Dominique’s old stones (mostly)

[Blue439]

A village in red (2017)

Collonges-la-Rouge (“Collonges the Red”) is a Mediæval and Renaissance village in the Dordogne region of France (that’s in the southwestern quadrant of the country). A priory was founded here in 782 by Benedictine monks from the abbey of Charroux, and the village developed around it. It was also a useful overnight stop on the path to Compostela via Rocamadour.

Most of the historic homes that can still be seen today are from the 16th century, and terribly picturesque, of course. The local sandstone is colored by two percent iron oxide, which gives it this distinctive color, a bit like in Alsace (for the same reason). Collonges is listed among the Plus beaux villages de France, i.e., the “Most beautiful Villages of France”, and therefore impossibly over–touristed in the Summer.

Nikon D810, Nikkor 35mm, ƒ/1.4 G lens, handheld.

 

[Blue439]

The tallest one (2016)

The menhir (in Breton: pointy stone) of Kerloas in Brittany is the tallest still standing today. At 9.5 meters above ground (with an additional 2 to 3 meters below), it is quite remarkable, and so distinctly visible on its 132–meter hill that sailors used to use it as a daymark, even though it stands more than 10 kilometers inland. It is indeed visible from more than 30 kilometers away when the visibility is good.

It used to be at least 12 meters tall, but the top part got cut down by lightning.

Nikon D810, Nikkor 24mm, ƒ/1.4 G lens, handheld.

 

[Blue439]

The higher church of Saint–Floret (2016)

The “higher” church (“l’église haute”) of the village Saint–Floret in Auvergne (central France) stands on a bare weather-beaten mountaintop quite a ways above the village and the “lower” church. Back in the day, one had to punish one’s body for the privilege of attending Mass... Nowadays, churches are well-lit and heated, but attendance is at an all-time low... Anyway, the higher church is not particularly old, its oldest parts date back from the 1200s, but the small cemetery around it includes some rare and very interesting man–shaped excavations that are very old Merovingian tombs from the so–called “Dark Ages”. Bodies were laid in those shallow graves and covered by a layer of earth one imagines rather thin, consolidated by boulders...

People were noticeably smaller back then, yet one or two of those excavations were obviously for poor children. Child mortality was of course appalling by modern-day standards.

Nikon D810, Nikkor 24mm, ƒ/1.4 G lens, handheld.

 

[Clovishound]

My wife used to do genealogy research, and it was amazing how many families lost so many children. Not uncommon for a family to lose several children within a week or two due to an illness going around.

A lot of people romanticize about earlier times. I wouldn't want to have to do without modern medicine.

 

[Needa]

Indoor plumbing is nice too!

 

[Blue439]

The Devil’s Bridge over the Couze River

Deep into the Auvergne (central France) lies the quiet valley of Rentières, in which runs the River Couze. Not far from the village of Ardes, where part of my family comes from (yes, Auvergne is also a Celtic country!), there is this very strange little bridge that allows passage over the Couze... if you dare use it, that is!

It is Mediæval but was obviously restored several times since the Middle Ages, and the success of its graceful but very daring arch was of course attributed to Lucifer... After all, his name means “the Bringer of Light” (i.e., of knowledge), and in the Middle Ages, any never-seen-before technical prowess tended to be attributed to some conspiracy with the Devil...

I like to think that this was one of my dear Mom’s favorite places when she was a very young child, and that is why I dispersed half of her ashes there in the river, on that sad and gray January afternoon of 2016, after she passed away at age 96.

Coincidentally, and just a few days before, I had gone precisely there to shoot some pictures. Was it a premonition that I, at the time, failed to recognize? What really did draw me there that day? Who knows how Fate works in such mysterious ways?

Nikon D810, Nikkor 24mm, ƒ/1.4 G lens, handheld.

 

[Blue439]

A nice house on the water in the quiet inlet of Brigneau in southern Brittany (2016).

Nikon D810, Carl Zeiss 15mm, ƒ/2.8 Distagon T* ZF.2 lens, manual focus.

 

[Blue439]

A Celtic presence in Auvergne (2015)

Auvergne is the province that lies in the center of France. Celts from Brittany came and conquered and settled here like they did on the way in most of western France, hence the large numbers of menhirs (“pointy stones”) and dolmens (“stone tables”). This took place during the 5th century BC, and this Celtic cross from the early 1100s, perhaps older, attests to their enduring presence on those land.

Nikon D810, Carl Zeiss 15mm, ƒ/2.8 Distagon T* ZF.2 lens, manual focus, handheld.

[Going away for the Holidays

Don’t worry if you do not see any new things uploaded by me over the Holiday Season, I will simply be away from my computer until the beginning of next year. On Sunday morning, my wife and I shall leave our home and drive up to Calais to board the “Shuttle” train that runs in the Channel Tunnel. We are going to spend Christmas and New Year’s with some of our children in England. On the return trip, we will be visiting more family in Normandy, then in the Paris area, so we won’t be back home again until January 6.

