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Home! Simply the best place in the world and after a lovely long sleep the reality of the last week hit me! Washing galore and no food in the cupboards! So whats a girl to do? Go to Mum and Dads of course! After a visit to my parents I called back home to collect a coat (as it has been a lot cooler than of late) but as I walked to the front door my neighbour dashed out and called me over holding a rather large box…..considering that I wasnt actually expecting anything I pondered what it could be but my neighbour was one step ahead (as ever!) She seemed somewhat reluctant to actually hand it over but once both the box and myself were in the safety of my front door I set about opening the box…..now every girl loves a suprise and boy what a suprise! A beautiful bouquet of spring flowers, rainbow coloured! So the subject for todays post, and definately saving the best till last is my wonderful spring suprise……absence definately makes the heart grow fonder! x

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Friday 30th March and Im sat in the lobby of the hotel waiting on the taxi to collect us and send us on our way home. Hotel lobbies are a wonderful place to people watch……people arriving, people leaving, greetings and goodbyes all around. The reception at this hotel is actually quite nice, bright and airy it has a conservatory feel to it and so what would be better than an orchid to grace the glass tables and displays……there were in fact orchids all around the reception area, more evidence of that Parisienne chic that abounds this city (no tatty chrysanthemums here!) ….palest white petals dark green stems and delicate purple detailing giving a touch of paradise found. The way the light streamed through the glass roof acted like spotlights finding the star of the show, only this performer was perfection itself…..

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Final day of the exibition in Paris and my feet were killing me!!! Only another 10 hours to go before I walked out of the doors of the Port de Versaille centre for the last time this year! Towards the end of the day some of the companies laid on food and drinks for their customers (and gatecrashers alike!!) and so behind the stands in the aisles small bands of catering firms rustled up nibbles and champagne and product displays gave way to a more human display of congratulations and back slapping! Walking back to the stand that had been home for more than 36 hours I spotted a row of stacked plastic chairs, removed from a stand to make way for the guests…the lights from above were sending multicoloured rays through the chisselled plastic and they looked more like ice carvings than simple plastic chairs, arriving back at our own stand the meeting room had a few new additions too, rows of plastic champagne glasses awaiting their tipple, as the title says Plastic Fantastic!

 

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A Wednesday wander around the show….row after row of exibitors, smiling faces and probably very tired feet! Walking around the far side of the show I found the area dedicated to display work by artists and designers alike, some of the practical nature and some of the more aesthetic variety…one in particular caught my eye, a piece by a local Paris artist, photographer and sculptor. Having walked around the structure, taking various photos from different angles I read the information panel to learn a little more about the artist, turning around to once again admire the intracacy of the piece a man behind me asked what I thought of it…..turning to reply I remarked on the delicacy and beauty of the piece and that it must have taken the artist many months to complete…….”a month” was his reply……”It took me just 1 month”…..a little astonished that I was actually talking to the artist himself I congratulated him on the piece, he had noted that I had taken several photos and asked whether I was a photographer! I replied that I would like to use his piece as the subject of my blog and he was more than happy for me to, and so here is the image for Wednesday 28th March, a sculpture in carbon fibre by Axel Rogier-Waeselynck (link below)…..

http://www.axelrogierwaeselynck.fr/

 

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Tuesday, first day of the exibition and I needed a quiet space! Walking towards the back of the exibition centre on a search for lunch and a good cup of coffee (I was banking on the caffeine keeping me going!!) I noticed this chap, a business man deep in conversation or debate depending upon how you interpretted his tone, pacing back and forth, maybe in communication with his office, boss or customer but either way quite stressed, animated and completely unaware that I was observing him, assessing him for the position of blog subject, about to be made famous for a short moment in time…..the thing that struck me about this reluctant star was the fact that at no point did he step into those cirlces of light streaming through the circular windows in the roller shutters, a performer in the shadows of the show, out of the spotlight….

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Having arrived in Paris, accompanied by a rotten cold and following 2 hours sleep I made my way to the exibition centre at Port de Versaille, slowly plodding down the Rue de Vaugirard tissues in hand! Mid morning and the streets were full of chic Parisiennes going about their daily lives blissfully unaware of the chaos that awaited me at the exibition centre, but the walk was made somewhat more pleasant by the glorious spring sunshine (comparable to the British Summertime temperatures!!) oh and an impromptu stop at the chemist for cold remedies! The images for day 60 were taken on Monday 26th March and reflect the 2 opposite extremes of the Paris architecture that I saw during my daily walks down this particular Parisienne street.

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Firstly, before I go any further, I would like to explain my sudden absence last week. I was working in Paris attending the Composites Industry showcase JEC, however even though I had planned my packing to perfection to include my laptop (along with various cables and connectors) in order that I could continue to blog from my parisienne accommodation, to my utter despair the wifi simply would not allow me to connect….having tried for hours over the first couple of days I gave up! Disgruntled and suffering an untimely cold I resigned myself to being unable to blog for the duration of the exibition, however some of you may have noted the entry A Position of Trust, I simply wanted you all to know that I hadnt deserted you all and that as soon as I was home I would endeavour to fulfill the challenge of an image a day – thanks to Steve for getting my message out there! (and so eloquently too!) But in the immortal word of a certain Hollywood star I’M BACK!

The image below was taken at Thornton Reservoir on the morning of Sunday 25th March prior to my flight to Paris that afternoon….

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Spring really has arrived! Today has been absolutely glorious, the town was busy and there was even a steel band playing in the highstreet, a real summer feel to the day and the sun shone. Walking down the road towards home there were so many flowers that I couldnt decide which one to photograph for todays image but then I saw the Magnolia Tree. My Grandfather loved Magnolias and so I just had to try and do it justice, the petals were still quite tightly closed in places but some of the blossoms had managed to open in the warmth, now Im not sure if you have ever touched the flowers of the Magnolia but the petals are like wax, almost as if they have been handmade, and the colours are so delicate yet striking, sadly the blooms usually only last for anywhere between 1 and 4 weeks, so when you see them take a moment to stand and stare, and breathe them in…..

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Now have you ever really looked at the lotions and potions on your bathroom shelf? Apart from when you buy them and perhaps read the labels, or pick them up to use them….we never really look at them, they are just there. This particular squeezy bottle caught my eye yesterday but I didnt really rate it as a potential blog shot but this morning I looked again and thought that it was actually quite interesting in as much as the bubbles are quite static and dont appear to be in a hurry to move! So I zoomed in using the macro setting on my lens and then ran it through PS simply to enhance the form of the bubbles, adding a hint of colour along the way (not bad for a PS novice!!).

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I cant begin to count the photography magazines I have purchased over the years, in fact I have probably funded a new camera by now! But I never throw a magazine out after reading as you never know when you will want that snippet of info that you read about on focus, or aperture or exposure, composition etc etc etc…..the problem is remembering which copy it was in! So you land up trawling through magazine after magazine and if youre anything like me you will get distracted and start reading about something completely different and forget what it was that you were actually looking for! I look forward to the day when I get home from work and there on the door mat is the latest issue, pristine pages as yet unread, holding secrets and tips…but can you really learn from a magazine?