La Compote, mountain village in Massif des Bauges Natural Park

La Compôte en Bauges

 

An image from july.
In this hot summer day afternoon, i was driving through Massif des Bauges Natural Park, back from a client assignment. I had spent the morning making architecture images of a wood made building and wanted to relax a bit and explore the park.
I love driving on mountain roads, climbing the passes and discovering the landscape all around.

I arrived at La Compôte in the second part of afternoon, had a fresh drink in a café, hiked the hills all around for a few shots and drove to Annecy lake and Duing castle.

Grande Rivière village in Haut Jura Natural Park

Grande Rivière village near Abbey lake

Spring water in Valserine forest

Spring water in Valserine forest

 

An image from May in Haut Jura Natural Park.
This mountain stream runs all over the year through the forest but spring is probably its most beautiful season.

A wider view of this place can be seen here.

Summer landscape around Abbey lake

Summer landscape around Abbey lake - Haut Jura Natural Park

 

Another image from my first and only day around Abbey lake.

This one was done while looking for interesting points of view. I climbed a little mountain overhanging the lake, it was in the second half of the afternoon. Althought the light was not at its best, i did a little serie of images because i think they are a good illustration of the landscape in this part of Jura department.

Grande Riviere church near Abbey lake

Grande Riviere church near Abbey lake - Haut Jura Natural Park

 

I left this blog during some long days because i had to work for some clients in Provence and i'm just back home since this night.
Before this little trip, i expected to find a few free time for some new seascapes but in fact i had absolutely no time for some personal photography.

I share today this other composition around the beautiful church of Grande Rivière from my last visit to Haut Jura Natural Park a few weeks ago.

I've also posted some images from Massif des Bornes on my french website.

LINKS :
My landscapes photo gallery.
All my images from Jura department.

Chateau des Pres, village in Haut Jura Natural Park

Rural landscape around Château des Prés, Haut Jura Natural Park

 

This pretty place was along my road last week when i was driving to Abbey lake ...

Afternoon light on Abbey lake

Afternoon light on Abbey lake - Haut Jura Natural Park

 

One more image from monday.

This one was a little tricky to capture. I first had a few tries with my GND filters and after a look at the images on the camera LCD, i decided to also try 3 bracketed exposures for a future HDR work.
Back home, i first processed the filtered ones but i was not really happy with the results. So i took my 3 bracketed exposures and made my HDR processing with Picturenaut to get the image posted here.
The most difficult was to keep the reeds free of artifacts but my long experience of HDR landscapes gave me some tools to fix such problems :)

The church near the lake

Grande Rivière church near Abbaye lake - Haut Jura Natural Park

 

I had a long drive yesterday through Haut Jura Natural Park to explore some new places around Abbaye Lake.
I noticed this lake one year ago while i was driving back from Hérisson waterfalls under a pouring rain. It's one of the most important lake in Jura department and the surrounding looked really wild in the storm.

It took one year before i had the opportunity to come back with a decent weather. I arrived there in the afternoon, walked along the lake, drove around the lake, climbed some hills but interesting points of view were rare and difficult to find.
In the evening, when the light started to be nice, i finally had 2 or 3 interesting spots in mind, this image of the church was done from the first one.

LINKS :
My landscapes photo gallery.
All my images from Jura department.

Mist on the forest

Autumn mist on Valserine forest

 

An image from September 2011 with the first autumn mist rising on the mountain forest of Valserine valley.
I rarely process my photos in black and white but i had a good feeling with this one ...

LINKS :
My forest photo gallery.
All my images about Valserine valley.

Endless stream in Valserine forest

Endless stream in Valserine forest

 

One more from these few days in Haut Jura Natural Park about one week ago.

I know this noname stream for about one year and after the really rainy springtime we had here, i thought conditions were good for a few pictures.
Arrived on the place a little soon in the afternoon, i went for a walk through the beautiful forest, waiting for the sun to be lower on the horizon and came back when the light started to be good.

