Travel
I'm lucky enough to travel a lot but I also aim to understand a place in some depth. So I like to find out about the local history, sociology, wildlife and local arts. I prepare for a trip by looking up photos of the famous sights, they're usually a good guide both about the local visual interest and also a warning of what has already been done or over-done.
I try to use the tools of modern photojournalism and photography to communicate how I feel about a place. You’ll see that I have used Portrait, Street, Interior, Historical, Abstract, Landscape, Historical, Wildlife, Phone-camera and Selfie genres at different times for specific effects.
Napoleon’s Eagles, that were captured from the vanquished Imperial French army at the Battle of Waterloo (1815), landed in Britian at Broadstairs in Kent. The originals are now in museums, however a replica of Eagle 103 still surveys Viking Bay in Kent, the sandy beach now surrounded by the town of Broadstairs, “The Jewell of the Isle of Thanet”. With the eagles came the first news of the great victory at Waterloo.
Read more: Vikings, Eagles and Clangers - Broadstairs, Kent, New Year's Day 2013
Autumn colours developing already in the trees around the lake at Sheffield Park in Sussex on the next-to-last day of September. And their big Sequoia is growing well but don't expect to drive a car through it... yet; it's the tree immediately above the white swan in the view from across the lake. The other tall tree is a redwood.
Place Notre-Dame du Mont in the sixth arrondissement of Marseille is one of my favourite places for a relaxing evening meal watching the light of the setting sun change colour on the front of the church.
Brasseries and small restaurants set their tables outside for much of the year. The bars put out televisions when there's a football match to show and the quarter gets particularly noisy when OM or France are playing.
The buildings above are mostly occupied by students from the nearby arts colleges, nearby in Cours Julien there is an illuminated sign "Quartier des creatives" at the top of the staircase up from rue Saint-Ferréol.
Aigues Mortes in the Camargue was an important sea port and the setting off point for several of the thirteenth century crusades. But silt from the Rhône blocked the sea channels and the trade transferred to Sète and Marseille. Much the same story as with the Cinque Ports on the English Channel. Thus Aigues Mortes remains a curiosity, relatively untouched by development (though the city authorised the demolition of a thirteenth century building as recently as the nineteen fifties).
We enjoyed a stay in a comfortable hotel alongside one of the canals, with the strange juxtaposition of boats in an otherwise suburban view. The name Aigues Mortes seems to be derived from Latin meaning “dead water”, ie no running water, so no drinking water for ships.
Mont Aigoual (1565 m.) is a granite rock on the watershed between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. The name is reminiscent of both eagle and water in Occitan and French: it rains a lot and there are eagles. The slopes were controversially reforested to assure water for the southwest of France; a weather station, looking very much like a castle, was built on the summit and has been manned since the eighteen nineties.
Most of the measurements are now made by automatic instruments. There's a museum of meteorological instruments but disappointingly scarce information about modern forecasting.
The guides say that on a fine day you can see both Mt Blanc in the Savoie Alps and the high peaks of the Pyrénées but that must be at a crisp clear dawn rather than the midday mist of late summer. Even so, you still have the fantastic feeling of being on top of the world.
We came down the wooded valley of the Hérault towards the heat of the Mediterranean.
