happy friday ...

"A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed."
~ Ansel Adams

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! xx

play time ...

The one advantage to have some down time is that i'm getting to play around with old work, images that whilst i love composition wise i'm not totally happy with the edit. In the past year i have grown tremendously (& yes yes i do believe modest is such an over rated quality) & my style i feel is really coming into it's own. I'm finding much more of myself in my work & i love it. So i'm going back over old work, experimenting, trying new things & walking away happier because of it. Do you ever do that, revisit your old work? Anyway i wanted to share a few of those with you from my trip to Provence in July of 2010. & hopefully soon you'll see some of these available for sale on etsy or possible my society 6 shop which i really must tell you all about later this week ... don't let me forget! 

cassis ...

so i am totally behind on my blogs ... i mean there i was 6 weeks ago sunning myself in the south France & only now am i getting round to sharing more photos with you. & the town in question we all fell in love with. Cassis is a stunning little town just outside of Marselles on the south coast. Yes it was a little touristy but oh so worth it. We went there for the first time on Cassie's birthday (go figure she chose the place with the name similar to her own) ... anyways we fell head over heels. 

So i'm not sure where to start but we can with the beach ... i hate the beach. Ok let me clarify i like the beach to look at, & of course it's perfect for taking pictures ... i hate sand. it gets everywhere & wasting away the day lying on it is not my idea of fun. So whilst my two travel buddies got some sun i took a whole lot of pictures & in the days that followed & our returning visits explored the town. 

The town itself centers around the harbor ... full of restaurants & some wonderful little stores where i spent a whole lot of money. 

& where there's a harbor ... there are boats ... & we all know how much i love the little things in life ... 

From the harbor are winding streets & alleys where i was able to get throughly lost & enjoy the wonderful bright colours, & gorgeous french architecture. I also got to witness "french passion" at it's best as two men fought in the streets whilst being chased by of course a women!

& off the coast of Cassis we were able to take a boat trip to the Calanques a stunning range of cliffs leading skyward from the water, full of natural harbors & inlets. & perfect it would seem for a day spent sun bathing. We actually tried to find some to hang out on but everywhere was so busy ... although possible choosing Bastille Day (France's version of independence day & their biggest holiday) may not have been the best option here. But never-the-less they were amazing. Nature really never fails me!

a brief update & some provence ...

So i've been totally flaking recently ... i won't lie life has been & still is a little all over the place. There's been a whole lot going on in my little bit of the world & something's have been put on the back burner. Fingers crossed i will have some news to share soon but for the moment i hope you can be a little patient I'm hoping to get back on track. 

Anyways here are a few whole lot of photos from provence ... to be more specific Parc Naturel Régional de Camargue (i fell in love with this place many years ago & couldn't wait to go back with my camera), Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, Les Baux de Provence & Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. 

provence ...

So i have to say i'm sorry to you guys for the lack of posts ... for a while there i was on a roll but thing's have been happening at my end (you know as life does) & so i haven't posted as often. So now for some more photos from my trip to Provence, it's hard to believe i've been back for 3 weeks already. Work is as exciting as ever & the weather sucks but anyways it's nice to curl up on the couch. 

Ok back to the photos ... these were all taken on our first full day down in Provence. It was a day where we got to do a whole lot of driving, partly because somehow i forgot my camera. Yes i had everything else including my lenses but no actual camera. So we had to return to our hotel to get it, thankfully we weren't that far down the road. & the first few photos are from our wanderings down the back roads of Provence, being the driver it was easy to make my fellow travelers stop, lucky for me they didn't mind. 

Being as it was Sunday we weren't sure what would be open (if you've ever lived in Germany you'll know the whole country seems to shut down on a Sunday) but i'd read about this town up on top of the hills & an abbey that was open on Sunday's. By the time we reached Gordes we'd been in the car a wee while but it for sure worth the effort. 

& this was our view at lunch ... 

The town itself was stunning, very quaint, very french, & possible a little touristy but gorgeous all the same. 

From Gordes we headed down into the valley to visit the Sénanque Abbey. It's hard to explain just how stunning the Abbey was. It's still inhabited by monks, & surrounded by the mountains & fields of lavender. 

You can't go inside the abbey unless you do the tour (which was in French) but i knew me & the camera needed to check out the insides so i paid my money & whilst the guide gave us a history of the abbey (i have a flier in English containing the short version) i wandered with the camera, exploring everything i could. 

The details everywhere was stunning not to mention being incredible peaceful. The monks who live there belong to a silent order ... so well you can imagine the effect if has on you. The calm & tranquility, nothing to "spoil" you just life at it's simplest. 

Anyways from there it was back to Aix-en-Provence for dinner ... but of course we stopped a couple of times along the way ... with views such as this who wouldn't?

market day ...

There's something incredible special for me about market day in France, i'm not saying there aren't markets around the world that have the same feeling i just have yet to experience them. Market day in a French town is about more than just the food, it's the experience. The narrow streets packed with stalls & people, voices loud telling the world what they have on offer (when this is done in French it sounds so much better) & of course the opportunity to try everything first. Sometimes i think you could have your lunch right there at the market without having to buy a thing. They sell more than just food but it's the food that i love. I love the presentation, i love the colours, i love the smells, i love the total lack of anything resembling mass produced & with the sun shining down on you it's a little slice of French heaven. 

cherries ...

So one of the things i love most about france are the markets ... all that fresh food on offer. I wish i had a market to do my grocery shopping as opposed to the commissary (anyone who knows me knows how much i detest that place) ... so the next few posts from Provence are going to be devoted to markets & food. & we all know how much i love my food! i must clarify that i am not a huge fan of cherries it's just they were perfect for photographing & the reason you get to see 5 of them is that i couldn't pick one i liked the best so instead figured i'd just devote an entire post to them & let you choose! 

... & tables & chairs.

When you think of France one of the first things that comes to mind is cafes & restaurants & the atmosphere that goes with. Now i love food, there's no denying this ... from filet mignon to all you can eat wings & part of what i love about food is the whole dining out experience. Yes to me it is an experience ... seeing what's on the menu, thinking through the options, what sounds good to me, an appetizer, entree & desert. It's about finding that perfect table, enjoying the ambience of the restaurant & relaxing. & of course having someone do all the work for me kinda helps. Anyways france has a wonderful restaurant culture, & i can't go to france without eating ... A LOT! So anyways here's some photos of tables & chairs from various restaurants in Provence. 

... & walls & buildings ...

When you walk through a village or a town or a city in France the thing i always notice is the colour of the buildings. I'm sure if you look hard enough you'll find sky scrapers, & concrete & ugly but i don't look hard enough & i just see those wonderful pale coloured homes, or red & orange & other sun inspired mediterranean houses. Apartments with little balconies or banks with mint coloured shutters. I love the colours of the buildings & every time i see them i wonder if i could build a home like that where ever it is we end up. I love the contrasting colours & the fact that they all look like they've seen a whole host of history. I like the tile roofs, or laundry strung between the buildings. Winding alleyways & the colour everywhere. There's nothing grey & dreary about France it's just, in my eyes, totally perfect!