La Ville Rose Photo

Photographer’s Note

A few weeks ago I visited the city of Toulouse for the first time. I already knew it was known as 'la Ville Rose' or the 'pink city', but was surprised to see how richly coloured were the bricks, made from local clay, which were used in many of the city's older buildings. Actually, the colour seems to change according to the time of day and the weather conditions, but a sort of slightly orange pink they certainly were.

This picture was taken as I walked along the rue du Taur from the grand Place du Capitole towards the basilica of Saint-Sernin. It was quite early in the morning and few people were about. The store dummies on the right seem to have taken the city's nick-name to heart, in a more garish fashion.

Toulouse has a reputation for its aero-space industry and rapidly growing universities - it now boasts the second highest university population in France. I had little knowledge of the city apart from the 'pink city' moniker, and was very impressed with its large central historic area full of narrow lanes and streets. I imagine it would be very hot later in Summer.

ribeiroantonio, lgir, akm, papagolf21, ChrisJ, jonathan_hart, bakes888, phwall, daddo, dareco, Cretense, rginer, windosil, feather, jlbrthnn, Kielia, JCG, lctan, fanni has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

ribeiroantonio (21711) 2009-06-27 10:41

It is an excellent shot of this beautiful city. The light was fantastic and the pink on the right fits well the title. Well done.
Antonio

GUYOFF (893) 2009-06-27 11:09

Hello Andrew,

Nice shot here from Toulouse. I love this city and I like your picture, great perspectiv to the Church. Nice blue sky and great fraime I think !

La Ville Rose is really a beautiful city.

Thanks Andrew for this sharing

GUY

lgir (2843) 2009-06-27 11:09

Hello Andrew,

You have just visited the town of my next destination during my holidays of August.
I like much this city which bears well its name of pink city when one discovers it along the Garonne.
Thank you for this coloured and contrasted photograph.
Regards
Laurent

papagolf21 (55872) 2009-06-27 11:37

Bonsoir, cher Andrew,
Très heureux de revoir tes photographies. Merci de nous plonger au coeur de la ville. Cette voie piétonne permet d'apprécier les façades des vieilles maisons. Le jeu d'ombre et de lumière donne un bel effet à cette très jolie composition.
Amitiés.
Philippe

gildasjan (23257) 2009-06-27 12:40

Bonjour Andrew
Très belle vue de cette rue de Toulouse.Bonne perspective de cette rue qui nous conduit à ce clocher.Très bonne gestion de la lumière entre ombres et lumières.
Bonne journée
Amicalement
gildas

ChrisJ (69430) 2009-06-27 13:42

Hello Andrew

Good use of diminishing linear perspective, with excellent sharpness, colour & pov. The people add scale, & animate the scene. Excellent shadow detail. Tfs!

jonathan_hart (22564) 2009-06-27 16:20

nice perspective leading to the tower, you find an interesting viewpoint, and some good details : the bike, the clothes colors of the shop, the woman popping out thanks to the light..
jc

bakes888 (18055) 2009-06-27 18:37

Hi Andrew. Nice catch, bar the modern fashions and signage this could well be taken hundreds of years ago. Well composed with great colours and sharpness. Thanks for sharing.
Have a good Sunday, Paul.

SteveH (3853) 2009-06-27 19:50

Hi Andrew, pleasant street scape you've shown us. Typically French scene and well presented. (How long are you away for?). Cheers, Steve

phwall (5410) 2009-06-27 20:51

Hi Andrew,
I had no knowledge of Toulouse being the pink city, looking at your capture I can see why it has this accreditation.
Superb POV looking along this picturesque street.
The way the light is hitting the various buildings and people is perfect.
A very high quality capture, the sharps, exposure and composition are all perfect.
Regards
Peter

daddo (11263) 2009-06-27 20:54

Hi Andrew. When are you coming back to the swine flu continent?They are popping off here, even in their twenties.In the meantime you are definitely in your element over the other end of the world. Lovely perspective and I see that there are quite a few stately structures (foreground included).Lovely light and not the usually bleached effect in the upper parts of the houses. Early morning light is obviously part of the answer.Regards. Klaudio.

dareco (17024) 2009-06-27 22:18

A very interesting place!! Nice pov and lighting. Good detail and excellent depth. TFS

Cretense (54654) 2009-06-28 1:24

Hello Andrew!

