My Paris (in Black and White)

 

My Paris © Catherine Houston

 

Paris,

Just a name, just a city,

But which has made for a long time such an impression on people, even the ones who just dream about it…

It’s a tourist destination, symbol of romanticism and love.

It’s a concentrated of History, with not only museums but walls, houses, neighbourhoods filled with histories.

It’s a big city hosting millions of people studying, working, living.

For me it was first a big, loud (way too much in the North) city were I spent a summer a long time ago working as a research student in a lab in a well-known hospital. I felt crushed by the city at the time, feeling only the monotonous rythmes “metro-boulot-dodo” (train commute – job – bed time, and repeat).

Then years (a life time??) later I came back and spend a year with my family in the center of the city and I learned to love it. I discovered Paris by foot (I admit sometimes quite painful with a stroller!!).

My Paris, became my paradise for Street Photography.

My Paris © Catherine Houston

 

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“Orange” – or the Color of Buddhism

Orange is predominant in Buddhism.

From the saffron colour of the monks’ robes (mainly due to the available dye centuries ago ), to the golden of the statues, the yellow and the red of the decorations…

Between the powerful scents of incense and the bouquet of colours chances are that a visit inside a Buddhist Temple  will not leave your senses indifferent.

Orange and Buddhism Ⓒ Catherine Houston

Orange and Buddhism Ⓒ Catherine Houston

Orange and Buddhism Ⓒ Catherine Houston

Orange and Buddhism Ⓒ Catherine Houston

Orange and Buddhism Ⓒ Catherine Houston

Orange and Buddhism Ⓒ Catherine Houston

Orange and Buddhism Ⓒ Catherine Houston

 

And yes, I can’t help it, even on a blog post focusing on colours I HAVE to put at least one Black and White ;-).

• All the pics were taken in Singapore.

Express Road Trip – Bali

Bali…

This short name alone brings dreams to a lot of people.

One may think island, exotic, Asia, flowers, colours, beach, diving, volcanoes, rice fields, yummy food …

The best way to discover this Indonesian island would probably involve staying at least a couple of weeks with a good pair of hiking shoes. Meeting people, discovering villages, hiking in the middle of rice fields away from the tourists’ paths, climbing a volcano, going all the way to the adjacent island of Lombok, scuba diving, …

But what if you had only a handful number of days to spend there? (and/or if like me you were traveling there with 3 little ones!!). Then your best bet is probably to hire a taxi-driver for a day on the road…

Well welcome to my express road-trip to Bali!!

There is a few things that you can expect to see in Bali even on a very short trip:

1- Temples

You are going to see lots of temples and sculptures. Big ones, small ones. You will see some even on the side of the road on your way from the airport to your hotel.

Road Trip in Bali Ⓒ Catherine Houston

Road Trip in Bali Ⓒ Catherine Houston

Road Trip in Bali Ⓒ Catherine Houston

 

2- Offerings and Flowers

Offerings are everywhere: on the side walk, in your hotel, on the beach, and of course in the temples.

Road Trip in Bali Ⓒ Catherine Houston

 

3- Small markets and yummy looking fruits

Road Trip in Bali Ⓒ Catherine Houston

Road Trip in Bali Ⓒ Catherine Houston

 

4- Rice fields (within a short driving distance from Ubud)

Road Trip in Bali Ⓒ Catherine Houston

Road Trip in Bali Ⓒ Catherine Houston

Road Trip in Bali Ⓒ Catherine Houston

 

5- Hard working people

Road Trip in Bali Ⓒ Catherine Houston

Road Trip in Bali Ⓒ Catherine Houston

6- Awesome gas stations

Road Trip in Bali Ⓒ Catherine Houston

7- Dancers (in Ubud)

Road Trip in Bali Ⓒ Catherine Houston

Road Trip in Bali Ⓒ Catherine Houston

8- You may even come across a village’s celebration

Road Trip in Bali Ⓒ Catherine Houston

Road Trip in Bali Ⓒ Catherine Houston

9- And make sure to relax a little on the beach (a massage?) before catching you plane!

Road Trip in Bali Ⓒ Catherine Houston

Enjoy!!!

The Lone Fishing Rod…

Let’s be clear…I don’t do fishing….

I love to eat fish, but fishing takes an amount of patience that I am (very) far from having. But I can photograph other people doing it right?

So anyway, a few months back I was walking in the Woodlands Waterfront area (very North end of Singapore, at the border with Malaysia) – and yes that’s Johor Bahru, Malaysia, in the background.

Woodlands Waterfront Ⓒ Catherine Houston

and I saw these quite lonely fishing rods…(and by the way my picture on the cover of this post was published recently in Being Published Matters!!! yeah!!!).

Woodlands Waterfront Ⓒ Catherine Houston

Woodlands Waterfront Ⓒ Catherine Houston

Oh and super bonus… the fresh crabs/chili crabs at the local restaurant were pretty good too!! (and for a price more friendly than their counterparts on the more touristy part of town).

