Every year I put together a calendar of my favorite images from the previous year. Each month here on the blog, I’ll take the photo from that month’s calendar page and tell the story behind it.
This is one of my favorite photos of all time.
After three weeks in Paris, we had left to see the countryside. Staying in Amboise, in the Loire valley, we were exploring the various château in the area. On this particular day, we rented bicycles, and had a wonderful time riding through villages, forests, vineyards, and fields to arrive at the river Cher. We rode alongside that river to make it to Château de Chenonceau. This palace, with its late Gothic/early Renaissance architecture and immaculate flower beds and fountains, felt absolutely magical to me. “Magical”- this was the feeling I wanted to convey in the photograph.
The original photo is shown below, shot using the “HDR” mode of my iPhone 5.
I then edited the photo using Snapseed on my iPad. I used the faux HDR filter (along with a few other adjustments) to really make it pop. When your goal is “fairy tale” you don’t need to hold back! The feathery frame was added with a second app, PhotoToaster. Fairy tale- written!
For those reading the story of Le Grand Voyage, our trip to Château de Chenonceau takes place on Day 25.
Technical Data: iPhone 5
Das Haus von Ruh 