Opera House, Sydney

The Opera House in Sydney is an iconic building, so unique, that the city is always associated to it. All travel magazines and tourists ads use it to promote Sydney or as one of Australia's symbol. It is probably the first thing that any tourist will want to see and I am no different from anybody else, except I wanted to see it at dusk and wasn't so interested in it during day light.


Armed with my tripod, I left the hotel not long before sunset, after a long and tiring day walking along Bondi Beach. I was heading to Quay, a restaurant facing the Opera for a fantastic dinner, sadly on my own, one of the fallbacks of business trips. Both the food and the view were truly amazing.




I had seen the building in many books and I was still pleasantly surprised by the design. Not many cities are established in such a beautiful natural setting, which clearly creates a nice atmosphere.


The Rocks was just behind my back, it was time to go listening to some good Aussie's live music at a local pub.

The Opera House, Sydney

Arche de la Défense, Paris

Esplanade de la Défense, Paris

The Arche de la Défense is located in the heart of the business district, near Paris. This building, inaugurated in 1989 by French president François Mitterrand for the commemoration of the French revolution, is built along the historical axe running through Paris, from Le Louvre to the Arc de Triomphe and the Arche de la Défense.

The design is inspired by a four dimensional hypercube projected into our third dimensional space, forming a nearly perfect square, a very unusual design for a building. I particularly enjoy photographing perspectives and I must say they are countless ways of looking at this controversial piece of architecture.

Until very recently, the building was opened to the public, with a spectacular ride in a transparent elevator. The roof was accessible, offering a very interesting view of Paris. As I was passing by on my last visit to Paris, I am glad I stopped and payed for the quite expensive ride. It was closed just a few months later.

Arche de la Défense, Paris - 12mm, f/9

A museum dedicated to the ages of computer sciences was located at the top. I would have passed through pretty quickly if it wasn't for a retrospective of Apple's computers. My family had so many different versions of Apple's that many good memories came back in a couple of seconds.

It is a shame that they decided to close it under the pretext they couldn't invest in repairing the external elevator. This monument is now kept for government employees.

Art Deco in South Beach, Florida

Ocean Drive

This post is not about the white sand, palm trees and nightlife that make South Beach so famous. Here, I want to talk about the Art Deco buildings on Ocean Drive. I believe this street owns the largest remaining concentration of Art Deco. Bright neons are awesome at night and, in addition to a very clement weather all year long and a miles long beach, literally 100 yards away, participate in making this city the nightlife mecca in the US.

My favorite, Colony Hotel, South Beach

I just needed to use a tripod and a 17-55, f/2.8 lens to capture what I enjoyed about this place. For once, I found it was best after dusk when the sky is black as I only wanted to catch the artificial light. Using an ISO of 400 and an exposure of 1/10s to 1/50s was best.

For the story, as I was carrying a fairly voluminous gear, I was stopped many times by random people asking me who I was after. I didn't understood at first, and then realize this place is full of celebrities. For some reason, they thought I was a paparazzi. There is no chance I could become one, I would not recognize anybody, mostly because I have only heard about 10% of them, at max, and secondly because I would not believe my eyes even if I was facing Nicole Kidman or Julia Roberts.

Ocean Drive, using a Lomo

During daylight, I used my brand new Lomo, a shoot camera without the point. I decided to shoot without framing which is the idea behind this concept. I really liked the result, leaving a sense of time out.

Ieoh Ming Pei in Paris

Ieoh Ming Pei's pyramid in Le Louvre, Paris

Ieoh Ming Pei is the brain behind the controversial pyramid in Le Louvre, Paris. When François Mitterrand decided to expropriate the Finance Ministry to Bercy in 1983, to expand and renew the museum, I.M. Pei was awarded the design. It may have shocked many people after the grand opening of the Grand Louvre in 1988, those who call blasphemy this mix of modern architecture with historical monuments. I personally will be eternally grateful to Mr Pei for his genius idea. The museum entrance is below the pyramid, which brings a lot of light into the lobby. From there, the access is easy and short to all aisles of this gigantic museum.


Even better, at dusk, tourists leave the esplanade to the enjoyment of those who love this magnificent historical monument, with the pyramid in the middle. This is pure magic, thanks to the reflective pools. I don't think I have been particularly imaginative when I took these shots as I didn't have much time to think my composition through (only got there a few minutes before sunset). What I can assure you is that there is an infinite source of angles to shoot from. Move around, take your time. And a tripod, of course.