Have a great week-end!!

Just a matter of scales…

Like many fellow photographers, I’m attracted to markets.

They are colorful, animated–it’s like “street photography central”!!

So, of course, one of my first photography targets in Singapore was the markets. Here they are called “wet markets”. They are indoor markets where you can find pretty much everything from fresh fruits, meat, fish, and flowers to lots of dry goodies.

Scales Ⓒ Catherine Houston

Everything I like in a market was here (colors, people, cultural diversity, ….) but two things surprised me. First, to be very honest, my nose was caught by surprise when I walked by the durian stand…. (After one year here, I’m slowly getting acclimated to that very peculiar smell, but let’s say that it’s not something I’m used to…)

And the second thing was the scales.

I love those old fashion scales!!

Scales Ⓒ Catherine Houston

Scales Ⓒ Catherine Houston

And yes, I even bought my own… :-)

Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day Ⓒ Catherine Houston

When I first decided to write a blog for Valentine’s Day (I know….how original!!) my plan was to found out some great “historical” facts about the origins of Valentine’s Day. I started “googling” and reading about the legends/history starting in the ancient Roman Empire and as I was naively expecting to read one story/legend about love and romance (although true to some extent) I was overwhelmed by the number of stories/mythologies starting with the imprisonment and execution of poor Saint Valentine in the ancient Roman Empire… So to make it very very short: Valentine’s Day became a symbol of love for different reasons in the Middle Ages (celebration of spring, of love, ..). (you can read more about it here : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine%27s_Day).

As you most probably all noticed, it’s now a very over-commercialised day. It can represent something different for all of us: the declaration of a new love for some, a competition of romance for others, a dreadful day for the singles, …. (and for me really just the day before my birthday ;-)).

In any case I wanted to share with you pictures of Love.

“Un petit peu de douceur dans un monde de brutes”.

– Mothers’ Love –

Valentine’s Day Ⓒ Catherine Houston

– Siblings’ Love –

Valentine’s Day Ⓒ Catherine Houston

 

– Young Love –

Valentine’s Day Ⓒ Catherine Houston

– and more Love (in Paris…of course) –

Valentine’s Day Ⓒ Catherine Houston

Valentine’s Day Ⓒ Catherine Houston

– and I will finish with one of my favorite quotes from my favorite author:

“Aimer, ce n’est pas se regarder l’un l’autre, c’est regarder ensemble dans la même direction.”(“Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.)

– Antoine de Saint-Exupéry –

Valentine’s Day Ⓒ Catherine Houston

Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

(and if you don’t know what to do on Valentine’s Day, read the “Petit Prince”- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, best book ever about Love).

A Propos… (About Me)

Hi, my Name is Catherine and I will be your host here on my new blog,

I’m a free-lance photographer, currently living in Singapore, but originally from France (I also lived 10 years in the US…I know..It’s complicated…). I’m not a native english speaker, so my grammar can be sometimes far from perfect, I apologise to the purist in advance.

I’m sort of a world traveler (although not always as much as I would like), a chocolate addict and the mom of a bunch of princesses!!

I’m the owner of Mermozine-Photogaphy, a professional studio specialising in Maternity, Newborn and Children Portraits, and I will probably talk a lot about that in my blog, but I also do a lot of travel photography, food photography, macrophotography, …. well about almost everything photography.

To give you a little bit more background about me… I always loved photography, but until a few years ago, although I could often been seen with my camera around my neck, I was “focusing” exclusively on travel photography and fine art (macrophotography, still life, black and white prints that I would develop myself in the darkroom, …). I spent hours shooting all the flowers and bugs I could come across (avoiding carefully any spiders!!) and I was sure that these were the most beautiful things in the world. And then I became a mom and as banal as it sound, it truly changed not only my life (I went from being a neuroscientist to a professional photographer) but also my photography interests. I suddenly saw a different beauty, the kind that makes parents’ eyes a little teary. And there it was, I was not only a photographer anymore, I became one of those… a “mamarazzi”!

(Urban Dictionnary: “Mothers who constantly follow their children around with several cameras and video taking equipment, snapping photos at each turn and documenting each milestone or event with at least two dozen photos”.)

(but don’t worry I still travel and chase flowers and bugs too – although still avoiding spiders…).

As a mom, I know how fast our tiny bundles of joy grow and how much we wish to have kept more traces of each one of their milestones. That’s why as a professional photographer I like to photograph the main developmental milestones of the babies’ first years (the “still-all-curly” newborn baby, the 3 months old baby able to lift his(her) head when lying on his(her) belly, the 6 months old infant able to sit and then the toddler and his(her) hesitant first steps). I photograph kids when they smile, and when they don’t, when they play, interact with their siblings, parents, …, when they are being kids.

I will try in this blog to share with you my love of children and my passion for photography.

Happy New Year!!!

Catherine