Colorful houses in Provence villages

Colorful houses in Cogolin - Provence

Colorful houses in Collobières - Provence

Two old images of Provence villages, from a little batch i've just posted on my website.

Light and shadow in the streets of Cogolin

 

I'm currently looking at my old images of Provence villages which were not published on my website.
I found this one from Cogolin just near Saint Tropez, where i had my office some years ago.

Autumn leaves in Provence forest

Autumn leaves in Provence forest

 

Remembering the Verne river

Dark water in the Verne river

 

Because of a client asking for one of my old images, i recently had to browse through a big bunch of photos from when i was living in Provence. It gave me the idea of posting here a summary of my favorite shots of this beautiful little river.

 

Springtime flow in Verne river

 

Verne river running through the rocks

 

Dusk light on Verne river

 

Verne river dam

 

Verne monastery in Provence

Verne monastery in Provence

 

Chestnut tree in autumn

Chestnut tree in autumn

 

A 9 years old image from when i was living in Provence.

A winter day on the Mediterranean coast

A winter day on the Mediterranean coast

 

An old image from when i was living in Provence.
The Mediterranean sea around Giens Peninsula (Presqu'île de Giens).

I just have a few images of the peninsula, you can find them here.

Parasols pines in Provence landscape

Parasols pines in La Plaine des Maures

 

Another old image, reminder of my past life in Provence.
This is a view of a protected natural area names La Plaine des Maures, also known as a Little Africa.

 

You can check the following link to have a look to all my images with Parasol pines.

Little waterfalls in the dark water of the Verne river

Little waterfalls in the dark water of the Verne river

 

A six years old image of a place i loved when i was living in Provence and a few words to say i've uploaded this morning 30 new Provence images on my french website.

Weekly commented photo # 49 - Mediterranean dusk at Gigaro beach

Mediterranean dusk at Gigaro beach

This end of autumn is rainy and from a photographer's point of view, the landscape all around is not really exciting. I only made a few images in the past week and spent most of my time working on files from the preceding months. I'm also negociating with a TV channel which want to buy some of my photos but doesn't seems ready for the price i ask :).

So, this morning i was wandering about which image to feature here today when i receive an order from my french website for a print of the above photo.

I was a little surprised because that's an old image and because there is another one just near in the gallery that i find most beautiful. But after all a sale is a sale and one more time i was happy not to post only my own favourite images but all the "correct" ones.

Gigaro beach is a famous place in Saint Tropez area but i've just a few images from there. I think you can now retrieve most of them on this blog through this link.

Weekly commented photo # 48 - Powerful stream in Provence hills

Boulin stream meets the Verne river

An image from my last year in Provence.
I've spent about 15 years living in Massif des Maures and the last year was certainly the most productive in term of river and stream photography.
It's possibly because i wanted to make the most images that i could of these places i loved and also because in 2010 the conditions were exceptionally good for such photos.

Hum, ... conditions were good for photographers but not for everyone. The stream you can see above is dry most of the time and really unlikely to run in june. The day before i made this image we had some flash floods killing around twenty people and destroying one of the big cities of the department.

In the natural area where we were living it was just an impressively strong rain. Probaly the strongest i've ever seen even in tropical areas. Our village was crossed by a river which is usually quiet but this day it was noisy and carrying some big trunks just broken by the tempest in the forest.

The day after, the weather was really nice and i went at dawn to the Verne river expecting some interesting views.
Curiously, the place looked quiet and really untouched by the recent floods. The only unusual thing was this strong water running in this little stream.

Weekly commented photo # 32 - Breaking waves on the Mediterranean coast

Breaking waves on the Presqu'île de Giens - Provence

No, i'm not back in Provence and this image was done a little more than 2 years ago.
It was a very windy day under dull light on the Prequ'île de Giens and i remember to have walk more than making images.

I choose this one for my Weekly commented photo exercise because i found it to be a good example of the difference between shooting for print and shooting for stock.

Most of my print sales come from images with impressive light and vivid colors (like this one) while most of my licensed photos have a more common looking. Please, note that's not an absolute rule.

Some days i shoot just for prints and some days just for stock but most often i tend to share my time between exploration, making photos for my stock when the light is OK and making images for art prints when the light is at its best.
I don't know if it's the best way to oragnize a photographic day but it works for me for many years.

I've never sold a print of the image posted above but it was licensed at least 3 times since it was done. So i really don't regret my day walking in the wind and flying sand.

In conclusion i invite you to read a very good article from Guy Tal about waiting the light.

Weekly commented photo #22 - A little waterfall in Provence hills

A little waterfall in Provence hills

This is probably one of my very first images about the little streams running through the hills and mountains of the Massif des Maures in Provence.

These streams and rivers keep the life in this wild natural area but many of them (like this one) are dry most of the time. Water only runs after big rains like the ones we had in the first days of september 2005.
I was driving back from my office when i noticed this little waterfall in the forest (i could say bush) along the road. I stopped the car, walked a little through some sharps brambles and arrived at the "river" where i could make this image and a few other ones.

