Pic Spocket

Here’s a computing trick. Today, we have to remember an impressive amount of passwords. We need passwords for everything: login in our computer, retrieve emails, connect to countless websites (forums, emails, Facebook, online stores, bill paying, etc). For better security, one should use a different password for each account. But who can remember all these passwords?!

After a while, it is easy to get confused and forget what password we used for a particular website, application or computer.

Keeping a catalog of your usernames and passwords in plain text on your computer is a very bad idea. It could easily fall in the wrong hands. A hardcopy in your home office of such a catalog is not a much better idea either.

I’ll let you in a little trick I have been using for several years.

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A week and a half ago, we were invited to the wedding reception of our friends Craig and Tracy, in Windsor. We’ve known them for several month now and they really fun to have around. We missed the ceremony, but the reception was great! They had a live band playing Beatles songs. I was not convinced that I would enjoy it as much as I did. Even the staff of the reception hall started dancing at some point. Great atmosphere!

We of course brought our new 50D camera. This type of event is really not easy to shoot because of the very limited amount of light. So the ISO sensitivity must be cranked up. We kept it at ISO 800 for most shots, and few shots at ISO 1600 and we still have our share of blurry pictures when not being careful. I should have left it at ISO1600.

Event photography is also a completely different world. My wife Corinne has actually a much better feeling about it than me. It’s instinctive for her. She is really good at capturing emotions. Here are a few pictures she took.

I am more of a ‘technical shooter’. I find it hard to be at the right place at the right time while staying out of the way of the actual professionals hired to photograph the event. My approach is to shoot a lot. And I do get lucky and take a few good ones also! Here are some of mine.

So the night went really well and it was a great time. We wish them all the best in their new life together.

They are now on their honeymoon in the west, and ‘we’ are currently now babysitting their dog, named ‘Trails’. It’s a Brittany spaniel, Newton’s BBF (Best Buddy Forever). I wrote ‘we’ because technically, Corinne is actually taking care of both dogs because I am currently in Mexico. She has her hands full. Corinne is crazy: she made a special website for Trails, keeping a journal of his ‘vacation’. Clink the link below!

For the more pictures of the wedding, see the album link below.

The last Sunday I had free to roam around, I woke up with a very bad cold. So I opted to take it really easy that day and just went on the beach in Cassis for most of the day. At the end of the afternoon, I stopped in Marseilles for a walk.

Below, you can find pictures of the Prefecture, and the Police HQ.

Palais de Justice (Court):

I finally ended up in the old port as the sun was setting, offering a very warm light.

Overall, my favorite picture of the trip is this one, actually a crop from another picture. There is something about the light. It almost looks like a painting (no special process applied).

Click here to access the sub-album for Marseilles for larger versions and more pictures.

On my second weekend in France, I took the panoramic road called ‘Route des Crêtes’ which goes from Cassis to LaCiotat. This is a very curvy road by the cliff before the sea, which offers some very nice views. The ride is really worth it.

There are several places where you can stop to look at the landscape. What is very impressive is that you can step inches from a fall of several hundred feet. You better be careful!

This is 2 HDR processed pictures, the first one from the same vantage point than the panoramic previously posted.

Just before reaching LaCiotat, I reached the entrance of the Calanque of Figuerolles, an idyllic little spot for swimming.

After a short stop, I continued to LaCiotat to get something to eat for lunch. I ate my panini sandwich while walking in the old port, which also offered a few photo opportunities.

Finally, I continued my way to Cap Sicié, a ride in the forest also in the mountains. I hiked the last 20 minutes to the Chapel Notre-Dame-de-Mai at its peak. Once again, very abrupt cliff, and beautiful view.

Larger versions and more pictures found below.

Ride Cassis-LaCiotat	Cap Sicié

After my big Saturday car ride in the Camargue area, I decided to take it easy the following day. I decided to go to Cassis, just east from Marseilles less than an hour ride from my hotel.

I know Cassis from previous trips. It is right by the sea and it is famous for its cliffs, nearby calanques and for its very cute little port.

I first wandered around quite a while to find some parking. I found one right by this little beach “La plage du Bestouan”, which is a little bit outside downtown, almost hidden. I think the beach over there is much nicer than the one downtown.

Then I headed downtown in the old port. This area is quite nice.

