Airport stairs. Munich Airport, Germany, 2016.

Airport stairs. Munich Airport, Germany, 2016.

The Munich airport (and airports in general actually) may be my favourite playground for photography. It has pretty much all I love: slick and modern design with large windows, stairs, rushing people, calm crowd. They scream for a dynamic environment that is perfect for my kind of photography. Being a fan of geometry, strong lines and diagonals, I can find there all the graphical elements I need for street photography, Pierre Pichot style 🙂

I took advantage of a trip from Cluj-Napoca (Romania) to Frankfurt (Germany) via Munich (still Germany) to take a few shots. It was not the best possible scenario: on both go and back trip my first flight was delayed, making me rush between the arrival and boarding gates. So impossible for me to take my time and plan my photos. It was pure reflex shooting, in an instant. The photo above was shot while waiting for very long mechanical stairs to reach the last floor of the building. It was already late at night, the airport was pretty empty and I thought I’ll never be able to fit someone in my frame. At the very last second a group of passengers finally appeared, making my photo complete.

I once again decided to use the dutch angle, first of all because I really like it, but more importantly because it accentuate quite a lot the dynamic of the photos, multiplying the diagonals across the frame. The architectural complexity of this airport becomes much more obvious this way. It always reminds me those crazy science fiction movies and comics. Tsutomu Nihei’s manga Blame!, in this very case.

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EXIFs:

  • Camera:Fujifilm X100T
  • Aperture: ƒ/8.0
  • Focale: 23mm
  • Shutter speed: 1/125s
  • ISO: 6400
  • Copyright: Pierre Pichot 2016, all rights reserved
The other direction. Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 2016.

The other direction. Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

A few weeks ago I was attending a university graduation ceremony of one of the members of my family. I wasn’t really in a artistic mode to be honest, much more in another direction like  “take portraits with the telephoto as you came late and can’t get closer than 20 meters from the scene” mode. Not my favourite kind of photography, but being the only one in the family with correct photography skills, I was the one that got declared volunteer for this task. I think that it will ring a bell for all the photographers reading this blog post.

Once my relative got his diploma, it got really boring as there were still a LOT of kids that were to receive their precious paper. It gave me time to wander a bit and I found this grey haired man, in this theatre-like place. It was a pretty interesting figure: he was the only one with light coloured hairs, and he was reflecting the lights from the scene like none of the other people in the place. The time for me to move the camera to him, he looked at the other side (the scene is a bit more on the right hand side), and in this other direction he showed me a part of his face. Click, the shutter is released, at least I have my shot of the day 🙂

The processing was fairly straightforward using Adobe Lightroom to turn the photo in black and white and give a lower key feeling. Then, some tiny touches of dodge & burn to raise the overall contrast.

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EXIFs:

  • Camera: Canon 6D
  • Lens: Canon EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM
  • Aperture: ƒ/2.8
  • Focale: 150mm
  • Shutter speed: 1/160s
  • ISO: 1600
  • Copyright: Pierre Pichot 2016, all rights reserved
Strangers in the dark VII. Cluj-Napoca station, Romania.

Just a little note, a little time for bragging 🙂 I’ve just been featured on PhotoTeam Romania for my photo Strangers in the Dark VII, one of my favourite photo! Non Romanian speakers, prepare your Google Translate.

My photo was selected by Mirela Momanu, with whom I’ve finally met in Cluj during the Photo Romania Festival 2016 after almost 2 years of virtual friendship over Facebook and different photography groups. It was a pleasure to meet her and others members of the PhotoTeam and OnSpot groups, finally, face to face.