The Olympian look
The photography was always a part of my environment to be begun with my dad, Daniel LAVAL, among whom it is the passion since the adolescence and which became for all these years, an experienced wildlife photographer. My friend, is also a photographer, we moreover met on Instagram. To date, I consider myself rather as a photographer novice, practicing this leisure only since a few years.
Before being a photographer, I am before any a big lover of nature, of journey and discovery. To visit new places and to immortalize them through my photos what is what pleases me most. Le Monde is so vast and magnificent as sources of inspiration are inexhaustible. That is why, I adore photographing the landscapes, playing with the light, the perspectives, colors. As so well said it the photographer Sebastião Salgado, “You can put so many photographers as you will want in the same place none of their photos will be alike”. Every photographer has his own perception of things, his sensibility and it expresses itself through the photos as a painter with his paintings. I think that to be a photographer, it is to like the life and to appreciate the beauty, to be attentive to what what surrounds us and to have the wide open eyes…
I discovered Olympus three years ago, I looked in that period for a small device with interchangeable lenses. For me the hybrid, has proved to be the best compromise between minimum dimensions and quality of image. I thus turned to the OMD E-M5, which seduced me first of all due to the retro, sober and elegant look. To be able to tidy up it in my handbag and arrange it so easily is a condition of which I am not ready to make a concession. I really began into photography with this device and I very fast adopted it in spite of a menu which would ask to be a little relieved. THE E-M5 is the ideal travelling companion, its weather sealing is a real positive point for some destinations with complicated weather conditions. Last year, I left one week to Amsterdam, with a single bag, a backpack, and I really appreciated the lightweight of the E-M5.
Since I own the OMD E-M5 mark II, this camera brought me an upper comfort at the level of the viewfinder which has an improved quality as well as a better AF. Of new possibilities as live composite as well as new artistic filters return the even more interesting use of this device. But what I find really brilliant at Olympus it is the live feature – time for the long breaks it is ideal. This option is new because we don’t find it on the other brands. The mark II accompanied me recently in a journey to Iceland, and I was stunned by the look of my photos. The small micro 4/3 camera doesn’t have to blush in front of DSLRs. My boyfriend having a full frame DSLR, we driven to compare our pictures and, on landscape images, it is often difficult to know with which device the photo was taken.
At the present, I use mainly two lenses to shoot landscape: the Zuiko ED 7-14 mm f/2.8 PRO which I adore and the 12-40mm f/2.8 PRO. The optics of Olympus are remarkable and offer a choice coupled with really very rich and advantageous Panasonic. I use for 7-14 the filter holder and the filters ND1000 and polarizing from NiSi. For the 12-40, I have degraded filters and ND1000 Cokin. The tripod is a VANGUARD and I use a remote shutter release. Without forgetting my photo bag, which is the lightest and smaller as possible.
To complete my range of lenses, I would like soon to acquire the 12-100mm f/4 stabilized which offers a range bigger than 12-40 as well as a macro 60mm. The latter tends to miss me during my exits in the middle of nowhere.
Having become a follower of Olympus, I hope that for our next road-trip planned to Scotland next year, I shall be equipped with the OMD E-M1 mark II which for me represents this day the Holy Grail. Its 20Mpx sensor, its super fast AF, its ISO range from 64 to 25600, in fact it’s the device I currently desire. Unless very soon, the E-M5 mark III with similar characteristics is announced, my choice will then be more difficult. In any event, there will be undoubtedly an Olympus in my suitcase.
When we choose a Micro 43 camera, it is necessary to be aware that we cannot certainly obtain the same bokeh that with an APS-C or a full frame. Thus, we have to know our needs and requirements in photography. Every device has its advantages and its inconveniences. For my part, I don’t absolutely regret my choice of this type of devices and I think that reflex cameras will be brought to disappear.
As any passion, the photo is a spiral which attracts us towards more performance and where the competition is rough. The social and internet networks are filled with fantastic clichés. That goes from the photo taken with a simple mobile phone to the cameras that costs the price of a small car. We can then fall into the trap to say to themselves that with a better device we would doubtless make better photos. It is maybe true, but I think that the best device is, before any other, our vision. It’s it who composes in the first place a photo, it is sometimes good to remember that the equipment by itself doesn’t make alone the quality of an image.
I am still lacking technique but as most of the photographers I am a self-taught who progresses thanks to the experience. But little important that we are novice or experienced, what counts it is the pleasure which we get from it, with always this desire to improve… When we think of it, what could be more magic than to be able to immortalize forever moments of life. The photo allows it, to realize its memories.
I am anxious to thank Mauricio and Hugo who thanks to their magazine Olympus Passion, highlight photographers of any horizon. I am a member and it is with a lot of pleasure and gratitude that I present you my photographic universe to be discovered.
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“I am a delivery girl of profession for a laboratory medical in a town of the southwest of France. I like the simple things of life, running, traveling and meditation. I have the opportunity from due my job to cross roads and to take advantage of landscapes which metamorphose as the seasons go by. The photography was always a part of my environment to be begun with my dad, Daniel LAVAL, among whom it is the passion since the adolescence and which became for all these years, an experienced wildlife photographer. My friend, is also a photographer, we moreover met on Instagram. To date, I consider myself rather as a photographer novice, practicing this leisure only since a few years.”