The port is full of small restaurants and bars. I stopped for lunch in one of these.

The area between Cassis and Marseilles is very well known for its “Calanques”. This coast line is mostly a very high and abrupt cliff of several hundred meters in height. A “Calanque” is a kind of inlet in that wall of rock. It can be described as a deep valley with steep sides partly submerged by the sea.

Some of these Calanques are actually very hard to reach even by foot. I did hike to the Calanques area last January (see original post). The best and easiest way to access them though is by boat, which I never did before. So I looked for one of the many guided boat tour available and took the bigger one (8 Calanques). I sat up front, thinking I would see better…. What I got is a partial shower of sea water due to the large waves.

Calanque of Oule (also referred as ‘Cathedral of Oule), Calanque of Devenson

Calanque of l’Oeil de verre (glass eye), Calanque of Sugiton (2)

Then I came back in Cassis as the sun was setting, offering a warm light to snap a few more pictures before heading back to the hotel.

Larger images and more pictures in sub-albums linked below.

Cassis	Calanques by boat

More to come…

I was for 3 weeks in France last month (September). I had 2 weekends to wander around, so I took a lot of pictures. Therefore I will split this in several articles. Here is the first post, about my first free Saturday over there.

With the car, I headed in the natural area of ‘La Camargue’. This is an area with a lot of marshes and lagoons. It is very well known for the special breeds of ‘Camargue bulls’ and ‘Camargue horses’.

I stopped at the ‘Paul Ricard’ domain, where I saw a lot of dragonflies during a short hike. I also witnessed a small demonstration of cowboys playing with a bull.

I stopped and visited the ornithological park of the region. The Camargue region is also well known for being one of the rare habitats of Great Flamingo in Europe.

See more pictures from the Camargue area.

Then I headed all the way to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, a small town also in Camargue. I had the opportunity to climb on the roof of the fortified church in the center of the town, which offered some very nice views. I particularly like the HDR processed version below.

See more pictures from Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer

Finally, drove a little bit in the country roads towards Aigues-Mortes. On my way, I noticed this private little chapel in the middle of a vineyard. The subject was well suited for the combination of dramatic skies and the side lighting conditions offered by the setting sun. I think that these are my favorite pictures of the trip.

See more pictures of the chapel and Aigues-Mortes.

I arrived at the fortifications of Aigues-Mortes as the sun was setting. Therefore, I only snapped a few shots before heading back to the hotel. Not bad for a one day outing.

Larger image versions and many more pictures are available in the ‘travel >> France Sept 08’ section of the photo album. I will post short stories with a selection of pictures such as the one above for other portions of the trip in the coming days. Come back!

I took the plunge and ordered the very newly released Canon 50D digital camera. It’s a body slightly larger than my current Digital Rebel XTi, but more robust and sporting many more features. Here’s the 50D:

My Rebel has now over 21 000 clicks on it, and still works great. Will the new camera make me a better photographer? Surely not… But it will make my life easier and I will enjoy many of the additional features:

• Larger viewfinder;
• Larger screen on the back,  with better resolution
• Increase from 10 to 15 megapixels
• Lower noise at high ISO sensitivity
• Live View (rear screen active for composition, like pocket camera)
• Spot meter
• and many others…

To read more on this newly released camera:

• Release note on Dpreview.com
• Preview, on Dpreview.com

Here’s a video of newton when he has the ‘zoomies’. It happens to him every once in a while. If you wonder what ‘zoomies’ means, here is a scientific explanation, from urbandictionnary.com:

Zoomies:

When your dog runs around the house like crazy jumping anywhere and everywhere, running up and down the stairs, and all over the house. It usually ends with them falling to the floor, panting like crazy and taking a nap.

Increase the volume and enjoy…

I am still processing the pictures of my trip to France last month. In the meantime, here is a panoramic view of the Bay of Cassis, viewed from the route called ’Route des Crêtes’ which runs along the coast between Cassis and LaCiotat. This is also an awesome area for hiking. Click on the image to open it in the photo album.

See the GPS location on a map where this picture was taken. GPS coordinates were recorded by my GPS Data Logger.

note: The panorama was assembled from 10 individual pictures taken in ‘portrait’ orientation. The result is a 38 MegaPixels image in its full resolution.