Tag: Landscapes

Iconic Etretat cliff walk

Posted on by SteveH
Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes

The French coastline has an abundance of breathtaking views. The Iconic Etretat cliff walk along the cliffs in winter gives a breathtaking view of some unbelievable natural rock formations. It is no wonder that impressionist painters came here to capture the view in 19th century. The Iconic Etretat cliff walk runs both sides of the beach and both sides are worth the effort. This is one photo of many I took. There many more just below.

Getting to Etretat

Public transport would be my normal choice but there’s no train from Paris to Etretat. The trains goes part of the way and then you have to finish by bus. Far from ideal. If you are motivated enough this link has the information about the L504 bus. This link also has details of the various other bus and coach services from nearby towns like Le Havre and Fécamp.

So in the end car is the easiest way to get here. And many people do this. And this leads to a town with paid car parking every day of the year from 9h00 to 19h00. Parking prices are provided by the town here. The further out of town you park the cheaper it will be.

My photos

In no particular order some of the photos I took on my walk. When it was possible I got people in the image to give you some idea of the scale. You will also see the same image taken as the sun moves around the sky. Finally a few cliff shots to try and give you an idea of the height, the sheer drop and the fact that there are no fences. That’s right, you can walk to edge and put your life in danger for a selfie, something I strongly recommend you don’t do. On the subject of unnecessary risk. You are also not allowed within 50m of the foot of the cliffs. You will probably see evidence of recent collapses during your visit. Stay away and follow the advice of the plentiful signs. The cliffs are made mainly of chalk which doesn’t last forever. Take care and enjoy an Iconic Etretat cliff walk.

My walk

If you want to follow the same route then here are the details.

First of all I decided to focus on the north side of the beach for my walk. That is not to say ignoring the south side. So in fact you have to climb both sides to get the best of the Etretat cliff walk. That will be over 500 steps up and 500 down. Better make sure your knees are up to it

The 4 sections of my walk

  1. No matter where you park, or how you arrive you will end up on the sea front and you can walk along it to the cliffs. There is a path that takes you to the top of the Falaise d’Aval, the Aval Cliff, and the nearby Aiguille, the needle of Etretat. There are fantastic views here, not least of the beach, Plage El Karivis, the other side of the headland.
  2. I then returned to town and on the other end of the seafront are the steps up to the museum, the Gardens of Etretat and the cliff, La Falaise d’Amont. Aval and Amont are simply the French words for downstream and upstream. The gardens are open Wednesday to Sunday, and I have heard great things about them and you should find time to visit (by ticket). There is also a monument to the first aviators who tried to cross the Atlantic by plane.
  3. I recommend that you continue along the coastal path, passing the path that heads perpendicular in land, and at least up to the second bench. The first bench is by the town by the chapel. The second is on the cliff edge. Approximately 3km along the path. Along this path, the GR21, you can see the Aiguille de Belval, Belval needle, and the Roc Vaudieu, Vaudieu rock.
  4. That’s the end for me and I headed back to town along the same route. You could take the chemin du milieu, the central path, which is perpendicular to the coast around the Roc Vaudieu. It is signposted and easy to spot. My preference would to walk back along the coast, more interesting to see the sites from another angle in a different light.

How to purchase

Some of these photos are available for purchase on my store. Or from the menu above, or even buy your art directly below.


Other posts you may like

  • I went for a Spring walk with a macro lens around my home town, the images can be seen in this post.
  • I went for a walk along the river in Pitlochry, Scotland

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Walking with a macro lens

Posted on by SteveH
Estimated Reading Time: < 1 minute

The bright sunny days in Spring are ideal to go walking with a macro lens. The sun is relatively low, the air clear, the plants all nice a new. I took all the following buds, flowers and seeds in a radius of a few kilometers. The fact that I was walking with a macro lens meant that I saw more. I was looking for original seeds and new growth. Unfortunately it meant that my walk took a little longer than expected.

This local park is typical of the scenery this time of year in the Yvelines in France. It is the only photograph that wasn’t taken with my 100mm macro lens.

There are new flowers and buds in the garden in Spring alongside the leaves and seeds from last year’s growth. There are more photographs of flowers and plants in my gallery.

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End of the day – the Eiffel Tower

Posted on by SteveH
Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes

I was not very quick getting out of the house today. However a short trip into Paris and I realised I could take some photographs of the most iconic tower at end of the day – the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It was late in the day and I thought as I walked around the site I could capture the tower in different lighting.

In the evening bring a tripod

I had brought my full kit bag with me fortunately. It contains spare cards, batteries, objectives and 2 tripods. A classic tripod that attaches to the outside and a small one with bendy legs inside. It was the latter that proved most useful. The Eiffel tower is well known and very busy. The small tripod allowed me to easily use walls, statues and the ground for my shots. With the advantage of not bothering too many people.

The light

The glorious light of a winter’s day gives way to various stages of light as the sun sets and the light has to pass through more of our planet’s atmosphere. I discuss this further in another blog post. The phases for these photos are:

  • Golden hour
  • Blue hour
  • Twilight
  • Night

The route

I started at the Alma-Marceau metro station. This is on the right bank of the River Seine and allows me to approach the tower via the pont de l’Alma. I then crossed the river Seine and walked towards the tower along the Quai Jacques Chirac. Once at the foot of the tower I walked away from the river towards the Champs de Mars. Then across the gardens to walk back to the river and back to the foot of the Eiffel tower. Then back across the river Seine via the Pont d’Iena. Up the pathways via the Trocadero gardens and finally back into the metro system and home. This short walk took me to the end of the day – the Eiffel Tower was definitely the star of the show.

