Tag Archives: France

A turbulent evening

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Brittany

During the first couple of days of my trip photographing lighthouses in Brittany earlier this month, we had some nicely changeable weather. The wind was so strong at this lighthouse, it was hard to keep the camera and tripod still enough. Black and white seemed to suit this two-toned structure.

Dawn the next day, and it was still just as windy but the sky was serene, heralding more peaceful weather ahead.  A long exposure in colour seemed the way to go.  I love going back to locations and capturing their different moods.

bretagne

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Still catching up with my 365 redux backlog. 365/66, 68 and 69 are from 2009, the year of my original, and more conventional, project 365. It’s handy to have that project to rely on when I hit a patch where I haven’t taken pictures in other years. True to my pledge, I have re-edited these. 67 is from last year, a shot previously unshared of a midge on a pieris shrub in my garden. I am enjoying seeing how my images have improved (to my eye, anyway) in the 7 years since I switched to digital, and became obsessed.

365/66

365/66

365/67

365/67

365/68

365/68

365/69

365/69

Perros-Guirec

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Brittany

I am just back from an excellent adventure photographing lighthouses along the rugged coast of Brittany, France. The trip was organised by Jonathan Critchley of Ocean Capture. Some may remember that I had a few days in France with Ocean Capture this time last year.  There will be more from Brittany soon, but this picture might be my favourite.

Stilt fishing huts of the Gironde

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Gironde Estuary

It’s been a busy couple of weeks and this post about my trip to the Gironde Estuary, France with Ocean Capture is long overdue.

Gironde estuary

The tour is called Stilt-fishing huts of the Gironde, so a lot of our time was spent photographing some of the 400 or so carrelets on the estuary’s North shore.

Gironde estuary

These beguilingly delicate structures are so fascinating and so photogenic that Jonathan Critchley, the tour leader and owner of Ocean Capture, sometimes found it difficult to drag us away to do essential things like eat, sleep and, of course, as we were near Bordeaux, drink wine.

Gironde estuary

Jonathan is a great photographer, and I recommend a visit to his website.  He’s also a super host and an all round nice bloke, and he plays a mean game of table football!  We stayed in La Maison du Meunier, a delightful bed and breakfast hotel on the quay in Mortagne sur Gironde, where we were made to feel at home. Even though we were only there for three nights, I missed it after we left.

Gironde Estuary

If you ever fancy a photography adventure in a beautiful, unspoilt region of France, I can thoroughly recommend this one. I liked it so much, I have booked another trip with Ocean Capture for next Spring. Now I just need to save some pennies!

Gironde Estuary

I have many more images of the carrelets and other sights to share and a slideshow in the pipeline, but the next post will be something rather different, the images taken on a street photography day with Amateur Photographer magazine in London.

More carrelets

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Gironde

ISO 50, 200mm, f/11, 86seconds

Some more carrelets.  The tour is called ‘Stilt Fishing Huts of the Gironde‘, so there will be many more pictures of these delightful little structures.  Also, a proper write up of the trip is in the pipe line.  I can’t remember exactly which filters I used for this shot, but I am guessing the following combination: .6 ND hard grad, .9 pro glass and circ. polariser.