It’s been a year (actually a bit more) since we arrived in California and it has been an amazing one!

First, on the professional side, I joined Google Photos which we launched at Google IO last year. It’s not every day you launch a new product at Google and it was an amazing experience. The reaction is beyond what I was expecting. People love the product and how magical our search is. I’ve worked on a lot of projects and this one is obviously the most impactful project I have ever worked on. I specifically work on photos.google.com and if you’re doing web development, I hope you’ll appreciate the speed and attention to details of Photos. In my opinion, there’s not much popular web applications that are at this level (but I’m completely biased of course). As for working in Google main campus, well yes, the traffic in the area is bad but I’m able to avoid it most of the time. Plus, the campus is awesome, the facilities are just incredible and it makes working here even better.

On the personal side, settling in was not as hard as we were expecting, Google helped a lot for the transfer and we had not much trouble getting our driver's license, bank accounts and stuff. We’re now renting a nice house in Santa Clara and we really enjoy the wonderful weather. Our quality of life has greatly improved since we’re here and yes, we do a lot of barbecue now :) We’ve already traveled a lot, from Los Angeles to Tahoe, from Quebec to Cancún. We also had friends and family come. But the best is that we can enjoy a nice weekend in the Bay, going to the beach in Santa Cruz just for the afternoon or go for a hike in the forest full of redwoods. The connection to the outdoor is this one last thing that put the cherry on the cake.

On the photography side, well, I joined Google Photos, I could not have found a better project to work on that one that connects directly to one of my passion (the other one being my work). I’m taking a lot of pictures but wasn’t posting much so I’ve decided to force myself to post a picture every day for 2016. We’re 4 months in and I really doubt I will make it but, heh, I’m trying. You can check out this page or just my Instagram feed if you want to follow along. I think my skills are improving but I still have a long way to go. I’m also starting to look into doing timelapse and I’m lurking on some of those drones which do amazing aerial pictures.

And that’s it after a year. I’m kind of giving up on the idea of updating this blog frequently. I’m too busy (or so I convince myself that I am) and I don’t have interesting things to say. Well, maybe I’m just too lazy to write.

I look forward to the following years, whether it’s personal or professional, I’m sure it’s going to be as exciting as this first year was!

2015 will be an exciting year: My wife and I are moving to California!

If you met me recently you might already know it. After more than 7 years in Paris, we decided to change scenery.

As I look back on those 3 years at Google France and 7 years in Paris, I feel very lucky. I had amazing experiences. From working with an awesome team in Capgemini to having a blast at Jolicloud and, of course, Google.

In March, I will leave the Google Cultural Institute. It is the most important project I've ever worked on and one I will brag about all my life. There is nothing more rewarding than working on a project which is helping the world reach Cultural content and Historical patrimoine more easily. It's not the kind of project that makes the tech blog headlines but it's one that will allow future generations to be blown away by paintings, never forget how terrible war is, learn more about the history of the Eiffel Tower or visit beautiful places you may not have a chance to visit in your lifetime. All of this accessible to anyone, anywhere, with an Internet connection.

The team I joined at the Cultural Institute is such an incredible team and I can't thank them enough for everything they gave me. It's been nearly 3 years now and I'm looking forward to a new challenge joining a new team at Google in Mountain View (more on that in another post).

Of course leaving your home country and your family is not an easy choice but we both grew up in houses (not apartments!) and enjoyed the sun and the sea. We feel like it is time to go back to a place where we don't hear our neighbors walking and yelling all the time and where we can do a barbecue WHENEVER we want!

We wanted something new but why so far from France? It's a combination of various things we had in mind when we first started thinking about leaving Paris.

We want a great weather, we can't stand gray sky all the time anymore. We also want to live in a house and have a garden with a barbecue. That might sound ridiculous (and it probably is) but as soon as you are denied those things you want them even more! Finally it's an amazing opportunity to work in the Silicon Valley and my next job is incredibly exciting. Of course nothing is perfect, houses are expensive and the commute can be painful. But in the end, the advantages strongly exceed the drawbacks.

Having access to the city, the beach, mountains or redwoods forests, all in 40 minutes, is definitely another reason.

We will leave France end of February and we look forward to start a new chapter there. I hope to see you either online or in sunny California :)

I took this one by accident. I didn't really planed that a train would pass at this time and that I will get a nice effect with the shutter speed. I like the result.

Note that this is quite a miracle that the full picture is not blurry as I'm not known for being stable when taking pictures :) Usually, all my pictures with a shutter speed below 1/100 are not crisp. I got lucky on this one!

Taken at the Dubai Airport with my iPhone and edited on VSCOCam. No desktop involved. I live in the future!

I crossed the path of this little tree when we were walking on a trail on Kangaroo Island. Can't find the name, so, if anyone knows, let me know!