Drawing the Magic Moment

Twilight time is always my favor moment wherever I am, the mysterious blue is stunning and attractive, it's the perfect time to enjoy before dark.

During the trip, I rarely took photos at night. There are some reasons behind such as Tired - after walking a whole day long, sometimes without eating enough (to save time especially during visiting museums :P); it will killing me to bring along with a tri-pot for shooting night scene. Well, I can increase the ISO of course as an alternative, but I have to confess I am stubborn, I don't like the noise resulted of high speed. How about to use my light weight titanium tri-pot? it’s a bit small for my D300…the one that fits, my Manfrotto, sooooooo….heavy! I quit :P

Temperature - it’s quite cold at night, usually in single digit or even 1-2 degree only, it takes time to explore stunning scene, not knowing for how long to discover one, because my target are definitely not the tourist spots; so, the cozy and warm hotel room always win.

Safety - I should be pretty safe at night in the tourist zone such as 1er of where I stayed, and most others zones up to 8er. But photo shooting is not “safe” sometimes, the desire of chasing a perfect scene makes me lost of my way, it happens often in Hong Kong (but it’s never a problem because H.K. is small & familiar to me). 

An exhausted normal height Asian with a camera getting lost in the dark alley of an unfamiliar city…I guess I could be… or, if I am safe by luck, return late night by metro is not a good idea either; unless by taxi or…

Am I having too many concerns? I think so. When I was writing this book, I did regret of not taking more night scene photos, I have to assist by recap of my memories with the help of online reference – not a perfect experience, feeling there are something missing… 

The watercolor drawing as well as the book cover are really my wishes to “be there at that moment”, not only in twilight time, but also at night on the roof top; hopefully someday, I shall return to Paris … together with my proper gear for a midnight walk.

 

Happiness is...

I spent most of the day time to explore Paris on foot usually began at 0800, although sometimes I woke up earlier at 0400 or 0600, I would stay in my room for a bit longer until I saw a faint sun ray appeared above the roof top outside my window. Because early in the morning and after mid night, the temperature would drop to a few degree Celsius, it was not wise to stay outdoor without having a full breakfast or in an exhausted body after a long walk.

As I've told you earlier in my post, the weather in Paris within a day was unstable but interesting, even though there was no sun light above the roof, I would begin my journey of the day, by walking on the street in a slightly freezing air, there were so many times I did experience the magic moment of the transaction from haze grey sky into transparent blue; or whenever I thought the cloud seems turning thicker and thicker, raining? May be, but suddenly the sky wide open for a golden sun ray to burst…so beautiful, I saw HOPE of a new day.

I did remember on a few similar mornings when I was walking along, not many people on the street, so it was a bit quiet and “dull” overall, there were always something drawn my attention simply a balcony, a window, a café chair, or an architectural moulding at the exterior of a building…which were highlighted by the beam of sun ray, every time, yes, every time I felt  amazing, so joyful to meet “Ray”, it was a symbolic of a fresh start, I loved that feeling, the aroma of the warmth.

 

Well, of course, there would be on the contrary, a sunny day turns into cloudy suddenly when I just picked up my camera facing Tower Eiffel, so I made a choice to adjust the exposure for this shot instead, I’m sure it could be identified no matter what, right? :D

May be it’s no big deal of what I’ve seen compare to the mysterious Aurora of the Arctic, sunrise in Africa, sunset at the Grand Canyon, moonlight of…you name it. What I think is not where you are but what you want. To me, I definitely want the enlightenment of the age, the pursuit of happiness, how about you?