I had some short stories, poems and photographs to share ... and so here I am

Light Up My Life

 
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OK, I'm now ready for Christmas. The festive season kicks off here in Lyon with the annual Festival of Lights, which has just taken place. It's a way of breaking ourselves in gently, with spectacular light and colour. The above photo was taken in a big square in the centre of the city. A large bubble was placed over a giant statue of a former king and fake snow drifted through the coloured lights. Yes, this was supposed to be like one of those water-filled Christmas toys, where snow falls over a picturesque scene when it's shaken or turned upside down. It looked pretty impressive from a distance.

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Over a period of four days buildings across Lyon were lit up with the most amazing light displays. I took many photos, but here is an automatic selection of the scenes I loved the most:



There's something nice about a city lighting itself up, with the aim of lighting up the lives of its residents.

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28 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh wow, these are stunning and just so festive - I really like that "snow globe" effect over the statue - very cool!

Sarah Hina said...

Gorgeous, electric photos, Seamus! I really enjoyed these, and would love to see the Festival of Lights myself some day. Thanks for sharing!

Wanderlust Scarlett said...

Those are gorgeous!

Thank you so much for sharing them, I was curious about what Christmas was like in France! Yay!

PS ~ since you are ready now, will you be playing along with the Christmas meme? Do you do memes?

*big grins* thanks for the photos!
They are wonderful, as always.

Scarlett & Viaggiatore

Eric Valentine said...

Thanks for sharing such a wonderful display of color and Christmas lights. The city sure looks a beautiful place.

I just love the automatic display, mind boggling. :)

S. Kearney said...

Absolute Vanilla - That's what it's called ... a snow globe! I was going mad here trying to find the right term! I went for the full explanation! :-)

Sarah - Thank you. The festival here is turning into quite an event, with many tourists coming for it now. :-)

Wanderlust - Thanks. And yes, I am going to think hard for your Xmas meme. I will get a list done over the next few days. :-)

Eric - Thanks. :-) Yes, the checker board thing that zooms out is quite mind boggling, isn't it? !:-) Very Andy Warhol, someone said.

Unknown said...

Beautiful, but I wish they would use candle light!

virtual nexus said...

Golden opportunity to take some classy night shots and these are great. Regularly used to drive down your way to scenic gorges further South.

Marja said...

One of the things I miss from Hollands is all the lights in the dark nights before christmas. I love atmosphere which is a bit hard to find in NZ. This beats however everything This is so amazingly beautiful I love it. Thanks for sharing it. I hope they keep on doing it because it goes on my list of Things I still want to see.

colleen said...

If I ever make it back to France I'll try to do it for Christmas. I do love lights. A few years ago I saw the Nights of Light from a horse drawn wagon in St. Augustine Florida.

Jen said...

Crumbs, the snow globe thingummy is breathtaking. I am soooo running away to France when I grow up...

Gorgeous photos.

Lane Mathias said...

They are breath-taking!
Ditto Jen but I want to run NOW:-)

S. Kearney said...

Minx - Ah, but candles are placed in everyone's windows, so they already play a big part in the festival. :-)

Julie - Thanks. Difficult photos to take because a tripod is virtually impossible with so many people around. lol.

Marja - No, I never saw such a thing in NZ when I lived there. There are some homes in Auckland that light up for Xmas, with spectacular displays, but nothing as impressive as the one here in Lyon. Mind you, the skies are clearer in NZ, so the stars do put on a nice show! :)

Colleen - Yes, lighting tends to be big here, even in small villages. Officials take very seriously the whole thing about putting buildings and monuments in their best light! :-)

Jen - Hello and welcome. I ran away to France but I'm still not grown up! :-)

Lane - Yes, and what fun it would have been to play inside that snow dome! :-)

Anonymous said...

I'm ready for Christmas too. I'm ready to spend Christmas and New Year with my family.

Lyon is a fantastic city. I used to fly in there anhytime Marseille played against Lyon. Marseille had a 50-seater aircraft that I flew in my spare time for them and it showed me quite a chunk of France.

Suzan Abrams, email: suzanabrams@live.co.uk said...

Hello Shameless,
Hope you're well.
I like your mugshot. :-)
I also agree with the others that the pictures are indeed beautiful.

virtual nexus said...

What'r you using? Nikon?

Chris Eldin said...

I miss my Frenchie friend.

These photos don't do justice to the whole experience, I'm sure.

Hope you're having fun!!!

S. Kearney said...

Wayne - Wow, the joys of being a pilot. Popping off to places just like that. :-) Yeah, Lyon is one of my favourite cities in France, with the two rivers running through it.

Suzan - Hello after all this time. :-) How are you? Yes, the mugshot changed, just for a change. So, we're all still here, eh? PUmping out words and pics. lol

Julie - We have a great Canon. I've had a Nikon in the past but I've had such good results with the Canon that I'm pleased I gave it a shot (pun not intended! lol).

Church Lady - Miss me already? I haven't gone anywhere! LOL. Or are you talking about another Frenchie friend ... and you've gone all nostalgic on seeing the pics? And you're right that the photos are nowhere near as good as what we saw with our own eyes. :-) If only.

The Quoibler said...

My gawd, Seamus...

This could change me from a Holiday Grinch to a Happy Camper! Wow! Gorgeous pics!

Thanks for showing me "the light"!

:)

Angelique

Vesper said...

Breathtakingly beautiful, Seamus! They just have to fill your heart with light... Thank you for taking us along to the Festival. :-)

S. Kearney said...

Quoibler - A pleasure. Here's to lots of holidays to come! :-)

Vesper - Thanks. That's what we all need: a heart full of light. :-)

Chris Eldin said...

Ahhh...My *first* Frenchie friend. Her name is Karine. She was in charge of the book club I participated in while in Dubai. She was too much woman for me, so I had to let her go....

And now you are my second Frenchie friend. ;-)

Pallav said...

Very psychedelic man...the man in the bubble is the best...

N

S. Kearney said...

Church Lady - Ahhh. Now I understand. Although, it has to be said that I'm not French. Well, I've lived here for ten years now, so maybe at a certain point I turn into a Frenchie! :-)

Nothingman - Yes, that was my favourite too. The king in the bubble. :-) The festival also included some fish in a phonebox, which I will show in a separate little piece ... I'm writing up some words to match some great photos. :-)

simson11 said...

A delightful effect. I especially like the advancing infantry, they have a purposeful look to them. I envy your ability to paint dapple grays. My own efforts aren't bad but I find them hard to do.
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The Foundry Painting book has a brief description of one way to do it, which I try to follow (not sure how well, though! lol). I'm sure there are other tutorials somewhere, but another one by someone who does a good job and likes to do it might prove useful and instructive.
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simson11 said...

good to see the weather has warmed up:) and the danube... i saw it last year and my illusions of it were shattered when i saw this grey snake winding across land. hope to see your painting of it anyway:)r.
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