'La ville Rouge' Photo

Photographer’s Note

Before coming to Canada I had to stay some weeks in Toulouse waiting my visa, those were solitary days... After a week I decided to buy a guide and choose somewhere to go by train. A opportunity to try my basic french around. Albi was a perfect destination located just a hour or so by train from Toulouse. I didn,t have much time to go around, but just the visit to the St. Cecile Cathedral (one of the most beautiful chuch interior I've ever seem and the most impressive glass window the representation of Joane D'arc) and to the Toulouse-Lautrec museun was worth the trip. On this picture we can see the 22 August bridge over the river Tarn and the authentic popular old residential niehgbourhood which is said to be far in atmophere from the streets of the turistic Old Alby. Unfortunately I didn't have the time to cross the bridge and walk around those streets that seems to be a photographic paradise. I took this picture from one of the windows at the Museum Toulouse-Lautrec.(I will post more pictures from the Museum and explain a little about the Painter).

Albi was founded 1000A.C first occupied by the Romans (hence the similar architecture to some Tuscan cities), tham by the Wisigots and finally by the Sarrasins the city became part of the French kingdon middle of the IX century. The Catholic church had a lot of ifluence in the city and built there the Cathedral of St Cecile and the Castle of Berbie (actual museum fo Toulouse-Lautrec) both trully fortress of God. The intention was to consolidate and protect the strong bishops of the city against the advance of the Cathare religion which preached a pur christianism in opposition to the oppulent Catholic chuch. The Cathars and it's religion were anihilated with the cruzades and them the inquisition.

macondo, ribeiroantonio, zeca, Nicou, alvaraalto, Didi, chinchini, AiresSantos, lucasgalodoido, maximage, quillo, bibiweb, gildasjan has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

lcelvenes (0) 2007-02-07 18:41

Hi Flavia.

Your photo is quite good. Here are some thoughts of mine:
1) It´s a litte bit noisy, and could have used some more sharpness, especially in the building farthest away. The white building in the middle left side is also a bit over exposed. Some darkening using a software package, or maybe a smaller aperture could help with this (I can´t see your camera setting, so it´s a bit difficult to know).

2) In your composition I like the bridges very much, and it´s interesting how they lead into the rural area. It´s a bit horizontally centered, though. A little less sky I think might be a solution, either by another chance for a photo, or by doing some cropping. I suggest cropping off some of the sky, since this is the area where the noise is showing. Also, the foreground with the green areas are a nice addition to the image.

3) As I mentioned, I like the bridges. For this setting I would have liked to see them better. Maybe from a different POV with more of them showing. Besides having a nice duality effect, it´s interesting how one has more roman style arches (the farther one), while the one closest have arches resembling the gothic style.

4) The fact that you have some reflections going in your photo as well, is also (in my opinion) a good reason to take some of the focus away from the sky (cropping, for example), and let the foreground water and trees, and the rural area with the bridges have some more space. For me, this is where things are "happening" in this image.

5) Great note. Both bit on the personal side as well as a bit of historical info. For me that adds to the value of the photo, and my experience as a viewer.

Hope you get something out of this, and TFS :)

Lars-Christian

macondo (13271) 2007-02-07 19:42

I agree with some of what Lars has said above. But a noise reduction program, and a bit of PP to compensate for the slight overexposure would improve it enormously. I would only crop some of the sky if you could put back some of the foreground. Perhaps that would not be possible, in which case a slightly better composition would have been necessary. On the whole, though, I think the bridges are well handled and the colour is very naturalistic. I really enjoyed the notes, because I also spent a very pleasant and warm day in Albi during the summer of 2001, and liked the town very much. So thanks for rekindling my fond memories of the area.
Regards,
Andrew

ribeiroantonio (21967) 2007-02-07 22:04

Também já estive em Albi e também visitei o Museu Toulouse-Lautrec, que é, aliás, muito bonito. Albi é uma terra com muito interesse histórico, assim como o é a região Catar. Tiveste a oportunidade de visitar algum dos Castelos dos Catares? São muito bonitos, em particular o de Peyrepertuse e os quatro catelos de Lastours.
Quanto à foto, está mesmo muito bonita com uma luminosidade excelente e um ponto de vista magnífico.
António

RADEEH (2772) 2007-02-08 0:41

Hi Flavia
Nice composition of the bridges and the lovely houses in the background.The bridge in the far is a real architect wonder. The note is exceptional. Thanks for sharing
Regards
Radeeh

agbonavita (0) 2007-02-08 19:21

A Europa me encanta pois muitas vezes parece que está parada no tempo. Essas pontes com arcos e os prédios. Não vejo a hora de um dia ir conhecer esse continente.

