Tuesday 24 May 2011

The reader

Tour Philippe le Bel, Villeneuve-lès-Avignon - clair obscur chiaroscuro Rembrandt Vermeer Philippe le Bel tower is a massive ancient fortress built in the middle ages to guard access to the Pont d'Avignon on the West bank of the Rhone. When I visited the place with jb of Mainz Daily Photo he and I were struck by this young girl sitting by the window. This is the kind of situation where I wish I could paint. Jb reckoned she was paid by the Tourist office to pose there for our enjoyment ;-)
More about jb's visit soon :-)

Construite au moyen âge, la tour Philippe le Bel est la forteresse qui gardait l'accès au pont d'Avignon sur la rive ouest du Rhône. Quand je l'ai visitée avec jb de Mainz Daily Photo j'ai été éblouie par cette lectrice assise à la fenêtre : quel cadeau pour les photographes que nous étions ! C'est dans des occasions comme celles-là que je regrette de ne pas être peintre.
Jb pense qu'elle était sûrement payée par l'office du tourisme pour poser là pour nous ;-)

37 comments:

Brigetoun said...

Vermeer

Robert Patterson said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Michel Benoit said...

Pictural sans aucun doute !
S'il s'agit de la salle du premier étage, j'ai accroché plein de tableaux sur ses murs il y a... vingt cinq ans ? !!!

Exponent said...

Stunning ?
Mince, je ne connais pas ce peintre...

Virginia said...

Only jb would have come up with that one! Isn't he a mess! HA

You captured it perfectly N. I think I might have chosen BW as the pattern/color of her dress is a bit distracting. That said, it's beautifully composed. Another one of your best. ( I think i say that every visit! :)

V

Inspector said...

Les tons de l'image ont été travaillés...

The Neighbor said...

Ça le fait !

Thérèse said...

Je ne rajouterai rien à ce que tu as dit!

Tilia said...

Merveilleux. J'imagine ta jubilation en découvrant ce parfait modèle !

Pour la lumière, c'est indubitablement Vermeer.
Pour la position et le cadre, ce serait plutôt Rembrandt...

ratatouille's archives said...

Nathalie said,"This is the kind of situation where I wish I could paint..."
Bonjour! Nathalie...
The young girl...

(and most definitely, the setting "Philippe le Bel tower")

...do look like she would fit in well in the Renaissance period...
If only she had on a period costume...with that being said,

Your photograph is [quite] beautiful...Merci, for sharing!

"Jb reckons she's paid by the Tourist office to sit there for our enjoyment."
(Laughter)
D.D. :-)

Anonymous said...

This photo caught my eye. It's very lovely, as are the rest of your photos!

Bob Crowe said...

Such beautiful light. Painterly, yes, Vermeer with the subject placed farther back than was his habit, but just that kind of light.

chri said...

Voilà de l'argent public bien dépensé!

claude said...

Je ne sais pas s'il elle était là exprès pu pas, mais c'était la photo à ne pas manquer.

crederae said...

ah Nathalie, c'est tellement nostalgique, cela donne un indice de ce que le mot peut construire en l'âme. l'abri et la profondeur que les mots construisent en nous.

Ah Nathalie tu es un peintre et ton appareil photo c'est ton pinceau supérieur.
Un jour les peintures qui existent seront démodés et ils seront remplacés totalement par l'appareil de photo et le logiciel-pourquoi pas? on travail l'ame à travers la lumière mais cela ne veut pas dire qu'on n'appréciera pas toujours notre passé.
plus de peinture sale- partout plus de senteur toxique,plus de main sale haha.
en tout cas merci pour ton chef d'oeuvre..

bises printanniers.

Hilda said...

The first thing I thought was that it looked like a painting. :)

Alain said...

Dans la tour Philippe le Bel c'est peut-être le fantôme de Marguerite de Bourgogne.

Caroline said...

Ou Degas!

Babzy.B said...

superbe lumière , je pense que tu peux essayer de te mettre à la peinture ;)

Adam said...

Why paint when the photograph is already so nice?

Dianne said...

It's a beautiful capture !

nathalie said...

Inspector gadget, non les tons n'ont pas été travaillés. En fait, je n'ai RIEN travaillé sur cette photo, je la publie exactement telle qu'elle est sortie de mon APN.

Forest Dream Weaver said...

An absolutely beautiful image .....no need to paint it!

Nathalie H.D. said...

May I add that this photo suffered absolutely no post processing. I am showing it straight as it came out of my camera.

Michel Benoit said...

So, you have not made ​​this picture. It's your camera that did it !
Bon, j'arrête.
Mais le résultat est hautement flatteur.

Bish Bosh Bash said...

I have watched the film 'Girl With A Pearl Earing' several times. Largely because of the visual beauty of the photography and lighting throughout the film.

This image is a contemporary capture that would do great justice to the films photography and visual themes in general. Interestingly - if photography had been around some three hundred years ago, all you would need to do is change the girls dress & sandals to capture an authentic image of...'Girl reading in Phillipe le Bel circa 1711.'

This would make a great location for one of your 'bridal model'or similar subject, promotional images Nathalie? Great work.

Clueless in Boston said...

Very nicely captured and composed. A difficult exposure and no post-processing? Your camera paid for itself with this photo.

PeterParis said...

Fantastic photo! Like a Vermeer painting, except that on his paintings the window was always on the opposite side! :-)

AnneduSud said...

Et je l'imagine t'offrant un magnifique sourire après que tu l'aies photographiée.

Fardoise said...

Bravo, très belle photo.

Siddhartha Joshi said...

Wow...the picture is absolutely delightful! Lovely lighting...

Lynne with an e said...

I immediately likened your photo to a painting, so it's interesting you say you wish you could paint. You've captured mood, texture, lovely tones, fine details, told a story, created questions, set a mood, sensitively contrasted the dark and light--what more could you want from a painting? This is your method of painting. And it's straighforward and honest (even if the girl is posing).

Ténèbres à la lumière... said...

Oops! Nathalie,
I think that I made a faux pas by placing the photograph Of the girl in the Renaissance period...I think that period was too early.
I should have just mentioned an artist name...next time I will follow my own advice...When in doubt check-it out! before commenting.
Merci,
DeeDee ;-/

Caro du Jallouvre said...

Très belle photo !!!
J'adore ;=)

Sandy K. said...

Stunning image - Vermeer, definitely. A perfect story waiting to be written, and I think Susan Vreeland would do a wonderful job with the story.

Olivier said...

on dirait une lumière venu d'un tableau de la tour, magnifique cette photo

Thib said...

Il y a bien longtemps que je n'avais pas visité ton blog. Tes photos sont toujours aussi belles.
Celle-ci, en particulier, est magique !

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