Springtime greenery after the rain

Springtime greenery after the rain

 

When i woke up this morning, the rain had miraculously stopped and i went to the garden for a short coffee walk.
In the wet atmosphere and under the soft light filtered by the grey clouds, all the greens had a wonderful look. These leaves are protected by a big tree and were not damaged by the strong rain.

They also beleive springtime would come

Primula Veris aka Coucou

 

About one week ago, after an endless winter, we thought springtime would come. We had sunny and hot weather and all the vegetation started to bloom. In the garden, iris propably grew of more than 20 cm in a few days.

But after a few days, cold and rain are back, we even had a little snow on the mountains all around ...

Springtime flowers

Primroses

 

An image from a few days ago while it was not raining. Usually we have a lot of primroses here in march but the cold and rany springtime made them late and i just found a few of them during a long walk in the countryside.

Woodscape

Woodscape

 

Detail of an old and mossy tree stump in the forest surrounding the castle in Menthon Saint Bernard.

Pieces of ice, one new gallery

 

I've just added one new and very short photo gallery to my RedBubble site. It contains a very few of my favorite icy details caught during winter in the french rivers.
Click here to visit.

One more rainy day, an abstract version

Hazel tree flowers in the rain

 

Another image from yesterday still about the same subject : These hazel tree flowers hanging in the rain.
The motion blur is really due to vertical panning applied to the camera during the exposure.

One more rainy day

One more rainy day ...

 

SOME NEWS :

First post here for more than 3 months ...
2012 has been an amazing year on the business side. Many and many projects for different clients and some still needed all my time in the first 2013 quarter. That's a very good thing, good but tiring and i really had no free time for personnal photographic projects. I'm still very busy but things seem to go better and better and i hope it will continue ...

The image above was done about one hour ago and is a closeup view of the tree in front of my kitchen. It gives a good idea of what the beginning of spring looks like here this year ...

Autumn leaves

Autumn leaves

 

Frosted green leaves

Frosted green leaves

 

An other one from the little serie done by a frosty autumn morning in my garden.
Nights are less cold now and i can't continue that work as expected but low temperatures will certainly be back under a short time ...

Autumn frost on the grass

Autumn frost on the grass

 

One more from the few time i spent in my frosted gardern some days ago.

Autumn leaves

Autumn leaves

 

Some beautiful autumn leaves i found yesterday morning in my garden.
When my wife saw the picture, she thought i had arranged the scene myself, but no, the leaves were really like that.

Morning frost in the garden

Morning frost in the garden

 

It looks like that this autumn will be a cold one here in France. For some times we have temperatures around 0 celsius, strong wind and often rain.
This morning i took my camera for a fresh walk in the garden and caught a few closeups of the frosted vegetation.

Autumn foliage in Hautes Alpes forest

Autumn foliage in Hautes Alpes forest

Apple tree flowers

Apple tree flowers

 

The first month of spring was really rainy here and i had too much office work for some long trips. But between two showers i took some time to make images of the beauties in the garden.

Springtime on the forest

Springtime on the forest

 

An image from yesterday evening when the rain was kind enough to stop a little.
Done around Musièges village.

Icy bells in Valserine river

Icy bells in Valserine river

Another view of these beautiful ice stalactites hanging hover the cold water of Valserine river.

Wood detail

Detail of a colorful and textured piece of wood

From a piece of wood i was about to burn in the stove this morning before i had a closer look at its colours and texture. The image makes me think to the sandstone of some american canyons.

I think i have to work a little more on that wood before it heats us :)

Icy bells in Valserine river

Icy bells in Valserine river

Last year, i did many images of ice stalactites in Fornant river just near my home.
As this year the winter is not cold enough for such photos here, i went yesterday to Valserine valley in Haut Jura Natural Park. That's a very cold place and i spent there the afternoon until late dusk. I could make many images of the cold and powerful river including landscapes and a few closeups like this one.

These closeups where done with the tripod head really low over the water surface and while i was preparing all the stuff for a good composition, my remote shutter release had a little bath and stopped working. I was able to continue my work with the camera integrated self timer but i was a little worry for the next hours because the self timer is really not the solution for very long exposures. Fortunately, about one hour later my shutter release was dry and worked perfectly again.

Springtime greenery in the forest

Springtime greenery in the forest

An image from about 6 months ago when i was exploring the forest along Chéran river.

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.