Place du Palais Photo

Photographer’s Note

Place du Palais and Notre Dame, Avignon, Provence, France.

The Scene
My wife and I had just arrived from Paris on the TGV and after checking into our hotel we took a stroll around the old town of Avignon to get our bearings before finding a café for dinner. As we left the main plaza, Place de L'Horloge, through a small side street you are greeted with this wonderful view of the palais and the cathedral. The sun was setting and the golden Madonna atop the cathedral was glowing in the last light.

Background
Avignon was the home of the Popes from 1309 to 1403. The papacy abandoned Rome in 1309 because of the wars that ware consuming the Italian Peninsula. The Papacy remained unchallenged until 1378 when a rival Roman Pope was elected and took his seat in Rome. Until 1403 there were two Popes ruling the Catholic Church and serious in fighting among the Cardinals. During the Papal reign in Avignon the church flourished both financially and in arts and literature.

feather, Photo65Net, alainh, Floydian, scobert, stego, elmec, pboehringer, cdmonson, jmcl has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

vincz (19045) 2007-05-16 17:45

beautiful compsotion for this great shot. The golden statue in front of the grey sky works extremely well. The walls on each side of the picture contributes very much to the feeling of oepning around this statue. Very well done.

stego (22448) 2007-05-16 18:04

Hi John,
I have seen better from you, but this doesn't mean that it isn't a pleasant snapshot, showing the architecture, the street and its life.
There is something very special: the shining of the golden statue on the top of the church, against that grey sky, the only thing that is well saturated on this pale photo. Maybe that paleness was a mix of your own taste and a consequence/compromise of the PP to balance the brightness on the shadows and highlights, no?
It's a bit tilted to the left.
Regards, José.

jonathan_hart (22623) 2007-05-16 18:09

hello John
interesting framing and POV, nice capture of that beautiful place, fine light & colours
good composition *****
regards
jo

Clementi (45179) 2007-05-17 1:03

Ciao John ,
bellissima composizione , ottimo POV , colori fantastici.
Giorgio

alainh (35387) 2007-05-17 2:42

hello John
a very good light, dynamism, excelent angle and beautiful place, all the ingredient for a good shot
have a nice day
alain

Floydian (30970) 2007-05-17 3:42

Hi John,
It's been a while since you post something, good to see a new post.
The vertical composition works very good with the two walls to the left and right, they give a very nice look-through heading to the tower. That religious thing on top really shines, you have a close-up on that? Although i am not so happy with the people in front (womans head in the left corner) it does not really disturb me. The whole scenery is great and really tells the story to your note.
The picture itself is very bright, but has nice shadow layers to the left and right which created perfect contrast in the photo.....well done.
Good work...as useall.
Regards, Henk

Photo65Net (43096) 2007-05-17 4:21

John,
Great Avignon compo. I know this place, and in front of this huge architecture iot's always hard to find a nice POV.
You did on this one, and I like a lot the result.
Regards,
JB.

feather (50144) 2007-05-17 10:05

I'm glad to see a new post from you John. I like the way you have framed the cathedral with the closer buildings. The overcast sky makes a good background for the golden statue. Well done
Kath

elmec (12194) 2007-05-17 12:21

Hello John!
Great scene with this architecture and full people living street!
Great sky in the back to the bulding and very god light!
Best regards!

pboehringer (770) 2007-05-17 12:43

Hi John, good to have you back at TE. I looked into your new posts at TL, but I don't have the time to open an additional account there too, so I hope you don't mind just sticking to critique your TE work. That is a very nice post and I like the inclusion of all those people here. It gives a good contrast, extra color splash and live. The architectural elements are beautiful and so typical for the european urban landscape. What a great moment to have the dark clouds surrounding the golden statue on the top of the tower. That enhances it amazingly well!
See you soon ...

cdmonson (2767) 2007-05-17 22:07

Hi John:

Very nice shot of Avignon. I like the inclusion of the people. It gives it a feeling of both antiquity with the church and the modern world going forward around it--the amazing mix of old and new so prevalent in Europe. My brother is moving to southern France for the next couple of years, so I sent him the link for this one. We both agree, it's a beautiful shot. One thing that I did notice though is that the whole picture seems to tilt slightly to the left. Otherwise I can't fault it. Thanks for sharing.

Clark

jmcl (14145) 2007-05-22 18:43

Hi John,

I love the framing of the side street and the gold statue against the dark sky. I like how the soft tone of the buildings seems to amplify the gold of the statue.

take care,

John

scobert (5333) 2007-06-30 18:51

Hello John,
I think that Jose is being too picky about this photo. The saturation and contrast could be increased but the composition is excellent as far as I'm concerned. People get too carried away if a building is slightly tilted one way or another. Who cares! If a photographer wants to be an architectual purist he/she can get a 4x5 view camera. I think that this is a wonderful travel photograph; full of life and vitality. Well done!
Stan