Photo of the Day #94: I'll Jump -Don't Try to Stop Me

We had a lovely balcony garden at our home in Pau. The balcony itself was a crude construction: one meters by eight meters of pale yellow concrete. Our way to mask the crudeness was to grow flowers, herbs and vegetables (eggplants and tomatoes) on every available square meter.

The plants were soon crawling with all manner of critters, such as aphids, spiders, lady bugs and grasshoppers like this fellow here. The larger insects were okay, but the aphids and other small critters did their best to try to kill all of our plants, so we were at constant war with them.

This grasshopper didn't seem as much intent on destruction and mayhem of our plants, but it did look a bit suicidal, as if it was saying "I'll jump -don't try to stop me".

Photo of the Day #93: A Mountain in a Puddle

The last photo of the current Ossau series is at the same time pretty ordinary, but at a longer glance has a bit more depth.

When returning to the valley, most of the photo action was left in the distance and the foreground became a bit bland, with patchy grass and shadowy woods. Luckily an unassuming puddle came in to my way with a delightful view. It looked as if the peak in the distance had an identical twin growing through the ground and the puddle was a window showing it.

Well I do have an active imagination...

Photo of the Day #92: Walking with the Sheep

After descending a steep slope we reached the sheep munching on the grass, completely ignoring us. For me it was all the better, as I could compose this picture with my friend Alan walking in his mountain gear, and a magnificently fetching hat, along the path past the sheep.

Alan, being a retired engineer, has about as much to do with shepherding as I do, but in this photo you could believe him to be the wise shepherd to the flock, showing them the path to the next pasture. In reality the sheep can easily cope by themselves most of the time, without the constant presence of someone.

Photo of the Day #91: A Sheep Slope

Okay -I could have been a bit more creative with the title, but I just can't help when I see a nice pun coming along.

The other side of the Pic du Midi D'Ossau isn't apparently exactly public land anymore, but belongs to someone (or several people?) who tend their sheep on the slopes. Well we got to seem them close by (see tomorrows photo), but even from afar they added a nice touch to the scene. The bulb-shaped shadow comes from the Pic du Midi itself.

As a side note this photo was a bit of a challenge, as the contrast between the area basking in the sunlight and the shadow was way too much for my camera, so I took several pictures and stitched an HDR photo from them. Nothing too unusual there, but to be able to show the sheep and still have a realistic looking edge between the bright and the shadow proved to be more than a bit difficult. Now the photo looks quite unrealistic -I'll probably redo the photo again and try to be a bit more realistic.

Photo of the Day #90: Flower Power

Climbing again a bit higher up the Pyrenees, the ground becomes almost void of anything but grass. At circa 3000 meters above sea level the thin strip of soil can't provide much nourishment and the rock prevents roots from finding ground.

Nevertheless I found these flowers (probably crocus vernus) basking in the magnificent sunlight at the top of the Pyrenees. Life truly finds a way.

Photo of the Day #89: A Steep Slope

Following from yesterday's trek, a bit higher up the Ossau trail the track turns a bit steeper and a bit more of the scene opens up. At this point you don't feel that high up, even though in actuality you've first ascended a over a thousand meters up by car and several hundred by foot.

But wait just a while longer and you begin to see the foothills and tens of kilometers onward right up until Pau fifty kilometers down the valley. At least by then you're awestruck by the splendor of the Pyrenees.

Photo of the Day #88: Peak Perfection

Today's photo is from one of my favorite spots. Pic du Midi d'Ossau and the surrounding hills are in my opinion the jewels of the Pyrenees. The mountains are high enough to be impressive, but still have vegetation, almost up to the top, creating a very personal style to them.

For this picture I was able to frame one of the rocky peaks with the tree lined foothills and the valley below. The light wasn't perfect, but I managed to create some interesting contrasts, accentuating the peak, while still keeping some details in the shadows.

Photo of the Day #87: Rocky Road

On our way to rocky mountains, we first had to traverse a rocky road. The path to Circue du Gaverne was partly paved, but partly sprouted these oddly organic looking rocks. I guess that it would have been more trouble than use to get rid of the rocks, so the builders of the path probably just decided to leave them be. And I'm happy for it -the rock works wonderfully as a foreground to the autumn trees and the edge of the path.

Photo of the Day #86: Rocky Mountains

As well as  Waterfalls, Gavarnie has a spectacular view of the Circue and the surrounding Pyrenees. For perspective you can just see my French friends jogging up the path up to the falls.

Well to be honest, the rocks in the foreground were relatively small, but the cliff face has a drop of over 400 m at its highest.

Photo of the Day #85: Gossamer Thistle

Spiderweb is a challenge to photograph. Oftentimes it's easy to see spiderweb in nature, but usually it's just too thin and not easily separable from its background. What one usually seeks is a nice dark background and a back lit or side lit web.

I can't say that this would be the perfect spiderweb photo, but at least it's very close to something presentable.

Photo of the Day #84: Fragile Façade

It is curious how living in an altogether historically rich country alters ones perspective. France is so filled with historically important locations, that they don't have the financial means to maintain them. This trench lined wall is belongs to the Pau Castle and is actually inhabited.

From a Finnish perspective the building looks like it has been abandoned for centuries, but actually you can see people through those windows, living their lives, minding their business. How do they cope during the relatively short winter (about a month of below 10 C) is a true question mark.

It is understandable that the historical facade shouldn't be destroyed, but somehow it seems that something has to be done. Perhaps tomorrow, or demain, as they would say in France...

Photo of the Day #83: Crooked Water

I was in Biarritz at the end of October 2011, showing the South of France to my parents and my sister. It was the last really warm days (25 C or over -what we Finns call helle, or hot weather) of the year and the seaside resort town was showing signs of slowing down, at least a bit.

One of the rocks jutting out of the Bay of Biscay was definitely odd. It looked like a sinking ship with layers of strata at a tilt to the water. Additionally the rock was jam packed with seagulls, like the passengers of titanic, but unbothered by the pending doom.

So I decided instead to tilt my camera to emphasize the angle. A friend of mine said that two thing bothering him about the movie Titanic were inaccurate Morse code and crooked water. I can understand that he could spot the bad Morse, as he had some training on it, but I never understood how the water was crooked. Surely it was just the camera...

Photo of the Day #82: The Beacon of Capbreton

We were touring the South West of France in late November of 2011. We had already been to most of the major tourist destinations and we were left scouring the province of Aquitaine to seek hidden gems. This emerald green beacon is the Lighthouse of Capbreton. Capbreton with its 7500 inhabitants is a second cousin to the world famous Biarritz just 40 km south along the Atlantic coast. Especially during late autumn the town didn't hold the glamour that Biarritz does, but it had its charm.

I think the bleakness and the rough weather works well with the lighthouse theme.

Photo of the Day #81: A Terrace to Remember

Today's photo is already the third one of the day trip to Pyrenees. But along with stunning mountains and graceful birds there was so much more to offer. The south of France is famous wine growing region, but I'm not sure whether they grow grapes in the mountains. However these terrace bring me in mind of the slopes closer to home at Pau. There's just something magical here.