When processing the files, i realized that images of these streams should be rare and could interest many people working around environment, climate and global warming.
So i started to work more seriously on that subject and it was a good idea :

• I licensed about 10 images of this serie for different uses.
• It made me discover more deeply this wonderful area.

These images must be really rare because someone had the bad idea to stole one of my fav on my french website to promote a commercial event.
I don't know how they upsized the original 640 pixels wide photo but they used it in A3 and A4 prints, flyers, PDFs and websites.

They were unlucky because i found a flyer at the post office. When i contacted the event oragnisation they started to say it was not my image, when i showed the original they say they bought it on a microstock site but then, they were of course not able to give any proof.
Finally they had no other choice than paying the full rights for all their uses plus a 100% increase for the theft ...

Weekly commted photo #10 - Wild and peaceful

Wild and peaceful - Le Pradet

If you look at my seascapes, you will easily notice that most of the photos where done on the same place named "Bau Rouge beach".

Why ?

I really love wild and natural places and to sand beaches i prefer rocks with nice shapes and where the waves can break nicely.

Such places where really rare in the part of Provence where i lived and where all was done for a comfortable tourism.

Bau Rouge beach was one of them and so i went there really often.
I think that many photographers know this feeling : You always think you can return and capture some other light, some other composition. That's true but one day you feel the need to change.

So after some months of shooting at Bau Rouge beach, after looking the maps, after asking many people i decided to move a little and give a change to another rocky beach not so far.

This new place was a few kilometers from Bau Rouge beach and had no special name. I also went there many times but my favourite image of this place is this one and it's the really first one i did there.

This first day was intended to more to explore the place than to really make images so i just had a light bag with a litlle tripod. Rare thing, i left all my filters at home.

The image was done just before dusk and the dynamic range was a little too high for a single exposure without filtering.
So i took three exposures that i manually and patiently blended (without tonemapping) in the digital darkroom.

As said over, that's my fav from this place but you can have a look here to see another one i also love.
It was done by a stormy morning where the waves were so huges that i could'nt access Bau Rouge beach.

Weekly commented photo #8 - A high resolution view of Collobrieres village in Provence

Collobrieres village in Provence

So, this a view of Collobrières village in Provence. I lived there during 15 years.
The photo was done in march 2004 and is about 7 years old.

In 2004 i was mainly using a Nikon D100 for my landscape work but i've always loved smaller cameras for family images or holidays, etc. During the film era, i was really often using an Olypus XA2 with Velvia or Provia slide film. When time cames to digital i tried many compact cameras but was never really happy with their image quality. My favourites non DSLR cameras were the Dimage 7i and A1 from Minolta.

This view of Collobrières was done with the Dimage A1. It was a 5mpx bridge with a 28-200 f2.8 zoom. The sensor was smaller than the one of my DSLRs but really larger the the ones in compact cameras. The lens was a high quality one done by Minolta and i've to say that in many circumstances this camera gave me some amazing raw files.
Of course it was not the camera for low light images but for most common images it was a very good one. It was also compatible with the very good Minolta flash system and i often used it with a 5600 HSD flash with a real pleasure.

So, let come back to the photo :
I was at home and saw the beautiful light of this end of afternoon. My Nikon gears were at my office about 30km far. I grabed the A1 and a tripod, climbed the hill above the village, made a few single shots and as the light became better and better, i decided to make a stitched high resolution image.
It was something i often did in these old years because DSLRs cameras didn't had all the pixels they now have.

So, i took 11 images with the Dimage A1 and the zoom at its longer focal length.
I gave me 11 raw files that i processed with SilkyPix and stitched with PTGuiPro.
The resulting image weights about 20 mega pixels and when i look at the full resolution file i can't distinguish it from a file done with a HD DSLR.

Weekly commented photo #6 - Winter light in Provence

Winter light on the Lac des Escarcets

This image was done in february 2008 so she's now 3 years old.
While i was living in Provence, this place was one of my favourite winter spot for photography. In summer it's really less interesting because the lake is dry or almost and, another important point, winter light is very better here.

This lake is a protected natural area managed by the Conservatoire du Littoral et des Rivages Lacustres. Many and many birds are living in the vegetation all around and it would probably be a very interesting place for a wildlife photographer.

Since the day i've discovered this place, i've loved the colours of it's red ground. Under some special lights these coulours can be truly amazing and make me think to some american or australian deserts.

My first image of the lake was done about one year before this one (and you can see it here)
After this first one done just before dusk, the winter ended without letting me coming back in really good conditions but at least i could explore many places around the lake.

In 2008 by a sunny winter afternoon i decided to make a new try on this very little but colorful beach i had noticed one year before.
I was a little disapointed when arriving because some huge white clouds were standing above the lake making the light really dull. I decided to go for a little more scouting and about 2 hours later i remarked that a small wind was clearing the sky.
I ran back to the beach and arrived when the afternoon was about to end, just for this clear and beautiful view.
In these days (and i still do it), i was often stitching two or more photos to make some 5x4 images without loosing too much pixels.
As i was using a panoramic head my setup was a little long but i had the time to be ready before the light turns too dark.

