End of autumn at Barbennaz waterfall

End of autumn at Barbennaz waterfall

Just the vertical version of the image posted yesterday.

Weekly commented photo # 50 - End of autumn at Barbennaz waterfall

Last year we had some huge snow falls and big colds at the end of november but as i said in a recent post, this year we spend the end of autumn under a countinous rain.

Fortunately we had two days of nice weather during the last week end.
Nice weather but no stunning conditions for serious landscape photography. No leaves on the trees, deep mud in the fields and forests and no beautiful white snow on the surrounding mountains.
So i decided to take once more the way to Fornant river running in the forest under my home.

After all that rain the water was running strongly. I spent a short time walking the muddy path along the river just looking at the stream. From the top of a little rock i devined a kind of passage going through dead trees and drift woods to a little canyon i had never explored before. So i left the path and walked to the canyon entrance where i had to go in the water to make 2 or 3 images possibly interesting.

After that refreshing stop, i went back to the path and walked to its end : at Barbennaz waterfall.

I first went just near the waterfall but was imedaitely soaked by the water spray. So i moved back to the place you can see on the image where i spent about half an hour before darkness, trying different compositions and different shutter speeds.

The photo posted here was the last i did there. For people interested in technical details, exposure time was around 3 seconds and i used a 2 stops soft GND filter to protect the upper part of the waterfall from over exposure. I also did the same image image without any filter but i really prefer this one. Last try : i took five bracketed exposure for a future HDR processing but they are still waiting.

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.

Powerful waterfall in Cheran river

Autumn waterfall in Chéran river - Massif des Bauges Natural Park

One more from the autumn days i spent along Chéran river.
That's obviously the vertical version of the waterfall image i've posted one month ago.

The natural light in the canyon was low enough to give a very long exposure without any filter.

Note : I've uploaded yesterday 17 new images of this place on my french website. Don't hesitate to have a look.

Long exposure along Cheran river

Along the Chéran river

Another image from a few weeks ago in the canyon of Chéran river. Done the same day than this other one.

The long exposure (around 168s) in day light is due to my Hoya ND 400 filter.

Weekly commented photo # 47 - Autumn in Cheran Canyon

Autumn in Chéran Canyon

When i went to Chéran river two weeks ago, i made an image very close to this one.
It was not the best time of the day and i was thinking too much to scout this new place so i did a little composition mistake.

Back to the office and editing the images, i looked at the file and decided to delete it and to re-make the photo with better conditions if possible.

I returned last week but it was in the early morning and this image needs to be done in the late afternoon.

So, i returned once more this afternoon. Arrived in the canyon, i ran directly to the right place and started by a few shots with normal exposures around 0.5 seconds.
Looking at my camera LCD, i found the water movements and the sky reflections unsightly and decided to make a very long exposure with my Hoya ND 400 filter. The result is the image posted above and for people interested in such details, the exposure was a little more than 200 seconds long.

After that, i walked a little along the river, did some photos of the water running between the rocks and about one hour later, i went back to my initial place under the very low light of the autumn dusk.
Without any filter, i could do two or three more images with exposures around one minute. After a close look on my computer display, i really think that my favourite is the first one done with the Hoya ND 400, just after my arrival.

Autumn leaves

Autumn leaves

An image from the first days of the month when i was playing to shake my camera in the autumn colours.

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.

Weekly commented photo # 46 - Autumn morning along Cheran river

Autumn morning along Chéran river

I spent most of the week preparing the house for winter.
No blogging and almost no photography. I just took some time today in the early morning to return to Chéran canyon.

The drive before dawn to Massif des Bauges natural park was a little longer than usual because of the frosty roads and the path to river was more slippy than last week.

I started by some other images of the little waterfall posted here last friday but with a shorter exposure to give more details in the falling water.

After that, i climbed some rocks to pass over the waterfall. I wanted to explore more deeply the upper part of the river but i discovered it was not possible without a little and cold bath. Not prepared to this kind of game, i decided to stay a little time just on the top of the waterfall where i made the today image.

