A cafe in Brussels

 

A cafe in Brussels, a scene from our 2019 Flanders trip. Notice the bicycles mounted on the walls. The warm lights of dusk are inviting tourists to have a cold Belgian beer. People are relaxing and enjoying each others' company. Who would know a dangerous epidemic was on its way in six months time? Would we stick to this magic moment and appreciate that creamy sip more so, knowing it would be the last one for the long haul.

an odd even year

 Covid-19 epidemic put its spikes in the year 2020. Entire year passed as if like a never ending doomsday that was felt every single day. Humanity was tested. 

One big lesson if we survive this is “don’t delay”. Make that bucket list trip you have been planning once it is over. Visit your loved ones no matter how far apart they lived from you. 

Life is fragile and unpredictable. Don’t wait until Covid-19’s cousin arrives, and the nightmare repeats.

Impressionist painting

 

Sometimes what I see is not a photograph but an impressionist painting. Just seeing it stirs full of emotions in me. I have to capture it as is, as a painting.

Stance

 

"When I see it I know it" says Bruce Gilden. Perhaps it is the mystery of humans that attracts me. Their separate yet shared drama. This is one of those. 

Corona Diaries - Suburbia

Our lives turned upside down.

Covid-19 epidemic is teaching us lessons everywhere.

We went back to habits we had almost forgotten. Cooking at home, saving for harder days, reading books, solidarity with neighbours, scarcity of goods to name the few. Teenagers are at home spending time with parents. Grandparents became part of the family again helping their children. It is weird.

We live in a leafy suburb. Before the outbreak I often complained about how boring our life in suburbia was, how we should move to more lively areas around the city. This view has changed completely since the outbreak started. 

There is much needed low population density in suburbia. You can freely walk in leafy streets without too many people around you despite many people started to work from home. People are considerate about social distancing rules, they change pavement or move to the kerb when they see others coming.

The air is clean, the nature is blossoming thanks to a very warm Autumn here in Downunder. We started to notice nature and make the most of it in our daily walks for exercise.

These pictures were taken with a Leica Q2 during our walk in Pymble, on Sunday, 5 April 2020. 

Exposure Blending in PS and LR

Exposure blending is the process of blending best exposed parts of two images.

• In LR select overexposed (light-sky) and underexposed (dark-building) versions of two images. 
• Right click "Edit In/Open as Layers in Photoshop"
• Drag light-sky image to the top so that the dark-building image remains at the bottom.
• Select overexposed-sky image
• Click inside RGB thumbnail to make initial selection
• Continuously click Shift/Option/Command to refine selection (to make it more distinct)
• Continue until only overexposed sky is selected.