Paris and Training

Aboard the Eurostar train, it took a while to get seated, since the aisle was so narrow, but once that was behind me, I took the camera out - only to find we were entering a tunnel! It was at this time an American made a comment on my lens and then the camera.

Hugo, for that was his name, and I got chatting about photography and iStockphoto. I gather he works for them on the technical side. He requested my business card, but apolgised that he hadn't brought his own, promising he'd take a look at my blog, and would also mention my book on his site, despite his being a PC person! I'll keep a look out for his email giving me his details.

The weather outside whilst journeying across northern France was dull and overcast until the outskirts of Paris, when there was a glimmer of wintry sunshine from breaks in the clouds.

It was easy to spot Marco, mine host for the next six days, as he stood as promised with his helmet immediately ahead of me at the end of the Gare du Nord platform. We greeted each other as if we had known each other all our lives, and it has been as easy as that between us the entire time. He then helped me to a taxi, and he then sped off on his scooter, and we arrived at his apartment just after he had parked up.

I am here to help him learn how Lightroom can benefit his overall workflow with Photoshop, and to help him to extend his retouching skills. It is both fun and challenging with both of us exchanging our life experiences and joshing each other over our choices of computer platforms!

In the few moments when he has had other commitments, I have managed to capture a few of the local scenes, but the light has never been brilliant. Pictures taken the day before I left for France at Tringford Reservoir and those taken since may have to wait for my return before appearing, but I will try to get something up sooner.

Although our temperature has hovered around the -5˚C mark, we only had a short flurry of snow this morning (Wednesday); that did not settle, yet I hear the UK has had quite a fall, which makes me wonder whether Eurostar will have the wrong type of Snow!