This one is the result of an HDR work done from 7 exposures and tonemapped with Picturenaut and Photomatix. I also have another one done with a strong GND filter but the left side of the image is really dark and i prefer the HDR one.

As i couldn't go higher i went back to the lower river bed, walked a little to another waterfall i noticed last week, did a few more photos and walked back to my car when the sun started to be really too high in the sky.

Weekly commented photo # 45 - Autumn waterfall in Cheran river, Massif des Bauges Natural Park

Autumn waterfall on Chéran river

I spent yesterday afternoon in Massif des Bauges natural park scouting for some new spots along Chéran river.

I didn't want to return to the place i visited at springtime and then i went deeper and lower in the canyon.
After about one hour drive from home, i left my car at the end of a tiny rural road, crossed meadows and woods and finally found a steep slippy path going to the river bed.

Since we had no serious rain for a long time, i had a few hesitations before leaving home because i wasn't sure to find enough water for interesting photography.
Once on the place i was very happy that the water level was so low because if it would have been higher i couldn't have walk in the canyon.

So, i started to hike on the wet and mossy rocks, stopping from time to time to make some images of the river running in its lower bed.
After some times rambling once on the rocks, once in the woods i arrived to this little but powerful waterfall.

It was more than 5 pm. The light started to be very low, i had no headlamp and i knew that walking back the river bed in the darkness wouldn't be a very good idea.
So i decided to stop the exploration here. I made two photos of the waterfall, this one and a vertical one and then started to walk back to my car.

As the light became lower and lower, i was a little nervous about finding and climbing the little path i used to get down.
Fortunately, halfway i found an other one larger and more comfortable climbing through the forest and leading to the road where i left my car.

Note : I've just uploaded 22 photos of autumn around the Rhône river on my french website. Some typical landscape works and some more abstract images.
You can have a look here.

Autumn trees in my backyards

At the beginning of the year, i started a new serie about The rural landscapes around my home.

If you read the introduction here you will understand that it's something different of my usual landscape work. It's also different of the usual imagery about typical rural scenes with haystacks and tractors.

It's mostly about documenting and sharing the atmosphere of this place where lived my grand parents and where i live now.

This image was done at the end of october in the field just under my house.
A springtime view of the other side of this field can be seen here.

Autumn grasses

Autumn grasses

Rural landscape in the morning mist

I've spent many times shooting during this autumn for personnal and clients projects and know i'm late with tons of file to process...

This one send us back to the last day of september when i went to Arcine to get images of the autumn around the Rhône river.

The nut tree near the rural path can also be seen here.

Weekly commented photo # 44 - Autumn impression

Autumn impression

As you may have noticed, with the autumn cames to me the mood for creating some abstract images.
I can't explain exactly why but that's certainly because i spent many and many hours in summer to some long and early drives to Haut Jura Natural Park.

At the end of september i needed something more tranquil and decided to work on the beautiful fall colours in the forest and trees around my home.
Of course i couldn't resist to a few visit to Valserine forest but most of the time i could work without taking my car.

Spending a long time photographing only a very small and close area can become boring if you stuck with classical scenes and don't try something different.
So i started to think in terms of colours, textures and shapes, blending them with moving my camera during the exposure or with multi exposures.

As usual, the more you practice, the more the things become interesting.
With the time i started to devine which subject and which movements are the most likely to give the result i expect. Although sometimes the final image is still a total surprise but that's one of the pleasures of photography.

This photo was created yesterday evening in a little wood between my home and Fornant river.
I got a few other ones with such colours and textures and two or three with some trunk silhouettes nicely swiped by the camera movements.

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

Autumn dusk under the trees

Autumn dusk under the trees

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.

The most beautiful season

The most beautiful season

Some colorful autumn leaves on the dark forest path going to the Rhône river near Arcine.

Fall colours around Arcine castle

Fall colours around Arcine castle

I returned to Arcine on friday evening.
I wanted to catch a little more of the autumn colours along the Rhône river.

Arriving on the place, i noticed the beautiful colours on the forest surrounding the castle and spent a little time here before going to the forest closer to the river.