Technical details :
Two vertical images were used to make this photo.
They were taken with a Nikon D200 and a 17 mmlens.
I also used a tripod, a Nodal Ninja panoramic head and a remote shutter release.
Raw files were processed with SilkyPix and stitching was done with PTGui.

Weekly commented photo #4 - Parasol pines forest in dusk light

Parasol pines forest in dusk light

This image is now more than 10 years old as it was done on 2005/10/01.
Since this day, i've moved my office twice but one large framed print of this photograph is always on my walls and i can see it every time my eyes leave my computer screen.

In 2005, september was unusually rainy in this part of Provence.
On october 1rst we had an almost dry day and i ran in Saint Tropez to make some images of a client's garden.
At the end of afternoon while i was driving back home, some dark clouds started to take more and more room in the sky.
I decided to make a little stop in la Plaine des Maures, more to enjoy the beauty of the place than to make images but as i don't like to let my photo gears in the car, i took them with me for this little walk in the nature.

I spent about half an hour hiking in the blowing wind, camera and lenses in a belt bag and tripod on my shoulder. The ground and bush had a strong smell, red colour of the rocks was enhanced by the wetness of the preceding weeks and clouds were more and more darks.

I decided to walk back to my car before the next huge rain.
I was about half way when the wind suddenly stopped. I also stopped and looking around me i discovered this little parasol pines forest bathing in one sunray filtred by the clouds.
I just had the time to set up my tripod and make a very few images before the arrival of the storm. I ran to the car under the rain and drove back home under a weather looking more to a tropical mousson than to a provence rain.

I don't even remember the other photographs i did there this day but this one is really one of my all times favourite although there is no dramatic light, no effect and no heavy post processing.

Weekly commented photo #2 - Ferns in Provence forest

Ferns in Provence forest

For this second post of my Weekly commented photo serie, i also choosed an old photo from Provence.
This one was done at the end of spring in 2004. I was living in a small village named Collobrières and had my office in Cogolin, just near Saint-Tropez. The road i took every day was a tight one through a deep forest.

One evening, while driving back home, i noticed a nice bunch of green ferns where some were starting to turn to yellow. I don't really know why they caught my attention, perharps because they were a sign of life in all this dry forest.

So during one week, i looked at them every day waiting for the colors to be really nice. One day, thinking it would be the good one i took my camera when leaving the office, drove and stopped at the ferns. Unfortunately the evening was windy in this place and i knew i wouldn't be able to catch a sharp image. The wind blowed during 2 days. The first quiet evening i could setup my tripod, try 2 or 3 compositions and finally made this photo.
The day after, while processing the images i was very happy to see that they were all very sharp. I was a bit anxious about that because i had to use some really low shutter speeds and even a little air can result in blurred photos.

We are now about seven years later and i don't remember all the technical settings but i know that this image still sells prints more than once a yaer.

Weekly commented photo #1 - Dark water in the Verne river

Dark water in the Verne river

We are now back in the Massif des Maures for this first edition of my Weekly commented photo.

I made this image during our last months of life in Provence. We had a rainy spring and so the rivers still had nice water in the last days of May. If you search this blog for the Verne tag you will find many other images of this place mostly done into the river. Of course silky water and dusk light always make popular images but i also wanted to show more classic views including the river's environment.

This one was done in the late afternoon. I left the river bed a moment before dusk and climbed some overhanging rocks until i found an interesting point of view on this little valley.
I then spent a little time to search the best place for my tripod allowing this wide angle view including the rocks, the trees, the dark water and also the colorful vegetation in the foreground. The real trick was to avoid seeing the tripod legs in the viewfinder whithout falling down in the river :)

After this one i also tried some other compositions for my stock (including vertical ones), packed my equipment and went back to the river for some long exposures at dusk.

Although it's not the most spectacular, this image is one of my favourites done around the Verne river. Of course some affective reasons could be evoked : I was about to leave this wild and beautiful region and it was one of my last occasion to shoot here ...

If some are interested by some technical informations, here are a few ones :

• Nikon D200.
• Sigma 10-20 at 10 mm.
• Manfrotto tripod.
• Remote controler.
• Exposure : 0.7 second at f14.
• No filter.
• NEF file processed with Silkypix.

Flow in the Verne river and 5 sites to discover

Flow in the Verne river

It's an image from our last months of life in Provence done the same day than this one but a few hours later. I had ever left my place in the middle of ther river bed and was walking back to the path climbing the hills to my car when i stopped on some rocks hoverlooking the water with a nice perspective. I started with a few "normal" images and finally did this one with my Hoya ND 400 filter.

The 5 sites to discover :
They are the 5 very nice websites of 5 amazing nature and landscapes photographers.
If you don't know them, have a look you won't waste your time :)

• Maria Stromvik
• G Dan Mitchell
• Jaspal Jandu
• Chris Corradino
• Chip Phillips