Snow on the branches

Snow on the branches

We have spent the end of 2011 with our friends living in the heart of Valserine valley. While it was raining for more than one week around my home, their house and the landscape all around were under a huge amount of snow.

I just retreived my office and computers this morning and couldn't wait to wish you a wonderful new year with this abstract image done with no other effect than camera shake during the exposure.

Autumn dusk in Valserine forest

Autumn dusk in Valserine forest

The weather conditions are still awful here and i'm still processing and posting some images done sooner in the autumn.

Autumn landscape in Valserine forest

Autumn in Valserine forest

An image from the last days of october.
I've stopped there a few days ago and all the leaves are gone. The weather is really cold in Haut Jura Natural Park now and i've ever seen one car accident because of the frosty roads. In a few weeks, the place will probably be under the snow.

Dark silhouettes in the golden forest

Dark silhouettes in the golden forest

Very nice autumn light in Valserine forest.

The camera shake technics removed many distracting details and just kept light and shapes.

Autumn morning in Valserine forest

Autumn morning in Valserine forest

Flaming autumn

Flaming autumn in Valserine forest

Two days ago, i returned to Valserine forest to get a little more of the beautiful autumn colours before all the leaves are gone.
Between some more typical forest images, i took the time to play a little more with my camera shake technics.

Weekly commented photo # 43 - Autumn mist in Valserine forest

Last week end we went to visit some friends living in Haut Jura Natural Park. The main purpose of such times is obviously not photography but they live in a really beautiful place, just a few steps from Valserine forest and i can't imagine going there without a camera.

My friend is a wood sculptor and we spent the saturday evening looking at his recent work, at my images, commenting each others ...
On sunday morning we both woke up early. He went to his workshop and i took my camera for a little walk in the forest.

It was a nice, quiet misty morning. I had spent the night speaking with a good friend and i was walking alone in an amazing natural forest. So it was a very beautiful moment.

As you may know, its difficult to have a really free mind and instead of contemplating the amazing forest around me, i was looking for autumn colours.
So i probably missed a lot a photo opportunities before i told me you're in a pine forest and their autumn colours are green not orange.

Then i started to look around me differently, to breath the morning mist and finally seated on an old mossy tree stump. After this short stop i continued my walk during a least two hours and got a few nice images.
This one is the result of a light tonemapping done with Picturenaut on a HDR image produced from 7 exposures.

Autumn forest along the Rhone river

Autumn forest along the Rhone river


Autumn forest reflected in the water of the Rhône river near Arcine.

Abstract autumn colours reflected in the river

Autumn reflections in the Rhône river

Autumn colours of the forest reflected in the water of the Rhône river near Arcine.

Done with a long lens and moving the camera during the exposure.

Autumn reflections in the Rhone river

Autumn reflections in the Rhône river


Another one from my last friday along the Rhône river around Arcine.

After some more usual and wider views of the river and its valley, i spent a little time with a long lens trying to catch some nice closeups of the autumn foliage reflected in the water.
The water is always moving and changing and the real effect on the images is quite impossible to predict. So i took several frames with the same settings and then some other ones with another shutter speed.
This one is really one of my favs after the selection done on my large computer screen.

Autumn morning along the Rhone river

Autumn morning along the Rhône river near Arcine


On friday, i returned at dawn to the Rhône river near Arcine.

I arrived there really soon and all the valley was in a really deep fog. The river was quite invisible. So i came back a little more close to the village where i could do a few beautiful images of some misty rural landscapes.

One or two hours later, the mist was gone and i could return to the river and catch some beautiful autumn colors reflected in the river.

Valserine river under the green woods of Haut Jura Natural Park

Valserine river running quietly underwood

Another view of Valserine river running in the green springtime forest of Haut Jura Natural Park.

Rising mist in Valserine Forest

Mist in Valserine forest - Haut Jura Natural Park

Same place and same day than for this image but a little later with different light and another lens.

First autumn colors on Valserine valley

First autumn colors on Valserine valley


An image from the first days of september.
It was in the early morning. I was driving back from another try in the mountains of Haut Jura Natural Park.
On my way to home, i took the road through Valserine valley and when the rain stopped i had some nice views of the very first autumn colors on the misty forest. (You can see another one here.)

Colorful mushrooms in Valserine forest

Colorful mushrooms on an old tree stump

My second and last composition about these magic mushrooms in Valserine forest.

Forest canvas

It could be an impressionist painting but that's really a photograph.
Done in Valserine forest with a long lens and slightly moving the camera during the exposure.

Mist in Valserine forest

Mist in Valserine forest


This morning, i went once more to Haut Jura Natural Park with the intention of making some new mountains landscapes for my stock website.

More i was going deeper in the mountains, more the weather was awful.
So i went down to Valserine valley where i could make a few images between the biggest rains.
The forest starts to change its colours and there is no doubt that autumn will come soon this year ...

Weekly commented photo # 35 - Magic mushroom in Valserine forest

Magic mushroom in Valserine forest

It was a few weeks ago. I was walking in the wet Valserine forest looking for photogenic trees.

Just after crossing a little stream coming from the mountains, my eyes were cought by some unexpected colours on an old tree stump.
Usuallay, these old cutted trunks are black and covered with green moss with sometimes plants and little trees growing on them.

On this one, there were two or three of these colorful mushrooms in the middle of the wood and green moss.
I hesitated a short moment. That's not the kind of shot i usually do, i wanted to explore the forest more deeply and i had no lens longer than 70mm.

A little change in our habitudes and projects is not a bad thing so i finally decided to give it a try.
Approaching the mushroom with my tripod was not so easy and i had to turn the column to its horizontal position. I focused manually on the front of the mushroom and took a few shots using mirror lockup and a remote controller expecting to get a least one sharp image.

I also did another image with a wider composition, you can see it here on my french website. Perharps i'll show it at a larger size on this blog one of these days.

Trees, branches and foliage in Valserine forest

Trees, branches and foliage in Valserine forest

A more quiet version of this image.
Both were done at the end of a long exploration of a really small part of the green Valserine forest in Haut Jura Natural Park


NOTE : From today, i will feature every month a special tag in the right column of this bog. So think to check the TAG OF THE MONTH box.
September tag of the month is FOREST.

Summer meadow around the Chalet du Sac

Summer meadow around the Chalet du Sac

The alpine meadows of Grand Crêt d'Eau mountain around the Chalet du Sac.
In the background you can devine the Jura mountains under the clouds and on the right, a very small part of Léman lake.

I've added this morning 12 new images of this area on my french website. If you want to have a look, that starts here.