Landscape – A Visual Notebook…

When Fall meet Winter

Jean-Michel — Tue, 21 Apr 2020 16:25:33 +0000

It was a clear sky week-end, just after temperature started to drop.

Mid-mountain had just received its first snow, earlier than usual, and the low morning light was bringing out fall foliage colors from the monochrome background.

After a few weeks of a comfortable and connected kind of hibernation, it seems I’m not the only one waiting to look around again with a big smile on my face, and that might be a good news…

Irish clouds

Jean-Michel — Tue, 14 Jan 2020 07:15:00 +0000

One of the most recurring sentences I keep hearing from people who manifest a basic interest for photography relate to weather: “Not a good time for photo, there is no sun” or “It’s a sunny day, let’s take some photos”.

Sure, when sky is flat, with a light gray and no directional light, any landscape might look flat and boring.

But a deep cloudy sky, even with no visible ray of light, can bring character to a scene, adding volume and depth to the landscape and creating a special atmosphere…

Ireland is one of these countries where you feel the elements as much as you see them…

Stay outside, and photography becomes a physical experience…

Sligo, Ireland
Maum, Ireland

Peaceful

Jean-Michel — Sun, 12 May 2019 06:19:00 +0000

It was one of these foggy days where everything seems to fade to white. Being in Acadia National Park only for a few days, we left our small cabin for an early walk around Jordan Pond.

Apart a couple of humans and some deers, we were alone in the world.

Among various images captured that day, the one with the simplest composition is bringing back the quiet feeling of that moment…

Landscape and Portrait

Jean-Michel — Sat, 12 Jan 2019 08:32:27 +0000

When photography started to be an important part in my life, I had the chance to become friend with a photographer who created a school for photojournalists in the 80’s. I still remember all the precious advices I learned from him, in particular one universal enough to be useful everyday: taking always both landscape and portrait views of a subject.

As it is not possible to know upfront the photo layout of a news article, providing both format was a way for the photographer to avoid the editor to later crop the image.

Even if sometimes it sounds obvious to use a landscape or a portrait orientation, forcing yourself to turn the camera and find a good composition is a good exercice…

It’s what I tried to do that hot summer afternoon, while sitting on the wood bridge close to the lighthouse of Marathon, in the Keys (Florida)…

Morning Winter light

Jean-Michel — Sun, 09 Dec 2018 10:02:22 +0000

The hotel was a few hundred meters from my destination, so I decided to walk.

It was a windy day, clouds were approaching quickly. Car park was just behind me when a ray of light changed the whole landscape. I had time to take only two pictures before the sun was gone…

This working day close to Munich was already a good one..

Slow Waves

Jean-Michel — Fri, 16 Nov 2018 10:51:46 +0000

First post after a long period with so little time, as an attempt to calm the pace …

Fluid wave movements become cotton lines, a white yacht catches a ray of light.

I feel my mind working like the shutter, slowly…and I enjoy it.

White Dusk

Jean-Michel — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 06:58:00 +0000

It was just about cold and silence…

Unexpected white

Jean-Michel — Wed, 28 Feb 2018 10:04:00 +0000

For many people, snow is quite common during winter. For some, it’s rare enough to become the main topic of conversation when it happens, and a few centimeters of snow can even block all human activities (so that our Canadian friends can laugh about us !).

It’s what happened two days ago on the French Riviera, so when driving across the forest close to my work, it was so quiet I could almost have stopped in the middle of the road…

The square, the ramp and the tower.

Jean-Michel — Mon, 20 Nov 2017 08:28:19 +0000

This weekend I have seen my oldest friend who used to work in cinema and has facilitated writing workshops. His latest project was to select images from a friend photographer (according to a certain theme), and to write corresponding text as if the whole exhibition was the storyboard of an unknown movie.

I’m wondering what kind of story he could create with these old stones…but I do hope he will hide some mystery in it…

Cap d’Antibes

Cap d’Antibes

Cap d’Antibes

Feeling small

Jean-Michel — Fri, 06 Oct 2017 09:44:14 +0000

There’s something special about being alone in front of a breathtaking scenery, it’s like having a rare privilege.

Waking up before everyone, walking in the dark, waiting for the sun to rise slowly, hear no other sound than waves and birds …

Maybe my camera was just an excuse to stand in front of the ocean in the unique site of Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland … But it was really intense to feel so small when capturing these images.