LINKS :

My waterfalls, rivers and streams photo gallery.
All my images about Valserine valley.

Springtime in Valserine forest

Springtime in Valserine forest - Haut Jura Natural Park

 

A few days old image from Haut Jura Natural Park.
The forest contains both deciduous and coniferous trees and this photo is a good illustration of how they blend and contrast.

LINKS :

My french forests photo gallery.
All my images about Valserine valley.

Coniferous trees in Jura forest

 

An image from the first days of March when i was exploring the forests and mountains of Haut Jura Natural Park.
I'm always in search for this kind of photos to feed my stock and they sometimes bring some nice sales.

 

Note : You can check the following link to find all my images about coniferous trees.

White landscape in Valserine valley

Snow on Valserine valley - Hau Jura Natural Park

An other image from the days i spent in Valserine valley at the end of 2011.

I returned a few days in Haut Jura Natural Park about one week ago. All the snow is now gone and springtime is rainy and cold. I mostly spent my time exploring some new places between Lajoux, Saint Claude and Longchaumois and i hope to be ready for some new images for the next decent weather period.

I'm currently working hard on some new features for my main website and i'm very late in processing and publishing new images but i found a short time to post 8 new photos of Nernier 2 days ago.

Mossy forest in Haut Jura Natural Park

Mossy forest in Haut Jura natural park

An image from the first days of march.
I was walking through the mountains of Haut Jura Natural Park to visit a new waterfall and i had to cross this special forest. I just stopped a few minutes for some photos.

Bouchoux village in the mountains of Haut Jura Natural Park

Les Bouchoux - Haut Jura Natural Park


On march 3, i went for an exploration drive in Haut Jura Natural Park.
I was surprised to discover that, excepted in Valserine valley, all the snow was gone.

The tour started when i left home before dawn. I drove through Valserine valley until Mijoux village. Then i took the mountain road to Lajoux and Bellecombe.
A little road i wanted to visit was still closed because the snow had not been cleaned since the beginning of winter. I walked on the first kilometers, and explored a little bit the surrounding forest.
Then i went back to my car and drove to Septmoncel, stopped to visit some new streams and took the car again to another place near Saint-Claude where i could make a nice walk through a beautiful forest to Horse tail waterfall or Cascade de la Queue de Cheval in french.
Back once more to the car, i drove to Saint-Claude where i stopped just a short time to visit the cathedral.
The afternoon was beginning when i left the cathedral to take the road through an unknown part of the Park. This road sent me near the village of Les Bouchoux.
Once more, i left the car, explored some forests and finally climbed a little hill for a few images of te village itself.
Some other and smaller mountains roads drove me back to Mijoux and Valserine valley. Finally, i was back home about one hour after night fall.

20 images from this day were recently added on my french website. You can have a look here.

Winter dusk on Valserine river

Winter dusk on Valserine river

An image from the middle of januray. Before the big cold wave which now freezes the europe but this valley is always very cold.

More images of this place and day where added on my french website on january 28.
You can have a look here.

Old barn under dusk light in Massif des Bauges mountains

Old barn under dusk light in Massif des Bauges mountains

An image from about one month in Massif des Bauges Natural Park, done some minutes before the one posted here.

Note : I've spent most of the afternoon and evening yesterday in the cold Fornant river, the first images will be posted here before the end of the week.

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.

Snowstorm impression in Valserine forest

Snowstorm in Valserine forest

An image from the last days of 2011 is spent in Haut Jura Natural Park.
Very similar to this one posted on january 5 and also done with shaking the camera during the exposure.
I don't know which one i prefer ...

Cold and powerful water in Valserine river

Cold and powerful water in Valserine river

That's a place of Valserine river i've left unexplored until last week.
Access between snow, rocks and ice in a strong slope was not exactly easy but at least i spent a nice time there and came back with 2 or 3 interesting images.
This one comes from a HDR work done with 5 exposures processed mostly with Picturenaut.