Springtime in Provence

Springtime landscape in La Plaine des Maures
I'm late ... this shot is two years old and this blog was not ever borned.
La Plaine des Maures is a protected natural area. These ponds appear and disapear very quickly with rain and dryness and their neighbourhood are some biodiversity kingdoms.

Dark forest revisited

In 2007 december, i made a few pictures while walking threw a wild and natural forest, a few kilometers far from my home. I knew this place for years and years but it was the first time i went there to make photos. I remember this day. It was cold, it was dark and i was tired ... But i love some of the images i could bring back.

So, soon in january, i came back on this path by an other cold day. It was an other day, with other light and other colors and i took a very few images. The two posted here are the most similars to the initial ones. I also have one or two with more green made where the forest was less dark, perharps i'll show them in a future post.

About coming back :
I often like to come back. The most i know the place, the most i can find the best lights, the best points of view, the best atmosphère. That's not always true and sometimes improvisation gives the best results and i make my best pictures the first time, when i just discover one new place.
I think there is no absolute rules about photography but coming back to a nice natural place is always a pleasure for me.

Dark forest

This end of year, i'm busy with moving my office to avoid to spend too much time on the road. So i've a very few time for landscape photography and try to stay in my home area.
Last week i went on a small footpath in the deep forest around the Chartreuse de la Verne.
This monastery is very famous and receives around 30 000 visitors each year but the forest around is still wild and untouched.



The path is just like a tunnel under the trees and the sky can rarely be seen.
As you can see on the photos, this forest has a very natural looking : dead trees and branches are falling, nothing grows on the ground because of the very low light.

Autumn forest fires

Burnt cork trees in Provence, just after a forest fire

Last week, the weather was very bad near everywhere in France excepted around the Mediterranean sea. Here in Provence we had one week of sunny weather but with a very crazy wind.
Yesterday, a big forest fire started with a very strong mistral.
In this part of Provence, forest fires are very common during the hot summer months and also in september but they are very unusual in november.
Perharps i should say until now they where unsual in november.
Summer dryness becomes stronger and stronger every year and windy periods also seem to increase ...

Here, the forest is mainly made by pine trees, chestnut trees, cork trees and the ground is often covered with bush.
With the fire, bush and pine trees burn likes matches, cork trees leaves also burn but the tree can resit because of its bark. Chestnut industry is still a little alive here and so the ground around the trees is often very clean and chestnut trees are often saved.

About the photos :
In 2003, we had a huge forest fire during days and days. I made many pictures of the burnt forest just after the fire and also one year later for an organisation working for environment protection. The two photos shown where taken in 2003 and 2004, others are visible here and here.

Burnt cork trees in Provence, one year after the forest fire

Africa in Provence

Provence landscape : La Plaine des Maures after the rain
Provence has always been a hot country but from a few years, summers seem to be more and more dry.
In 2007, from june to october we had no cloud and no rain. In the middle of the month, whe had 2 days of strong rain. Just when the sun came back, i went with my wife and daughter in La Plaine des Maures guessing i could make some nice landscape photographs.
The place was wonderful with many little rivers and ponds borned with the rain.
I always love (and often go) making photos here. This place is also named Little Africa with a red rocky ground covered by bush and some evergreen parasol pines forests.

My 3 yo daughter spent her time bathing in some ponds while i was hiking and shooting around. The photo above is one of my favorites from this day with the little river running in the grass burnt by the summer dryness.

Fine art prints are available for sale in my Etsy shop.

Lac des Escarcets

The "Lac des Escarcets" is part of a protected wilderness area in Provence, not so far from where i live.
I went there the first time 15 years ago by a rainy day and never returned for all this time.
I went back for hiking without any camera in January 2007 and the beauty of this place decided me to return for taking photos.

So, during the first quarter of 2007 i came back a few times, exploring for points of view and trying to catch the best lights. This area shows a nice diversity with rocky beaches, rivers under the trees, birds etc ...