Great architecture photo, but also a beautiful daily life scene! great composition and framing, fantastic perspective! Excellent light managment, nice (and dificult to achieve) to see so many details in the shadowed parts! Beautiful colours, too! Congratulations!

Hercules

kschanna (2586) 2009-06-28 5:44

Hello Andrew,

Welcome back, if you are back yet. Nice shot, which is very well composed and superbly seen. Thanks for sharing
Kamran

rginer (525) 2009-06-28 11:24

Hi Andrew,
I have visited Toulouse several times, and may I say to you that your photograph is 'très belle'. The light, colors, perspective ... you really are sharing with us the beauty of the City, which for many people seems to be an industrial town, dark colors, and not so nice at all ! Very glad about this beautiful shot. Thank you.
Best regards,
Roser

vjmite (1517) 2009-06-29 5:00

Hi Andrew,

Great perspective and wonderful colours. The shaded side of the street seems to be lit up by reflections from the sunny side, which helps a lot. Or have you digitally manipulated the shadows?

Vince

feather (49848) 2009-06-29 14:15

I was thinking that must be le magasin rose, before reading your note! The perspective lines of the street, strengthened by the posts make great lead-in lines, which lead the eye to the church spire. The light is very strong, but you have exposed the image well. Well done
Kath

jlbrthnn (36802) 2009-06-30 5:37

Hello Andrew,
You furrow France again. Toulouse is a very good destination. Your image of quality gives an interesting outline of the city and its bricks. An image perfectly carried out. Cheer.
Have a nice day
Cordially
Joël

rodgerg (22953) 2009-06-30 10:39

Hello Andrew,

A street's view full of life with a POV well selected. This POV give a great depht and a nice prospect to the church in the BG. Plesant play of shade and light too.
Best regards,
Roger

Kielia (8159) 2009-06-30 10:40

Hi Andrew,
the light and the colors are fantastic and it is not only the contrasts that make this impression of Toulouse very attractive, it is the atmosphere of one of the most beautiful cities in France that you have captured perfectly. TFS!
Warm regards
Harriet

anesugur (16514) 2009-06-30 15:10

Hello Andrew,
Great shot, superb POV...
Very nice perspective, good colors and sharpness.
Thanks for sharing. Uğur

JCG (24783) 2009-07-05 2:55

Bonjour Andrew,

An interesting sight on this street, almost pedestrian, of Toulouse and which changes usual stereotypes on the pink city… I note here very a good management of the lights, which was not to be easy thing !!! I like much all these signs coloured, the movement in the image which titillate the eye, and this prospect which goes to the bell-tower to far. Beautiful and interesting photograph. France is your second fatherland !!! Thank you Andrew.

With all my friendships and a good sunday,

Jean-Charles

skippy007 (6753) 2009-07-05 4:41

Hello Andrew, A nice street scene, apart from the signs it looks as though it could easily have been taken in Italy. It certainly has a pink look about it, I like the inclusion of the bike, to me it's what Europe is a lot about. Nice perspective, a good quality image.
Cheers
Santo
Here the headlines say " Dees do it for Jim"
Go Dees. Lets hope Jim will be OK

lctan (1045) 2009-07-25 0:36 [Comment]

Show Comment

ManuMay (10232) 2009-08-14 21:58

Hi Andrew!!

A difficult light conditions really well managed!!
A hard light and a hard shadows, not easy to capture with this colours quality...excellent shot and very good perspective...

Have a nice week end.

Best regards

Manuel

fanni (8709) 2009-08-25 13:25

Hello Andrew,
I very much like perspective views - photos taken in other towns; they show a big, interesitng part of life there: people, buildings, transportation, shops (sometimes), historical buildings etc... I like the contrast light and the sunlit parts of the buildings: this creates an elevated mood.
It only seems to me that the image looks a bit tilted to the right... or I am mistaken??
:) Best regards,
Elena

Photo Information

Copyright: Andrew McRae (macondo) (12935)
Genre: Places
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2009-06-09
Categories: Daily Life, Architecture
Camera: Pentax K200D, Tamron 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 DiII, Cokin 62mm Circular Polarizer
Exposure: f/7.1, 1/160 seconds
More Photo Info: view
Photo Version: Original Version
Theme(s): France [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2009-06-27 10:19