On the trip I will bring my iPad as usual so I may be able to respond to messages if any, but I won’t have anything to upload. I do bring minimal photo equipment as, aside from photo-shoots with my 2½ year-old granddaughter (her Mom is requesting them!), I intend to visit at least two seemingly very interesting Romanesque churches in the county of Kent, and maybe an additional one in the county of Norfolk. So, there will be things to show one day or another.

You guys all have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! See you in ’25!]

 

[Marilynne]

Have a safe and enjoyable trip Dominique!

Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Happy New Year also!!

 

[Dawg Pics]

I was wondering where you ran off to. Enjoy your holiday.

 

[Blue439]

Hello everyone, I am back from our family time in the UK, in Normandy and in Paris, with lots of lovely memories of those festive days!

To begin 2025 in style, here is a street photo taken in Paris a few days ago. I am most definitely not good at that genre, so don’t hold it against me! The camera and the lens (especially the lens —oh, that lovely, lovely lens!) did all the work.

Nikon Z7 II, Nikkor Z 135mm, ƒ/1.8 S Plena lens, handheld.

Happy New year, everyone !

 

[Marilynne]

Happy New Year and welcome back!

 

[Peter7100]

Happy New Year and a great photo to start it!

 

[Blue439]

Thanks a lot guys, Happy New Year to you too!

The photo below shows the Mediæval fortress of Couzan, in the old province of Auvergne (central France). It was built mostly during the late 1100s–early 1200s and is a remarkable example of military and defensive architecture of that period. There was space within the outer sheet wall to shelter all the population and cattle of the surrounding villages, in case of impending danger.

This photo is from 2016, taken with a D810 and a Micro-Nikkor 105mm, ƒ/2.8 macro lens, which demonstrates that such a lens can very well be used as a short telephoto for landscape, even though that’s not what it was designed for, primarily...

 

[Blue439]

Last visit to Venice (February 2016)

Facing the Giudecca Island, the deserted terrace of Da Nico, one of the best ice–cream places in town, famous among aficionados for its gianduiotto flavor. I had to have one, of course, even in February, and so I took this photograph from the threshold of the store as I waited while my treat was being prepared.

Nikon D810, Nikkor 24mm, ƒ/134 G lens, handheld.

 

[Blue439]

The dunes of Keremma, almost 10 years ago (March 2015)

This may look like the Bahamas or the Maldives, but in fact it is northern Brittany, on a tract of land known as Keremma (“The house of Emma”), bought by the Rousseau family in the mid–1800s. The land remains in the same (and very much enlarged!) family to this day, it is now managed in trust by a council of cousins. Three hundred families and about 2,000 aunts, uncles and cousins now constitute this family that still jointly owns the 300 hectares of land with a couple dozen houses on it.

Because of the regulations on coastline protection, nothing else can be built here, regardless of who owns the land.

Nikon D810, Carl Zeiss Distagon 15mm, ƒ/2.8 T* ZF.2 lens, manual focus, handheld.

 

[Blue439]

The Mediæval castle of Beynac, Périgord (2017)

Built from the 1100s and substantially remodeled over the centuries, the Mediæval castle of Beynac in the Périgord region is one of the best preserved and most famous of the whole southwestern France. Listed as a Historic Landmark in 1944, its visit leaves wonderful and durable memories. I had gone there many years ago as a teenager with my father and I remembered that visit vividly when, in turn, we took one of our kids in his late teens for a visit. Nothing much has changed in 30 years or so...

The second photo shows one of the windows of the castle, which still looks just as it did in the Middle Ages, minus the cushions that would make the stone benches easier and less cold on the ladies’ backside as they worked the needle, making the most of whatever daylight was available...

Both photos taken with a Nikon D810 and a Nikkor 19mm, ƒ/4 PC-E tilt-shift lens, manual focus. Handheld.

 

[Blue439]

Next stop: America (2015)

Pen Hat beach in Brittany.

Nikon D810, Carl Zeiss Distagon 15mm, ƒ/2.8 T* ZF.2 lens, manual focus, handheld.

 

[Blue439]

A hiding place for customs officers (2015)

Throughout Brittany and since the Middle Ages, beaches and other parts of the coast easily accessible to man and goods were heavily watched (or supposed to be). Small stone houses like this one were built, hidden behind rocks so as to not betray their presence to anyone sailing in. They would offer shelter to customs officers, but of course they had a fireplace (with good eyes, you can discern the squat little chimney jutting out of the roof), and so trained eyes could sometimes detect puffs of smoke swirling up from a clump of otherwise innocuous-looking rocks... Then, of course, the better organized groups had accomplices on land that would bribe and/or inebriate liable or unsuspecting customs officers, so that smuggled goods (and, sometimes, people) could be nocturnally disembarked on the nearby beach...

Stories of that kind abound on both sides of the Manche (which the English like to appropriate by calling it the “English” Channel).

This customs shelter is on the beautiful sandy beach of Cléder, on the northern coast of Brittany.

Nikon D810, Nikkor 85mm, ƒ/1.4 G lens, handheld.

 

[nikonpup]

I LIKE THE STORY WITH YOUR PHOTOS.