(+9 insets!) (Please view large against black) :) (If you would like to see the other pictures I've posted of Nice so far, here's a link to my Provence, France album)

Today I'm posting some of my pictures from our trip to Provence, France. I've been working on them when I can and the shocking part is that I've only dipped my toe into the first DAY when we were in Nice. The reality is that I'm not going to get to them all. There's just no way to do it so I will resign myself to having fun working on the pictures I get to.

As I've been working on my pictures, I've done a lot of thinking about the problem of too many pictures and too little time. There are many schools of thought on the priority of processing pictures. I will often spend hours poring over images and deciding which ones to process. I while away the hours, happily choosing and cropping potential images in Adobe Bridge and RAW. The problem is that the pictures aren't actually processed. Basically, this translates to precious hours wasted with nothing to show for my efforts.

Another of dealing with pictures is to pop around your folders looking at whatever grabs your attention and processing the ones that you like. That works well, especially if you immediately process pictures that you like and don't put it off to the side for later.

Another way to deal with a folder of pictures is to look at them in order. Chuck them if they aren't good but when you find one that's usable, process it right then. What that means is that the pictures at the end of the line will be waiting forever perhaps, but at least you'll have pictures that are actually finished and ready to share. Yes, there may be some truly incredible pictures that won't get the attention they deserve, but if you don't see them, who cares?

You might have remembered me mentioning that I've decided to just work on my France pictures in order. If this means I only share pictures from our first couple of days, so be it. I do remember some memorable pictures that I'll definitely get to but for now, working on my pictures in order has been really fun and interesting.

About the pictures I'm posting today…

As you all know, street photography is not my forte, but I really enjoy the opportunity to work on my technique. Since people usually don't want to be photographed, we hold our cameras at our sides, tilted up at people and interesting areas that we pass. The results are definitely hit or miss but I've gotten a surprising number of cool pictures as well. It's such a different facet of photography that looking at my pictures is really fascinating.

Likewise, processing these pictures is a very different adventure too. One common problem with an unaimed photo is a subject that isn't sharp. So when I've found an otherwise interesting picture, I've had to process it in a way that the blur doesn't ruin the picture and instead becomes a planned element. This has translated to the use of a lot of filters and other techniques I don't normally use. The end result is that my Nice pictures seem to be taken by another version of me! It's been a delightful discovery and an awesome photographic adventure and I hope that you enjoy this set!

By the way, just to remind you, Steve and I flew into Nice, France, spent the night in our Air B and B apartment and I walked from our apartment to a grocery store and back again to make breakfast. Later we went out and walked around Nice. It was really fun to walk around a busy European city. We loved the sights, the sounds, the language, the energy--all of it! Even the grime and filth when it showed itself.

My main picture just makes me happy. I'm sure the plan was to get the whole person in the frame but as you can see, I only captured the feet. It would have likely been a nice picture as planned but to me, this picture is so much more interesting and shows such fun fashion. I used various filters to achieve the overall effect!

PiP 1: This is an abstract of the sidewalk that I then applied filters to…isn't it pretty? :)
PiP 2: Along our route I looked up and saw a cool palm tree and as I took the picture a seagull flew by!
PiP 3: Steve and I enjoy taking pictures of each other while we're in photo-mode
PiP 4: . We visited a really neat purse shop and outside were some purses for sale. (I have another picture of purses for another set of pictures!)
PiP 5-7: Two pictures show collages of our shopping…into a grocery store and also to an open-air produce shop. PiP 7 shows a blue sequined flower that I also found in the produce shop
PiP 8: A lady flashed by on a bicycle wearing a bandana to protect against gasoline fumes in the busy streets; I had a lot of fun keeping her in color and turning the rest to b/w.
PiP 9: A man rode by with a terrier in the basket…this was a blurry picture and I decided to play with artistic filters to keep it!

Pam, I looked up "feet" on your photo stream and though you didn't have anything specific, I did find an adorable picture of Flicka and Lucas waiting for treats and laying mannerly on the rug with their front feeties out in front of them! :) www.ipernity.com/doc/pamj/38634460
I hope that you had a good day today!! Sending hugs from southern Oregon! :)