.
• The zoom lens should be zoomed to its maximum. You'll get more magnification as you zoom farther and if you don't zoom enough you'll get a black circle or a heavy vignette
around your pictures.
• Auto-focus might work but it'll give you more trouble than help. Switch your zoom lens to manual focus.
Start Shooting!
Now it's time to start shooting. You have to be very close to your subject. Focusing can be a bit tricky so keep on looking through the viewfinder and move left, right, closer or further away until you see what you want to see. A single millimeter can make the difference between a crisp shot and a completely blurred photograph. This might take a few times but after some exercice you'll get the hang of it.
Sample Photos:
Here are some photos I took during my first attempt. The focus isn't perfect because I didn't use a tripod and a coupler so I had to hold my camera with one hand and the prime lens with the other hand. Anyway, you can see the extreme shallow depth of field and how close you get to your subject. It's awesome!
See more photos which were shot using this technique over here.
Pixel to Paint
Pixel to Paint is a new project I carry out together with Kay, a young German artist. It was her idea to pick out some of my photos and then to paint or draw a copy of them. Those artistic copies and their related
photos can be seen over here.
If you want to learn more about the project and Kay, have a look at the Pixel to Paint page. Furthermore you'll find new photos and drawings there soon. The images in this blog post are the three very first results of this project.
Nikon AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 G REVIEW
After two years of using the same two lenses, I finally bought this new lens a week ago for about 180€, which I think is pretty cheap for a lens. As I use the Nikon D3200, a DX
camera, the 1.5x crop makes this a 75mm lens.
This is my point of view after testing the lens for about one week:
Some Specifications:
-
Focal length: 50mm (75mm on DX cameras)
-
Maximum aperture: f/1.8
-
Minimum aperture: f/16
-
Closest focusing distance: 0.45m / 1.48ft
-
Filter size: 58mm
-
Dimensions: 72 x 52,5 mm
-
Weight: 185g
-
Accessories: rear lens cap / snap-on front lens cap / bayonet hood / lens pouch
What I like:
• The main reason why I bought this lens was the shallow depth of field. I just love how this lens is able to blur the background and to create beautiful bokeh, so much more than the kit lens
(Nikon DX AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 G) could.
• The photos are very sharp.
• I think the focus speed is pretty fast (it's definitely faster than my two other lenses) and the autofocus is silent.
• This lens does an amazing job in low light situations.
What I Don't like:
• The closest focusing distance of this lens is 0.45m. This bothers me a bit, especially when I'm trying to take photos of flowers etc. where I want to get as close as possible to the
subject.
Sample Images
Every photo shown in this blog post was taken with a Nikon D3200 and the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 G lens. The images are not edited.
Summary:
I love this lens. I didn't find many disadvantages and the pictures are really sharp and look so beautiful with the blured background and bokeh.
Please Note:
I tried this lens just for one week. My point of view may change in the future. I'll update this review if my opinion changes, of course.
This was the first time that I tried to write a photo equipment review. Please let me know if you liked it or not by writing a comment below this blog post or contact
me here. It would also be great if you tell me what I could do better next time. Thanks
:)
Reinvention Month Contest
Some of you may have noticed that sheandhercamera.com's design has changed. As some of you know I used Jimdo.com, a website builder, to create this page. Well, Jimdo released many new templates during summer and they started their Best of Reinvention Month Contest in order to motivate people to use the new templates and to reinvent their Jimdo-page.
I was happy with my website the way it was and first didn't want to completely redesign my website just to participate in that contest. You have to know that this costs much time and is a lot of work. But then I saw what the grand prize was: a GoPro HERO 3+. The opportunity to win such a camera deinitely motivated me to participate. I spent several hours updating my website to one of the brand new templates and entered the competition the very next day.
Today I learned that I'm the winner of Jimdo's Best of Reinvention Month Contest. I think I don't
need to say that this made me enormously happy. The Jimdo team said the following
about my website:
"Oozing with personality, Monique’s site utilizes playful fonts, beautiful photographs and a strong structure. We also
loved her use of color and her photo galleries. Little details like her subtle yet fun favicon put her over the top."
I can't wait to hold that GoPro in my hands and to try it out! I'm sure it will become very useful for my photography and it will allow me to take great pictures. Check out the other
fantastic websites who participated in the competition over here!
Thank you very much Jimdo guys! You made my day!
Update:
Sat 08 Nov
The GoPro arrived yesterday together with a keychain, a lanyard and several, different pin buttons.
Unfortunately I hadn't the time to take some videos and photos which are good enough to show you.
I'll add the first results of testing the camera soon, I promise ;)
Hello Autumn!
I LOVE AUTUMN.
The beautiful turning leaves are starting to fall to the ground. The days are getting shorter, the nights are getting longer. I really love autumn and all it has to offer,
especially the change on color of the leaves. Autumn has something special and nostalgic, I'd say.
Fortunatley, autumn brings a lot of new photo opportunities. In September I photographed a wide variety of mushrooms. You'll see some of these pictures around this text and on the nature page. I'm wondering what else I'm going to photograph during this beautiful season...
