Several posts on The Wide Lens will reveal the fact that I’ve spent the last summer in Morzine, France. My time there was dedicated amongst other things to mountain biking and to photographing the sport and scenery.
As I was descending on the Pleney run- a fine Downhill trail leading to Morzine center, I came to a short resting stop. Looking up, the afternoon sun was hiding between the tree tops, and just below it a dramatic root section (fairly easy to ride, but very mean looking).

Taking a picture of a rider crossing the root section with the sun in the background seemed like a great idea, and a photographic vision was born. The problem was simple- the environment is a dark forest, and the object will be a fast moving object (mountain bike rider). The solution is simple: get the right exposure for the forest, and use the flash to light up the object.
Ah, but what about the original vision? the composition places the camera about 5-6 meters from the object, and the flash won’t have a serious effect from that distance.

Here’s the final image:

And here is how it was done:

Once I understood the problem- I went online to look for a solution. Since I own an Olympus E-420 D-SLR, I started with the brand website, and quickly found an interesting solution. The FL-36R external flash, ‘R’ standing for Remote control.

This flash, coupled with a matching camera, can be placed a few meters away from the camera- aimed and used in automatic synchronization with the camera. There is an option to place a few flashes and set up to 3 flash groups- for now I’m sticking with one, a simple and effective setup.

The flash can be placed on the ground using the supplied stand. I also purchased a small version of the gorillapod, which enables to hang the flash in strategic placements, such as tree branches or railings.

As I will become more advanced with using the external flash, you can expect to see here a detailed article on how to use one correctly. For now, if you have the budget and the time to play around- I recommend finding out the wireless flash configuration for your camera. Once you’re set up, simply go out and play, that’s what photography is all about- you can’t really go wrong.

Special thanks to Pedro for modelling!

If I’ll try to define the common photographic attractions found in cathedrals, such as Notre Dame and others- these will be the objects that will always catch my eye: Stained glass art, the architectural scale of these usually very impressive structures, stone figures and art icons and of course- the general atmosphere of the cathedral.

I started taking pictures in the Notre Dame cathedral using a tripod, as lighting conditions are far from ideal, and I wanted to avoid very high ISO settings and the accompanied “digital noise”. For whatever reasons, I was prohibited from using my tripod, making the job of capturing the architecture of the cathedral very difficult.

With, I turned to the objects in Notre Dame I could photograph more easily, this series features one image from the outside, a snapshot I took with my pocket camera, and two shots from the inside, trying to demonstrate some of the unique features and atmosphere that can be found in the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

The legendary hunchback, unfortunately, remained out of sight.

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Driving through the village of Saint Jean D’Aulps, some road construction made sure you cannot miss the beautiful Abbey, or more exact it’s impressive ruins. Saint Jean D’Aulps is the oldest village in the area, and the abbey is dated back to the 13th Century.

Today, for a symbolic fee of a few euros, you can enter the Abbey and enjoy a local museum showing the history of the location, an unguided tour of the ruins and the adjacent gardens. Well worth a short drive from anywhere around Morzine, Les-gets and the Porte Du Soleil area- and also not far from the world famous Evian.

The Ruins themselves are a great photographic play ground, with the decorative construction and the views around- you almost can’t go wrong.

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Almost ignoring the environment, a few water birds in the water canals caught my eye. Especially a couple of royal looking Swans, which I could frame with the help of an old stone bridge and some flowers on the street railing. Another attraction for my lens was a small family of ducks, swimming around in alternating formations.

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