Spring had it’s short intermezzo last week and gave us a taste of what summer could be like. Same do the photos of Sophie van der Perre, 22. Long days of silk mat sunlight, teenage innocence and the pure joy of life in a warm atmosphere of scandinavian summers. Sophie was born in Belgium but lives in Amsterdam at the moment and shoots a lot with film cameras such as Hasselblad, Holga, Canon, Polaroid and so on. She also portraits (her) urban life in a very interesting way, as well as herself, sometimes.

All photos © Sophie van der Perre.

As always, make sure to visit her flickrstream for a lot more of her beautiful photos. If you’re currently in Amsterdam, you can also see her work in a group exhibition: “Next Level Photography”, Streetlab_ Projectspace, Postjesweg 2, 1057 EA Amsterdam, mo-fr 10h-17h, unfortunately only until April 6, 2010 – so hurry up.

Right, many of Michael G. Magin’s photos show nude women. But if you just want to get horny, go find other places for that on the net. I am posting this because I am fascinated by the technical aspects of Magin’s photography. It is just great how he controls the interaction of soft light and strong colors in his photos. Nothing is left to chance, and the perfect dof just makes them brilliant masterpieces of portrait photography. And just fyi, Magin has also some great landscape shots in his flickrstream. He works as professional photographer in Mannheim, Germany.

All photos © Michael G. Magin

Make sure to visit his flickrstream and portfolio for more of this great work. You can also buy prints here.

On my last day in Paris, I visited La Défense, the new financial and business district built in the last decade. I didn’t expect much, because the tall buildings I had seen from Place Charles-de-Gaulle seemed to be pretty ugly from the distance. The more I was surprised when I actually got there: vast open space, very few people, lightweight skyscrapers with glaring reflections of bright sunlight on this first day of spring. It is very different from the crowded center of Paris with all its narrow sidewalks and tiny rues. As you see, I especially loved the EDF-tower’s stunning architecture, with 165m the tallest building in La Défense, which was designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, Roger Saubot and Jean Rouit. Hope you like it too.

For exif-information and more photos from Paris visit my set on flickr.