Winter in Valserine valley

Winter in Valserine valley

Snowstorm impression in Valserine forest

Snowstorm in Valserine forest

One more of these few days in Haut Jura Natural Park at the end of last year.

From the house where we were staying, i had to walk in the deep fresh snow to come to this place. After all these years spent in Provence, i forgot how difficult but funny it could be. My tripod helped me more than once and not only to make images ...

That said, this photo was done hand held with moving the camera during the exposure and i really love this effect here.

Note :I've added this afternoon one new gallery dedicated to snow images on my french website.

Snow on the coniferous trees of Jura forest

Snow on Jura forest

I've uploaded yesterday 24 new images of snow in Valserine valley.

Most of them where done on the left side of the valley and are so from Ain department. This one was done with a long lens and these trees are on the other side of Valserine river, they are so in Jura department.

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.

Little stream cascading in the forest of Haut Jura Natural Park

Stream cascading in Jura forest near Septmoncel


One more view of this little stream cascading in the forest of Haut Jura Natural Park near Septmoncel.

Rural landscape under the clouds in Haut Jura Natural Park

Rural landscape under the clouds on Bellecombe plateau

Despite of the cloudy sky, that's a summer image from august.
It was done during one of my first explorations on Bellecombe plateau and perfectly illustrates the atmosphere in which people often live here.

Falling water

Water falling against the moss near Septmoncel


We are back to a few weeks ago with this closeup of the waterfall on the syncline fold near Septmoncel in Haut Jura Natural Park.

Weekly commented photo # 39 : The syncline fold and its waterfall

Chapeau de gendarme syncline fold and waterfall

This is the place around Septmoncel about which i wrote a few words one week ago.
Its name means "Policeman's hat" and comes from its shape.

I discovered it in july with ugly weather and pouring rain. The waterfall was very very impressive and i was a little disappointed when i came back in september and found a very low water level despite the rain we had in the weeks before.

I found a kind of little path in the green vegetation you can see under the cliff and made a small serie of images of the entire waterfall plus some closeups i find more interesting.

The photo you can see here was done from the road. I didn't found any other composition to include all the fold with its waterfall.
The light in this end of afternoon was very nice but contrast between highlights on the cliff and shadows in the vegetation was huge. I could have wait a little more but i would have lost the sunrays lighting the rocks.

That's obvioulsy not the kind of images where GND filters give their best results and so i went for the HDR solution.

Five exposures where used.
NEF files where converted to 48 bits TIFs using SilkyPix.
TIF files where blended to a real HDR file with Picturenaut.
A first tonemapped image was then produced with Picturenaut and a second one was done by tonemapping the HDR file with Photomatix.
These two tonemapped files where then blended to give the final image you can see here.

I know that many magazines (and some famous ones) claim that they don't publish composite images including HDR ones. I think that's to avoid too much fakes in the photojournalism world.
I can understand their choice but on the other side when i compare this HDR photo with the best single exposure i've done from this scene i'm forced to recognized that the HDR file has a really better quality ...

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.

Misty morning on Bellecombe plateau

Misty morning on Bellecombe plateau

Another image from this beautiful morning on Bellecombe plateau.

I've added yesterday one new photo gallery about Jura department on my french website.
It contains all my images from Bellecombe plateau and Hérisson waterfalls plus a few other ones.
I'll add in october the photos done more recently around Septmoncel.

Running water in Septmoncel forest - Haut Jura Natural Park

Stream running through Jura forest around Septmoncel

Another view of this little stream i discovered last week around Septmoncel in Haut Jura Natural Park (First image here).

This water running wildly in the green forest makes me think to another place i discovered two years ago around Saparelle in Corsica.

Forest hues

Forest hues in Haut Jura Natural Park

One more image from Bellecombe plateau in Haut Jura Natural Park.
It was on september 7 and the end of summer had a strong smell of autumn.

Weekly commented photo # 38 : Cascading water near Septmoncel in Haut Jura Natural Park

Cascading water in Jura forest


In july, our visit to the famous Hérisson waterfalls was shortened by the arrival of huge rains. We left the place at dawn and drove back home.
While on the mountain road between Saint Claude and Septmoncel i noticed a big waterfall on a spectacular syncline fold. The weather was really too bad and the rain too strong for a valuable photographic stop.

On wednesday, we had a beautiful autumn day and i decided to come back to this area and make images of this waterfall and geological particularity.
I arrived on the place in the end of afternoon under a beautiful light but i had two deceptions.

• The waterfall was really less impressive than under the rain.
• Access to its bottom was quite impossible.

I started to make some images from the road and finally found a kind of little path between the rock and green vegetation with which i could bring me a little closer.
My motivation was not really high because of the very few water falling from the cliff and after a few more shots i packed my gear and went back to my car with the idea to explore some other places in the area.

I stopped a little more closer to Septmoncel village where i could see from the road a stream cascading in the deep forest.
After a short trip along the stream i found this little place where i could make three or four images like this one. The light was low enough to give some long exposures (many seconds) without any filter.
After that i tried to explore the forest and stream a little more but night was falling and i rapidly came back to my car for a two hours long drive to home.
I expect to return there soon and hope the decidous trees will take their autumn colors for my come back.