Sorry. That's too big.

I recently visited the Gauguin exhibition at the Beyeler Foundation just outside of Basel with an art loving friend.

Beyeler Foundation

As it was my first time at a major exhibition, I decided to take a serious camera with me and not rely on snaps from my capable mobile phone because I wanted to have some of the resulting images printed out in postcard size as a memento for my friend and thought that I would probably need to crop or zoom in if there were too many people there.

I chose my EOS 5d MKII together with the 24 - 105 zoom and a Speedlite 430 EXII.

Not acceptable

It was a beautiful day when we arrived and the waiting queue of people was not that long. The exhibition has been extensively advertised as a "blockbuster" type of event and has tried to capture public attention by its use of high-tech guides and even bringing in Hollywood star Keanu Reeves to open it!


After a short wait of only about five or six minutes, we reached the cloakroom and left our jackets there.

"You'll have to leave your camera behind." One of the attendants told me.
"Why?" I asked.
"That's the rule here" was his response

Reluctantly I handed over the camera and made my way through the next checkpoint.

The art gallery makes fantastic use of natural and artificial illumination. Lovely shadowless light that you normally experience on a cloudy but bright day. I looked around to take it all in and realised that THERE WERE LOADS OF PEOPLE TAKING PICTURES!

There were mobile phone cameras, bridge cameras, compacts, video cameras and even Tablet devices merrily snapping away.

I decided to join them and reached inside my coat pocket for my mobile phone only to discover that I had left in in my car. The car of course was too far away for me to go back to and I didn't fancy waiting amongst the people waiting at the entrance, which was growing longer by the minute, to get back in.

I really wanted to take some pictures for my friend so I approached one of the employees. We had a conversation something like this:

"Excuse me. I see that there are lots of people taking pictures here. Is that allowed?"

"Yes" he replied "But if there is a sign next to the painting forbidding it, then obviously we ask that it not be photographed"

"I tried to bring my camera in but they wouldn't let me". I said.

"Is it a big camera? Was his response?

"It is large in size. Yes"

"Then that is not allowed"

"But some of the people in here have cameras with perhaps better resolution than mine" I argued

"Big cameras are not allowed" was his reply.

"How about if I make it smaller?" I asked.

"That would be permissible" Said the guard.

"Great. Thanks", I replied. An idea forming in my head.

I made my way through the swelling throng of visitors back to the cloakroom and retrieved my camera from the attendant. To make my camera "acceptable", I simply removed the battery grip and the Speedlite.

Acceptable for exhibitions

As I mentioned previously, the lighting inside the Beyeler art gallery is ideal for photography. I took a spot meter reading of the palm of my hand and used the resulting reading, 1/50th @5.6 with ISO 800 for all the shots taken in the place. Such was the lighting consistency that I didn't need to change anything.

 

"Polynesian woman with children" (1901)

 Riders on the beach (II) (1902)

 

 Visitors inspecting Gaugin's largest piece of work.

"Where do we come from? What  are we? Where are we going?" (1897/98)

So if you are thinking of attending the Gauguin exhibition in Basel please be assured that you can take pictures but only with a compact, tablet device, video camera or mobile phone. if you want to use your (D)SLR, then try and make it as small as possible.

You can read more about the exhibition here.

P.S. As I have mentioned before on this blog, I am a bit of a philistine when it comes to art. 

As ever. Thanks for reading.

Spring is in the air

Well I know that technically, Spring hasn't yet begun but the countryside around where I live is at long last, starting to look attractive again.

The skies have been a fetching shade of blue lately, buds are starting to show on the trees and snowdrops have made a welcome appearance.

Today, Oksana (the missus) and I went for a drive to the countryside. I took my light weight benbo tripod, my EOS 5d and a 17-40 zoom lens.

I found a nice location by looking in "Google Earth". It was called Schöntal. A little village in Baselland.

We arrived and went for a walk. There is a "sculpture park" near the village but that costs Fr 10 for entry. I hadn't bought my wallet with me so we explored the village itself.

