Rollerskating in Paris

Posted by
Ian Bramham (Manchester, United Kingdom) on 8 January 2008 in Cityscape & Urban and Portfolio.

I heard a police siren behind me and turned around into the strong winter sunlight to see this spectacle of hundreds of people rollerskating at high speed through the city streets.

It was a very dramatic moment and I thought this particular shot, of the many I took, was particularly apt with the statue of the charging cavalryman in the background who looks like he is pursuing them.

This photo was taken just off the Rue de Rivoli where it meets La Place de La Concorde so it really is right in the heart of the city.

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HOT TIP FOR ALL AM3 CONTRIBUTORS :
I've been having problems for ages with my uploaded landscape orientated images looking fuzzy and not as sharp as they should be....well I finally found the answer this afternoon in an answer by Jason Kravitz to a query in the forums .....if you too have been having this problem the answer is to make sure you resize your photos to a maximum horizontal dimension of 800 pixels (vertical size is not limited). Anything greater than 800pixels and AM3 will automatically resize it leading to the reduction in sharpness.

Please feel free to copy and paste this advice into your own AM3 blogs as I'm sure there are lots of our fellow AM3ers out there having this same frustrating problem...it would be great to sort the problem out for as many of us as possible.

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**If you like this photoblog please vote for it here Photoblogawards, here VFXY Photos or here CoolPhotoblogs **

NIKON D40 1/250 second F/8.0 ISO 200 27 mm (35mm equiv.)

Like what you see here and are interested in photographic composition?.....the blog section of my website now has a complete set of 5 articles covering my personal approach to the subject: Ian Bramham Photography - Blog

For purchasing high quality archival prints of any of these photos you can send me an email by clicking here or by going to my website Ian Bramham - Fine Art Photography where prices are listed in the gallery sections under each individual photo.

Comments (11)

Johnnyanne from Layton, UT, United States

You definitely caught the moment.

8 Jan 2008 6:07am

@Johnnyanne: Thanks very much Johnnyanne!

eddy from Tehran, Iran

cool

8 Jan 2008 10:55am

@eddy: Cheers eddy!

Henrik from Oslo, Norway

Wow, you were at the right place to the right time! Nice composition with the lines and depth. Especially cool with the statue in the background! I also like the lightning and the long shadows

8 Jan 2008 12:09pm

@Henrik: Thanks very much Henrik - the light was very strange with that low winter sun casting such long shadows. I was so pleased that the meter on my camera managed to cope so well as I didn't have time to mess about with exposure compensation. I hardly needed to make any adjustments at all in post processing!

Lorraine from Gatineau, Canada

You create such wonderful moods with your photos, the drama and passion, I love it...and thanks for the link, not a surprise your photos are exquisite :)

8 Jan 2008 12:28pm

@Lorraine: Thanks Lorraine - I was very lucky with the light that day and took loads of interesting photos (at least that's what I think :-)

This is my first winter with a camera and love taking photos into the sun when it's low in the sky like that!

By the way, thanks for looking at the link from yesterday to the DPReview Nikon page. I was pleased with them too but believe it or not they dissapeared with barely a ripple - its weird as the Fuji ones were well received on FTF.....just one of those things I guess :-)

I'm going to post another night scene one here from Montmartre tomorrow as I loved the light on it.

Steven from Montreal, Canada

The shadows enhance this shot. Good capture!

8 Jan 2008 1:31pm

@Steven: Thanks very much Steven!

merdax from tehran, Iran

skaters are like Zombies in this pic!
nice shot!

8 Jan 2008 2:19pm

@merdax: well zombies isn't exactly what I had in mind but thanks anyway for the compliment!

Brian from West Lafayette, United States

Very dramatic--wonderful capture of light and movement!

8 Jan 2008 2:31pm

@Brian: Cheers Brian - I'm really pleased that you liked it!

Eleftheria, 9 years old, from Athens, Greece

Beautiful shot!

8 Jan 2008 6:06pm

@Eleftheria, 9 years old,: Thanks very much Eletheria!

momo from France

just love all the Paris shots Ian...i really appreciate how you can be in what is generally a crowded busy place (the champs image) and give it this stark, minimal look...also looks like you were having a good time...it's a beautiful city, a new photo waiting around every corner, so much to detail...a great city to walk around in with a camera...now i'm starting to miss it :-( I lived there for nearly three years...

9 Jan 2008 2:00am

@momo: Thanks Momo....it was a weekend so a lot quieter than normal but you're right I usually try and keep my photos as uncluttered as possible.

Sandrine from Cincinnati, United States

Very cool shot! Love the light and the long shadows!

11 Jan 2008 1:50am

@Sandrine: Thanks Sandrine!

bram antareja from Yogyakarta, Indonesia

If 60 percent of the inhabitants in the world did this, then air will in and around us be clean and healthy the body. This photograph that could tell about how loved our place earth remained.
Regards From Yogyakarta INDONESIA.

11 Jul 2008 2:30am