Nem preciso dizer que a foto está muito boa. Só há um pouco de superexposição no prédio branco. Belos reflexos.

Andre

zeca (20026) 2007-02-08 21:59

Oi Flávia! Uma bela perspectiva! As cores estão maravilhosas e a composição muito rica! Um verdadeiro postal!
Abraço,
Zeca

jojo31 (1601) 2007-02-10 3:59

bonjour
splendide image d'Albi cette ville aux jolis ponts
belles couleurs, excellente perspective et bonn réflection
en résumé magnifique
bravo

jojo

alvaraalto (5303) 2007-02-10 14:42

Hi Flavia,
Beautiful picture with the two bridges.
It is interesting to see that one has Gothic and the other Roman bows.
Groet Rob

MIG13 (0) 2007-02-11 13:21

A cidade parece linda e sua foto, valorizada pelo POV e pelos belos reflexos, a torna ainda mais atraente, Flávia! Parabéns! Abraço! Miguel.

chinchini (27795) 2007-02-11 14:55

Bonjour flavia,
Tu "retournes" en France alors que je viens au QUEBEC ;o)
Cette vue d'ALBI est magnifique. Datant de plus de 3 ans, sa qualité est indéniable. Composition, couleurs et cadrage sont excellents.
Compliments !
Pierre

coco (28106) 2007-02-12 4:02

Hi Flavia.

Good composition where I only would prefer a wider view.
Anyway, a very nice work where the composition and over all the reflections work very well.

Thanks for share.

Didi (36434) 2007-02-12 6:15

Bonsoir Flavia
Albi est certes une belle ville.
Le point de vue est parfaitement choisi; le seul problème c'est la présence de l'HLM des années 60 qui n'est pas très esthétique.
Je réponds à Lars : Il ne s'agit pas du tout de bruit (noise); mais la compression de l'image JPEG en conformité avec les normes de publication ont rduit légèrement la définition image, ce qui est parfaitement normal; dans ce cas nous n'y pouvons rien.
L'image n'est pas surexposée, mais il était possible de réduire l'exposition de -1/3 EV pour donner un petit peu plus de contraste.

lucasgalodoido (16789) 2007-02-14 6:01

Olá Flávia!
A arquitetura desse lugar é muito bonita, a França é uma verdadeira aula de história! Gostei das pontes e das cores de sua imagem, a nitidez ficou ótima e o reflexo na água também!
Parabéns e Abraço!

maximage (13602) 2007-02-14 18:36

Bonsoir Flavia,
Très belle image avec un POV et un cadrage parfait.
Les couleurs sont belles et lumineuses, j'aime beaucoup.
Amicalement.
max

pat0500 (21513) 2007-02-21 15:41

Bonsoir Flavia,
Je reviens sur celle-ci car j'aime beaucoup le point de vue.
Une bonne composition bien nette et bien cadré, belles couleurs et jolie reflection sur l'eau.
Bon cliché..!
Bien à toi et bonne soirée.
Patrick

quillo (7312) 2007-02-21 16:44

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Hola amiga Flavia, pienso que has capturado una bonita postal, con muy buenos detalles... la luz, el color y lo mejor el encuadre con los dos puentes superpuestos, una imagen muy agradable, gracias.

Un abrazo.

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bibiweb (8) 2007-02-22 0:47

Bonjour Flavia,
Une belle ville que j'ai eu l'occasion de découvrir l'année dernière. Ta compo est bien équilibrée avec ces deux ponts aux arches qui enjambent le Tarn. On voit bien que la ville porte bien son surnom.
Amicalement, Brigitte

gildasjan (24121) 2007-02-22 5:34

Bonjour Flavia
Très joli cliché de ces ponts à Albi.Couleurs naturelles très agréables.
Cordialement
Gildas

AiresSantos (42844) 2007-02-23 13:24

Ola Flavia,
Uma foto muito bonita com excelentes cores assim como POV. Eu gosto dos reflexos e do enquadramento
Bom fim de semana
Aires

paura (39202) 2007-02-27 20:31

Flavia,
Linda fotografia aqui. Com um ponto de tomada excelente e lindas cores, você conseguiu excelente resultado.

Abraços

Paulo