Crusoe's Bucolic Constitutional

Every day here for the last few weeks has been lovely, almost too lovely!  I have been yearning for cold, crisp, misty autumnal days but it is not to be, all we have had is glorious sunshine and temperatures into the twenties an Indian Summer for sure, personally I think it's a bit eerie for November.   Every morning I take Crusoe out for his walk, today I thought, I would take you with me...

I know this herd is a happy herd, they belong to our neighbour Michel, he has a bit of knack when it comes to animals, he is dark and good looking our very own Heathcliffe, he rides his horses bareback and is always willing to lend a hand with his tractor in our garden and won't except payment. Every Christmas we buy him  a few of the finest bottles Bordeaux has to offer and I add add a few interesting home made chutneys, preserves and sometimes when I feel ambitious a special cake, I have learnt that's just the way things are done around here.

A view of the Château, I don't see it as a Château I see it as a Castle it dates from the twelfth century, it attracts droves of tourists and schoolchildren, inside its a museum, where they teach the history of Medieval France, most of the locals see it as a Walt Disney Castle it has been overly restored with the help of European grants and not necessarily remained true, most of the villagers tell me they preferred it as a ruin..they played amongst its crumbling walls as children, much more romantic but they admit it does bring much needed money into the local economy.

Ahhh Crusoe..."Come on, throw my stick"...

Proud dog, valiantly retrieving the stick

I am a clever dog!

Crusoe killing his stick

Eastern view of the Chateau

Can you see that egg shaped thing in the tree, what is it? A nest of some sort but what?

Autumn Colours

At the top of the hill you can see the highest peeks of the French Pyrenees and beyond those mountains lies Spain

The local Pyrneean goat herd, I love them Crusoe does not, I have to keep him on a tight leash when I speak to the goats in his presence, once he jumped into their enclosure, a battle ensued for hours, he would not come out and it resulted in this

After the Constitutional, Crusoe likes to relax in his favourite chair... and me... well this morning I made myself a large cup of coffee, changed the lens on my camera and practised some stylised shots of antique books of which there is more to come...

Something Pretty for the Weekend

I have been messing about in one of the spare bedrooms, with the help of the last roses from the garden I have been trying to make it pretty for some friends who are coming to stay this weekend...

Wishing you all a Wonderful Weekend

XXX

Fabulous Photographer Martin Munkácsi

Peignoir in a Soft Breeze 1936

 Martin Munkácsi was the master of movement, along with Lartigue he is my favourite photographer, his pictures are full of life and personality, you can hear the surf, feel the breeze and sense the atmosphere, in short, he had the gift of capturing the moment.  It is no wonder that his work influenced Henri Cartier-Bresson and Richard Avedon. He was a photographic genius.

Harpers Bazaar Halston 1962

The Bedouin Egypt 1929

Richard Avedon Homage to Munkácsi 1957

Boys Running into the Surf at Lake Tanganynika 1930. This was the photograph that so influenced Henri Cartier-Bresson

 "The only thing which completely was an amazement to me and brought me to photography was the work of Munkacsi. When I saw the photograph of Munkacsi of the black kids running in a wave I couldn't believe such a thing could be caught with the camera. I said damn it, I took my camera and went out into the street."
Henri Cartier-Bresson

Jumping Fox Terrier 1930

Parasols 1928

Fred Astaire on his Toes 1936

Lovely Autumn the Last Warm Days of Sunshine 1929

 Carol Lombard 1937

Europe 1928

Katherine Hepburn 1935

Woman Sunbathing 1935

1933

Dancers in Seville 1930

Harpers Bazaar 1934

1930

On Holiday with Greta Garbo 1932

Eva Szaplone in a Rumbleseat 1932

Cypress Gardens South Carolina 1937

I find it heartbreaking that this great artist died in poverty... His full story can be found here.

 Book Available here and here

Messing about with Flowers

What is it about new cameras and flowers?  We just can't seem to help ourselves. I have been mucking about with my new camera, keen eyed photographers will see I have been experimenting with depth of field. I still have so much to learn with the new camera, I think it will be an endless and ongoing learning curve but I am loving it! Experimentation is the best way, I have already gone on from all the automatic settings and am trying to get my head round F stops, light metering and ISO speeds!  Not to mention experimenting with different light, textures and composition.

Flowers are always such a pleasure, Belle Mere is visiting us at the moment and she arrived with an armful of Ranunculus in pink and white, she brought them all the way from Provence! 

Then yesterday whilst walking with Crusoe I spied some pretty wild flowers growing in a field, I hopped in and picked them before the local cows ate them, better in my house than in the cows tummies!

The weather here at the moment is pretty dire, very mixed and cold, I keep forgetting it is only April, March was beautiful and warm and confused everything, mostly me, I was working in the garden in a T shirt and shorts, now I am huddled up in wool, I am impatient for Summer and I am dying to get outside and experiment with some lovely spring shots, I have a photographic project in mind that I am keen to get started, it is on hold until the weather improves, I will keep you posted.