GLIMMERS OF HOPE
Long HD exposures photos taken between January 2017 and September 2019 in the southwest of France, on the Atlantic coast near Bordeaux and in Spain near Bilbao.
The first photo was taken with a circular ND1000 filter. Subsequently, in addition to my 24 mm Sigma Art f/1.4, I equipped myself with square filters of excellent quality and I acquired skills both in locating, studying the tides, meteorological study, trajectories and hours related to the sun as in post-production, blending and colorimetry.
My favorite hour is the blue hour, where all the colors saturate in our eyes and transport us to another universe.
L'Herbe, Cap Ferret
7.30 am in the village of L'Herbe, a few minutes before sunrise. Beautiful colors illuminate the sky. The flat-bottomed boats of the oyster farmers hardly awake...
Canon 5D Mark III + New NiSi V5-PRO holder system + NiSi Pro C-PL + NiSi Reverse nano GND(8)0.9 and Sigma Art 24mm ƒ/1.4 DG HSM
5760x3840 px
Blockhaus du Cap Ferret
The sun sets at Cap Ferret. The falling tide makes intermittently appear the bunkers which in the distance mix with the waves.
Canon 5D MarkIII + New NiSi V5-PRO holder system + NiSi Pro C-PL + NiSi Reverse nano GND(8)0.9 and Sigma Art 24mm ƒ/1.4 DG HSM
5718x3812 px
Un escalier pour Pyla
Late afternoon, heading to the Atlantic Ocean with provisions and a mattress in the car. The objective being to take a picture of the sunset at the bottom of the Pyla-sur-Mer ledge and to get up on the other side of the pond, in the village of L'Herbe.
We are the 1st of June and the sun will not set before 9.30pm, it must be 7pm. Fortunately I have food and good brown beers to wait.
After waiting, found a composition, the clouds finally arrive. As expected, at the same time as the beginning of the golden hour. I quickly understand that this veil is blocking the horizon, it was predictable.
The sun goes down, I take advantage of the window on the horizon to capture it in my camera.
Not bad. Let's wait for the blue hour hoping to have beautiful colors.
Canon 5D Mark III + NiSi filters and Sigma Art 24mm ƒ/1.4 DG HSM
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Un escalier pour Pyla #2
9.50 pm, it's about 45 minutes that I am in front of this staircase to shoot/wait/shoot. The veil at the bottom is present and there is now no hope that the sun pierces it to ignite the sky. But what I have in front of me satisfies me anyway. There are beautiful colors, and clouds bring a graphic side to the sky. The few people present at the foot of the dune iron in front of me to go home and after watching me from afar, ask me about why my long presence here and offer me to drink (a beer), concerned about my health and my hydration! Truce chatter, they leave and I have to do the same because tonight I sleep on the other side of the Bassin d'Arcachon in my car at the edge of the water, with full of ambitions for the sunrise the next day...
Canon 5D Mark III + NiSi filters and Sigma Art 24mm ƒ/1.4 DG HSM
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En passant par Cherbourg
A detour 350 km to see family and here I am near the dike of Querqueville. Last morning shoot before the return. In the distance, behind the platform, is Fort de Chavagnac. Some sinners and a lot of seagulls around... Otis redding looped in my head, "Now I'm just go sit at the dock of the bay / Watching the tide roll away, ooh".
Canon 5D Mark III + NiSi filters and Sigma Art 24mm ƒ/1.4 DG HSM
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Le lac de Sanguinet - end of the day
91 seconds exposure with a Canon 5D mark III + ND 1000 Haida Filter.
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Heure bleue à Sanguinet
6.50 am at the lake of Sanguinet, side Biscarosse. The sun is supposed to rise in less than 20 minutes. The clouds drop a few drops intermittently. I minimize my movements in order to avoid vibrations by watching the coypolls pass at the end of the pontoon.
Canon 5D Mark III + New NiSi V5-PRO holder system + NiSi Pro C-PL + NiSi Reverse nano GND(8)0.9 and Sigma Art 24mm ƒ/1.4 DG HSM
5558x3705 px
L'échelle de Jacob
It must be about 5:15 am when suddenly I wake up. I'm in the car and I just realized that I forgot to put my alarm clock. I think that an urge caused by the brown beers that I drank the day before helped me to open my eyes. And opening them I realize that a pink glow begins to invade the horizon... No time to think, I equip myself quickly and I go to the heart of the village of Grass, boots on the feet. I head for the spot I spotted the year before. Go unpack the material, we check all the settings, the composition is made, ok let's go!
Canon 5D Mark III + NiSi filters and Sigma Art 24mm ƒ/1.4 DG HSM
5660x3773 px
La conjonction des élements
About 20 minutes after sunset. The tide continues to descend. The colors are at their peak. All the other spectators and photographers have already left, we are alone on the beach to live this communion.
Canon 5D Mark III + New NiSi V5-PRO holder system + NiSi Pro C-PL + NiSi Reverse nano GND(8)0.9 and Sigma Art 24mm ƒ/1.4 DG HSM
5760x3840 px
Le Pilat plage
Saturday night. End of the sunset between the Dune of Pilat and Arcachon. A lot of small waves, a few splashes and Charlotte posing in front of the lens like a marmot. At the bottom on the left is Le banc d'Arguin and on the right The Cap Ferret.
Canon 5D Mark III + New NiSi V5-PRO holder system + NiSi Pro C-PL + NiSi Reverse nano GND(8)0.9 and Sigma Art 24mm ƒ/1.4 DG HSM
5724x3731 px
La flotte immergée
Last photo of the evening, the fleet of bunkers continues to resurface as night resumes its rights.
