Nid'Oiseau

Awhile ago I shot Donald's fantastic chambre d'hôtes - Nid'Oiseau in the historic centre of Montpellier.
He's got an ecclectic collection of art & objects including an original George Lucas storm trooper!

The  winter light in the flat has been beautiful over the past few days.

La chaleur commence

It was still a whopping 38 degrees here at 7pm yesterday. I'm editing photos today with the fan on full-bore - counting the hours until we can head to the beach for a dip.

Balcony living

Stage Whisper

Charlotte Gainsbourg & Connan Mockasin at the Rockstore last night.

Le Peyrou

Hard to image that a couple of weeks it was this cold in Montpellier, when today the forecast is for 18 degrees.

Il pleut sur la ville

It's been a very wet autumn so far down this way.

The official posters for the London 2012 Olympics & Paralympics have been announced.
Rachel Whiteread's one is clever. Gary Hume's is beautiful but I cannot see the connection with sport. For me though, Howard Hodgkin's is the pick of them.

UN ÉTÉ INDIEN

photographies du japon

I'll be showing some images from Japan at a bar in Montpellier over the next couple of weeks. If anyone is close enough to be able to, please come down for a drink this Thursday 10th of March. I'll be around from about 8ish.

En visite au Japon en 2010, j'ai été subjuguée par l'esthétique portée au quotidien. Le moindre détail est valorisé et célébré. En tant que photographe, je m'intéresse à la capture des fragments, aux nuances les plus infimes, aux textures, aux instants fugitifs. Pour mes recherches le Japon est un lieu privilégié. J'ai promené mes appareils entre Osaka et Kyoto, j'en ai ramené ces photographies.

Ce ne sont pas des portraits, mais plutôt des instantanés obliques, pris sur le vif, pour mieux saisir "les petits moments". On peut dire qu'il s'agit d'images de surfaces. Surfaces de choses cachés, de traces. Un Japon, dont je n'ai fait qu'effleurer la surface.


By the way Astrid kindly asked me to be part of her 'Why Do you Shoot Film Series'.
Take a look here & read the contributions by lots of creative photographers.

lumière

We gave F's grandfather's Lumière twin lens from the 50s, an overhaul. I like the fact that his grandfather decided on a French camera. Perhaps back then it was a popular camera to have.
After some ok results from a test roll, on va sortir avec lui quelque part.

au marché

I was given a new-old Canon film camera for Christmas. I'd been wanting a film camera with which I could use my EF lens. The EOS 30 isn't the most beautiful of cameras it must be said, being one of the last film cameras before canon went digital. The idea was to try and combine the effects of film with the sharpness of my canon lens. These are some shots from the test roll taken during the holidays.

I'm looking forward to 2011 being a year of much film experimentation.

We didn't go far over the Christmas break so most of the roll were photos taken at various markets we went to. These are from our local organic market at Les Arceaux.

fuji pro400

pumps

I'm celebrating with a Japanese birthday meal this evening. It's warm enough here today to be wearing my Repetto ballet pumps. Which is reason enough for a glass or two of celebratory plum wine!
However after seeing Marion's post this morning, I've now some serious Repetto boot envy.

Wishing you all the best of weekends!

focus

boom!

We biked out to a park just outside of Montpellier to watch the 14th juillet feu d'artifice.
It started late. I suspect, late enough, for one's meal out to have been suitably digested.
Life centres around food here after all.

4 seasons in one day

May has been a strange old month so far. We've also been experiencing all sorts of weather, mostly without sun. Still, I've an exciting trip to look forward to in June!

le pain quotidien

Recently I was given a book called 'Good Bread is Back' (Le Retour du Bon Pain) by Steven Laurence Kaplan. It's a history of French bread and is completely fascinating. My current bread obsession is being satisfied by our local Saturday morning organic market - Le Marché des Arceaux and by one stall in particular. Reading this book I've discovered that all French bread was originally sour bread or le pain au levain. This bread is making a comeback with the return to traditional organic practices. It's a denser bread full of taste and goodness, which keeps fresh longer than bread made from brewers yeast.

The above bread is made by a local man who sells his loaves to a long line of faithful devotees. It takes quite some stamina to get this bread as he chats to each customer with his twinkling charm. He's a man very happy in his work. Each loaf is a different size and shape and is all traditional pain au levain.

Printemps dans Le Jardin des Plantes

It's been raining in Montpellier all week but the sun has at last come out.
Late afternoon the Jardins des Plantes was looking very different to the last time I visited in autumn. Lots of dramatic light picking out newly opened buds.

A stylish weather report via les gourous.
Happy weekend everyone!

d.i.y

Last weeeknd we went to visit a friend of ours who is doing up his flat.
It was a good opportunity for some d.i.y photography!