A five minute walk outside the village revealed a piece of "artwork" on a hill so we went there and I recorded it for posterity (and this blog) .

As I've mentioned in a previous blog post, I don't pretend to understand modern art but this was interesting to photograph with the village in the background. It was an extremely hazy day but shooting HDR helped to minimise it.

Shot into the sun

The same image in Monochrome

Different viewpoint

From there, we took a walk back to the village and I took a few more HDR's. I wanted to take a picture of the former Cloister, which is now a modern art gallery, but the sun was shining directly into my lens so I've made a note to return when Spring is fully underway.

This was the only image that I took of the former monastery.

Thanks for visiting.

I'm a Philistine...

I'm on two weeks holiday at the moment but I still went into work today.


"Why?" I hear you ask?


Well after my series of nine photoshoots in Lausanne last week, I came home and began my holidays but the images were still stored on my camera's memory-cards. I am of the opinion that the images don't really exist until there are at least two copies of them. So With this in mind, I backed them up first to my laptop and again to an external drive.


Today I popped into work and transferred them to my work's machine which will later (when I return in two weeks time) be mirrored onto another external drive. Only then will I feel safe  :)


Now a couple of things about the Lausanne job. Nine jobs may sound like a lot but everything was meticulously planned and apart from one or two small run-ins with over zealous security staff, it all went really well.


One of the jobs was at the Giannada foundation who's owner is Léonard Giannada. Mr Giannada is a generous benefactor whose altruistic endeavours support the arts and the less fortunate in our society.


The Foundation's art gallery (where I did my photography) is built on the site of a Celtic temple which has been left largely undisturbed. The light levels inside the gallery (where I did my photography) ranged from bright to very dark. For this reason, I shot three exposures of everything which I'll convert later using HDR. That way I'll be sure to get details visible in the highlights and the shadows.


The park outside the gallery houses sculptures and installations by artists such as Chagall, Miró, Moore and many others whom I must confess, I have never heard of. One online dictionary defines "Philistine" (apart from the ancient people who lived along the coast of Canaan (present-day Palestine and Syria)), as "a person who is uninterested in intellectual pursuits". I think that's me.


I just don't understand modern art. For me, an artwork (specifically sculptures and paintings) must resemble something. 


Squiggles, stripes and splashes do absolutely nothing for me. Give me Constable, a Turner or even a Van Gogh and I'll look at it. Picasso's and other modern art stuff leave me cold. 


It's all above my head as I cannot understand it. Or maybe it's akin to the Hans Christian Andersen tale of " The Emperor's New Clothes "


Wandering through the sculpture park, I found myself drawn to one particular sculpture by the "French Sculptor and Assemblage Artist" Cesar.


It was a bronze recreation of a thumb! Yes. That's right. A THUMB!

It's called "Pouce" (Thumb)

Did you ever (as a child), see the cartoon of an artist busily painting at his easel? He had the brush in his right hand and has his left arm extended with his thumb raised? The painting on the cartoon artist's canvas is that of a thumb  :) Well that's what this massive bronze sculpture reminded me of.  :)

I can see where the idea came from

One of my evening jobs in Lausanne was to photograph some LED street lights supplied by the company for whom I work, which illuminate the way to Lausanne cathedral. I've chosen this one to show you. I used the HDR procedure to give more details.

As always, I value your comments and emails. If you have a photographic subject that you'd like me to cover then please get in touch.


That's it for now.

I'm bushed

As mentioned yesterday, I'm now in the beautiful city of Lausanne. It's been a long day but very productive.

I've shot nine projects for Regent Lighting (the company I work for). Everything from the Lausanne public transport command centre to a small art gallery.

Everything has gone smoothly thanks to careful and meticulous planning. My images have been backed up and I'm now ready for bed.

I'll leave you with this image taken earlier in the art gallery. It shows me trying to figureout how to get the ceilng AND the floor in the same pic.(it was a very small gallery!)

Thankfully, my lovely 17 - 40 at the wide setting came to the rescue and gives an impresson of space.

Good night