The blue hour ends.
Canon 5D Mark III + New NiSi V5-PRO holder system + NiSi Pro C-PL + NiSi Reverse nano GND(8)0.9 and Sigma Art 24mm ƒ/1.4 DG HSM
5233x3489 px
La Pointe, Lège-Cap-Ferret
Arrived at "La Pointe", the waves tirelessly try to engulf the vestiges of the past.
Canon 5D Mark III + New NiSi V5-PRO holder system + NiSi Pro C-PL + NiSi Reverse nano GND(8)0.9 + ND 1000 Haida and Sigma Art 24mm ƒ/1.4 DG HSM
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Un express pour trois. #1
So I start to make a withdrawal to the car. I like the angle of view and the subject becomes more dramatic with a little hindsight. Ok, for this one, I'll take my time and savor these last moments. I still launch a "I arrive in 5 minutes" to my wife who goes back to the warm and sheltered from the wind ...
"I'm leaving in 5 minutes" Where I come from, this sentence begins the birth of the idea of departure. It does not translate the will, it psychologically prepares the interlocutor and especially the author of this sentence, which obviously does not really want, but knows that he will have to constrain himself. We have already seen "I leave in 5 minutes" leaving several hours later, it is common. Myself, every morning, I ask for an extra 5 minutes of sleep when I wake up. I always take him more than expected. He knows it, this sentence is a mental preparation, a mantra. A motivation of the "I" to the "me". But "We" know it, despite the fact that this moment is part of an interminable present; the sunset, it is not.
And without asking "5 minutes more", he will leave without hesitation.
Canon 5D Mark III + NiSi filters and Sigma Art 24mm F 1.4 DG HSM - ƒ/13.0 - 24.0 mm - 1.6" - Iso 100
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The bunker of naked asses. #1
On the beach, where they now take off their swimsuits, remain the remains of the bunkers, which were once used to take lives.
Canon 5D Mark III + NiSi filters and Sigma Art 24mm F 1.4 DG HSM ƒ/16.0 - 24.0 mm - 13" - Iso 100
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Les dernières lueurs du soir
A Saturday night at Pilat beach. The last shot before returning. The brightness reduces very quickly. Opposite, the lighthouse of Cap Ferret tirelessly spins its light beam in the sky.
Canon 5D Mark III + New NiSi V5-PRO holder system + NiSi Pro C-PL + NiSi Reverse nano GND(8)0.9 and Sigma Art 24mm ƒ/1.4 DG HSM
5760x3840 px
Un soir à Roscoff
Seven hours of driving in the legs.
A small hotel booked passing by Morlaix. A spot found a few hours before on the cell phone. A tour of the city center. A pint of Breton beer.
A tide down revealing the pier.
I have 10 minutes to settle and the second part of the holidays can begin.
Canon 5D Mark III + NiSi filters and Sigma Art 24mm ƒ/1.4 DG HSM
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Un express pour trois. #3
Swept by the waves and the ebb, while the sky ignites, the debris in the rocks dry their tears of a present that is no more.
Canon 5D Mark III + NiSi filters and Sigma Art 24mm F 1.4 DG HSM - ƒ/14.0 - 24.0 mm - 6" - Iso 100
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Un express pour trois. #2
Okay. Once again my predictions turn out to be wrong. This is not surprising and it suits me well. The uncertain side of the thing is part of the game. A nice breakthrough is taking place, so I shift on the dike overlooking the beach. Come on, here we go again!
Canon 5D Mark III + NiSi filters and Sigma Art 24mm F 1.4 DG HSM - ƒ/14.0 - 24.0 mm - 3.2" - Iso 100
5760x3840 px
Un express pour trois. #4
Life is an endless circle. All that has passed will recommence. Life, death, wars, fashions, days and nights, seasons. Every day, for most of us, we live in a routine. We think we control things, the time, our body. We cling to our habits.
But everything is nothingness, emptiness. Life, death, our memories, the past, the future. Only the present is a reality. A reality in which the emptiness of things form a whole. Everything is connected in this conceptualized world where everything exists through another. And so, it is quite logical that I come back to take a shot at my starting point. Another one after this one and I will leave where I come from: in the nothingness of a world that does not exist; a filled void.
Canon 5D Mark III + NiSi filters and Sigma Art 24mm F 1.4 DG HSM - ƒ/14.0 - 24.0 mm - 2.5" - Iso 100
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Mardi soir à Barrika
After 4 hours of driving in a rainy and cloudy weather, we arrive on the beach of Barrika. By the time the tide recedes, some photographers join me. The sky has since discovered a little, but the wind blows strong and the window of sunlight closes very quickly before us. The beach of the dragon is not so easy... However, it allowed me to capture a beautiful moment.
Canon 5D Mark III + New NiSi V5-PRO holder system + NiSi Pro C-PL + NiSi Reverse nano GND(8)0.9 and Sigma Art 24mm ƒ/1.4 DG HSM
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Le temps passe
Time passes, the sun is hiding. The tide goes down and the colors rise in intensity. I now have access to the rocks that, shortly before, were submerged.
Canon 5D Mark III + NiSi filters and Sigma Art 24mm ƒ/1.4 DG HSM
5653x3769 px
The bunker of naked asses. #2
On the beach, where they now take off their swimsuits, remain the remains of the bunkers, which were once used to take lives.
Canon 5D Mark III + NiSi filters and Sigma Art 24mm F 1.4 DG HSM ƒ/16.0 - 24.0 mm - 161" - Iso 400
5758x3239 px