Still Life Challenge – Glass Bottles
Reflective surfaces can be quite a challenge, but much easier to manage with my new lights.
Recycled Glass (seriously)

Purple Perfume Bottle

Bottles and Beads

Crystal Perfume Bottle

Empty Bottles

Reflective surfaces can be quite a challenge, but much easier to manage with my new lights.
Recycled Glass (seriously)

Purple Perfume Bottle

Bottles and Beads

Crystal Perfume Bottle

Empty Bottles


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L’Imparfait
The imperfect tense in French is used to express the distant past, past habits and conditions that no longer exist.
To form the imperfect, conjugate the verb for “vous”, drop the “ez” ending and replace with the following:
| je ”ais” | nous “ions” |
| tu “ais” |
vous “iez” |
| il/elle/on “ait” |
ils/elles “aient” |
For example:
| Habiter – to reside, live: Vous habitez | |
| je habitais |
nous habitions |
| tu habitais |
vous habitiez |
| il/elle/on habitait |
ils/elles habitaient |
Exceptions:
Verbs ending in ger retain the “e” in all forms except nous and vous.
| Manger – to eat | |
| je mangeais |
nous mangions |
| tu mangeais |
vous mangiez |
| il/elle/on mangeait |
ils/elles mangeaient |
Verbs ending in “cer” the “c” changes to “ç”.
| Commencer – to begin | |
| je commençais |
nous commençions |
| tu commençais |
vous commençiez |
| il/elle/on commençait |
ils/elles commençaient |

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It is a compound conjugation, meaning it is has two parts, the present tense of the auxilary verb (either avoir or être) plus the past participle of the main verb.
Another way to make the passé composé is with the verb être. When the auxiliary verb is être, the past participle must agree with the subject.
| Être - to be |
|
|---|---|
| je suis |
nous sommes |
| tu es |
vous êtes |
| il/elle/on est |
ils/elles sont |
| . |
Some past participles:
arriver – arrivé
entrer – entré
monter – monté
passer – passé
rester – resté
aller – allé
So the Passè Composè:
Je suis arrivé.
Tu es entré.
Il est monté. Elle est montée.
Nous sommes passés.
Vous êtes resté.
Ils sont allés. Elles sont allées.

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Passé Composé in French has three English language equivalents.
For example, the following sentence ”J’ai mangè.” in English could mean:
1. I ate. (simple past)
2. I have eaten. (present perfect)
3. I did eat. (past emphatic)
It is a compound conjugation, meaning it is has two parts, the present tense of the auxilary verb (either avoir or être) plus the past participle of the main verb.
Let’s begin with the present tense of AVOIR and the past participle of the main verb.
| Avoir – to have |
|
|---|---|
| j’ai |
nous avons |
| tu as |
vous avez |
| il/elle/on a |
ils/elles ont |
| . |
Some past participles:
Acheter (to buy) – acheté
Manger (to eat) – mangé
Boire (to drink) – bu
Dire (to say) – dit
Écrire (to write) – écrit
Voir (to see) – vu
So the Passè Composè:
J’ai achetè.
Tu as mangè.
Il a bu.
Nous avons dit.
Vous avez écrit.
Elles ont vu.
Time to get back to some photography.
One of my goals this year is to master small flash photography, so until it drives me insane, that is the lighting I’ll be using.
This shot is tighter and a fair bit lighter. On my laptop the image above is quite dark, but on my desktop it’s lovely.
Time for a monitor calibration!

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I am going to focus on verbs for awhile – cringe. At least they are present tense. For now.
Here are two common “re” verbs.
| Écrire – to write | |
|---|---|
| je écris |
nous écrivons |
| tu écris |
vous écrivez |
| il/elle/on écrit |
ils/elles écrivent |
| . |
| Lire – to read | |
|---|---|
| je lis |
nous lisons |
| tu lis |
vous lisez |
| il/elle/on lit |
ils/elles lisent |
| . |

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Verbs ending in IR follow a different pattern than verbs ending in ER.
| Finir (to finish) |
|
|---|---|
| je finis |
nous finissons |
| tu finis |
vous finissez |
| il/elle/on finit |
ils/elles finissent |
| . |