#opticnervepotm

Cedric Roux was our winner for our January POTM on Instagram.  The theme was “Wild Winters” and Cedric sent us an amazing crazy wind shot!  

We caught up with Cedric to find out more about that day - Cedric said:

“I was in Marseille for the week. The weather was beautiful and I heard there was lots of wind that day at Notre Dame de la Garde which is a famous spot in Marseille altitude. 

So, I turned around during one hour and shot some scenes in the wind, which was called the “Mistral”.

I tried different things with people in the place.  Sometimes it was clothes, sometimes it was hair.  I had some interesting shots and I finally choose this one because of the fantastic hair thing and the sailor tops at both side of the picture and the sea in the background”.​​

Cedric showed us some more of his Mistral hair shots taken in that windy hour!

To see more of Cedric’s photos, check out:

Website: https://www.cedricroux.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cedricroux/

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/138770841@N02/

Congratulations to our Picture of the Month winner for November - Sigrid Debusschere!  Sigrid took this photo at - or should we say after - Belgian Pride earlier this year. The light, the food and drink detritus, and the subject’s mood all give a “stayed too late at the party” look. The rainbow banner has all the colors, but they’re repeated again in small bits spread around the image.

After the Parade, Mont des Arts, Kunstberg, Brussels, May 19, 2018. We spoke with Sigrid, who gave us the story behind this compelling photo.

“Le Mont des Arts is one of my favourite places in Brussels to hang around. There’s always something going on. On the day of the Belgian Pride parade I arrived late in the evening, long after the parade was over. There was a music festival going on, which gave this colourful light. After taking some pictures of people dancing, I went to buy a beer. When I came out of the bar I saw this drag queen sitting half asleep. With a beer in one hand and my camera in the other I quickly took a shot. I wasn’t entirely satisfied, so I took another one but she opened her eyes. For me the magic was gone. She looked at me; I smiled at her. She didn’t move and closed her eyes again. I got this shot.

“I like the way she gracefully uses the flag to keep herself warm and the contrast between the fine garter belt on one leg and her unflattering brace on the other.

“Another picture I took the same night reflects even better the light coming from the concert. The moment I took the picture he looked at me. I like his style and the way he gently touches his forehead, his fingers in symmetry with the legs of the horse statue.

“And this last image is taken at exactly the same place next to the statue, five months later. While these children were playing there was also a festival going on with dance battles. I like the way their hands are trying to hold the huge ball in the air.”

Thanks so much for sharing your work with us, Sigrid. And congrats again!

If you’d like to see more of Sigrid’s work, you can follow her at:

Instagram: www.instagram.com/sigrid_debusschere

Our October theme was “Tourism,” and our winning shot came from London-based street photographer Darren Lehane.

Brighton Seafront, Brighton UK, 2016

The thing about a beach is that there can be many people enjoying it at the same time, but each is doing it in his or her own way. There’s a lot to see and questions to be asked about this one. We caught up with Darren to learn more.

“I was away for the weekend, and despite shooting street all day wasn’t getting anything I was happy with. I was going to give up and head home but decided to go back to the seafront for one last look when this scene presented itself. I noticed the couple kissing and moved in closer, hoping something else might happen - I normally like a couple of points of interest in a photo. As luck would have it, this guy suddenly came running along the wall and did a leap off it. I immediately knew I had something special and joked to my brother who was with me that it was a street photo a decade or so in the making. There’re also great lessons in the shot for all street photographers: never give up, as you never know what’s around the next corner, and never pack your camera away until you get home!”

Darren shared two other photos he sees as close “relations” to this shot.

Brighton Pier, UK, 2016

Benidorm, Spain, 2018

“The man in a wig on a toy horse on Brighton Pier was the only other half decent shot I got that day. The second shot is similar to the guy leaping on the seafront, this time in Benidorm, Spain, taken earlier this year. This one I shot on film on a small Olympus XA4 compact film camera and I had no idea if I’d gotten it or not until a few weeks later. The young girl lifting her leg was total luck but adds that something extra.”

If you’d like to see more of Darren’s street photography, check out his website and his Instagram account:

www.dlehanestreet.co.uk

https://www.instagram.com/thatdarrenlehane/

Our theme this month was “Broken Rules.” As our entries illustrated, this theme included photos of people breaking rules, photos that broke compositional rules, or photos that broke the most basic of “rules” like being in focus or realistic in color. Our winner, Québécoise Michelle Anne, won this month with a very blurry photo achieved with a long exposure. Turns out, she really liked the results and had other, similar photos to share with us.

“Trails,” Parc du Mont-Saint-Bruno, Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Quebec, Canada, 2018

We spoke with Michelle about how she got this beautiful impressionist shot:

“It was a beautiful, warm day here in Quebec, perfect to go hiking or running on the trails of this amazing provincial park that is also a mountain. There were so many runners that day, even the deer were very present - sometimes they can be hard to see - and they were also running. I was hiking one of these trails and the movement all around me caught my eye more than usual, so I decided to take a few shots with my iPhone.

Once home, I found the photos interesting but not enough. So I decided to activate the long exposure function of the iPhone to see how it would change things. Usually I don’t use this function much at all. The result surprised me, especially with the runner on the right where I felt I captured the movement and the joy of running in nature. So I continued doing these long exposures that afternoon, including photos of running deer. Those became like abstract paintings and I was very happy with the results.”

Here are a few more of Michelle’s photos from the trail, plus a beautiful urban shot of Jim Dine’s “Two Hearts” sculpture at the Musée des Beaux Arts de Montréal.

If you’d like to see more of Michelle’s work you can follow her on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/michelleisinthewater/

Our winning photo for August, for the theme “Tasty,” is by Joris Dewe of Belgium. If you ask us, all of veteran street photographer Joris’ photos are pretty tasty. But we digress....

Untitled, Blankenberge, Belgium, 2018

We asked Joris to tell us more about this wonderfully quirky shot taken on the sea dyke in Blankenberge, Belgium: 

“This peculiar person came walking in the opposite direction. As a street photographer I had, as usual, the unconscious reflex to photograph it (Fujifilm X100F in RAW). Despite the back lighting, I was still able to make something decent of it. It was a summery day with a lovely breeze. I suspect that this guy is particularly sensitive to wind and therefore puts some cotton wool in his ears. In his chest pocket is some spare cotton. I had already taken some pictures of him before this one, which clearly didn't please him. The sign that seems to say ‘Room 4€’ is a coincidence. It actually says ‘Tea Room - coffee 4 €.’ In the summer I regularly go for a walk on the promenade in Blankenberge and have already taken many fantastic pictures there.”

You can find Joris’ work at the links below.

Flickr:  www.flickr.com/photos/Jorisdewe

Flickr:  “Aftertaste” group - www.flickr.com/groups/2870389@N21

Instagram:  @dewejoris

Website:  www.OnEdgeStreet.com