Also along the route

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Explore underground Paris

Late evening sunlight

Low light needs a tripod and patience

Visiting the Arc de Triomphe and the business district La Défense

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Winter walk around Pitlochry

Posted on by SteveH
Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

I want to share with you my winter walk around Pitlochry, Scotland. I was lucky enough to have a few days in Scotland in November and wanted to see some of the beautiful countryside. An additional constraint was that I was travelling by train and foot. I wanted to make the most of my time and was looking for places where there was easy access to walks and tourist activities, by foot, from the train station. In the end I chose Pitlochry, Perth and Edinburgh. I took a winter walk around Pitlochry on one of the days.

Getting there by train

It was very easy with direct trains from Edinburgh and hotels in the town centre which is only a short walk from the station. To get there I took the direct train. Going home I stopped in Perth, which gave me the opportunity to take the train to Edinburgh around the coast, via Dalgety Bay, over the iconic 1.5-mile long red railway bridge, opened in 1890 & crossing the Forth estuary.

The river Tummel and Garry walk

There are a few proposals for local walks on the town’s website but they seem to miss a trick by making walkers spend too much time on the roads. The closest the site offers is the Faskally via Garry Bridge walk. If you download the map from this link you will see that large parts are on the road. The portion between Coronation Bridge and Garry bridge is in the woods and follows the nature trail. I feel that if you are able to do this portion then its only a small step to take the decision to follow the trail along the Tummel river bank and through the Faskally woods.

Starting point – the Power station and salmon ladder

I wanted to take my time and capture the beauty along the route so no rushing about. I estimate it was about 13km and with a little break for lunch I was out for 5 hours. A lovely day. The town centre is very close to the river Tummel. The train station is sandwiched between the river and town centre.

The river has a dam, power station and salmon ladder. The dam creates Loch Faskally and some exceptional photo opportunities. The power of the water is impressive.

Waterside walk to the Clunie Foot bridge

After crossing the dam there is a path alongside the river which joins the Foss road, parallel to the A9, which takes you to the Clunie foot bridge. This bridge is just below the Pitlochry bypass road bridge.

Cross the bridge and immediately turn left. The path drops gently down and take you to Faskally forest. Here you have a decision to take.

Faskally Forest and Loch Dunmore

The Faskally forest walk on the towns site gives you a circular walk around Loch Dunmore. This allows you to see the Loch, the forest and walk alongside the river. We are more ambitious and once we get to the far end of Loch Dunmore we are going to continue upstream to the river Garry. So here you must decide to stick to the river or venture up the hill to the forest. As there are plenty of river banks in the plan I chose to climb the hill and walk through the forest. It is worth noting that Faskally forest hosts, in the October time frame, a light show. The Enchanted Forest will return to Pitlochry in 2023, from Oct 5 to Nov 5. The website has all the details and tickets (opens in a new tab).

The banks of the Tummel to the river Garry bridge

The path continues northwards, upstream, towards the Marine Scotland, Freshwater laboratory, which is private. Just before this complex the path turns left to follow the river bank and the fishing sites. There is a large field on your right and the river on your left. On the other side of the river you will see the hydro electric plant which we will pass later. The path follows the river until it joins the river Garry. This continues under the River Garry road bridge and by a treetop zip wire park. The Garry bridge is unusual as it is home to a permanent bungee jump. The website has all the details of the jump and zip wires (opens in a new tab) Needless to say I did neither.

River Garry back to Linn of Tummel

Shortly after the road bridge is the foot bridge, which is worryingly limited to 10 people at a time. I was not worried and crossed comfortably. This is one of several spots on the walk with a car park if needed.

So now we start heading back downstream towards Pitlochry. But first we have to get to the spectacular Linn of Tummel. The path starts by running down alongside a large field and huge pine trees. Amongst these trees we find a flight of stairs. If you walk this way round the circuit you have to climb the stairs but on the up side get to walk down hill for the last kilometre back to town. You could decide to walk up that hill and down these stairs.

As we rejoin the confluence of the rivers Garry and Tummel we find the Linn of Tummel. The Linn of Tummel is owned by the National Trust for Scotland and more info can be found here (open in a new tab). The fast flowing river Tummel feeds into Loch Faskally here and provides spectacular rapids.

You follow the path upstream to the Coronation suspension bridge which allows us to cross and return to the route back to town.

Road walk back to Clunie foot bridge

We can now relax and follow the gentle undulations of the road back to the Clunie foot bridge. We will pass the hydro power plant and have wonderful views of the river, the Faskally forest and Loch Faskally. All this is set in the foreground to the Ben-y-Vrackie mountain.

Of note is the Clunie Memorial Arch. The arch is the same size as the tunnel that carries the water to the power station. Very impressive. More info in a new tab here.

Clunie Foot Bridge to Pitlochry

Here we are back at the foot bridge. You can walk back to the dam retracing your steps earlier. Or, like me, cross the bridge and this time turn right to head to the town centre on the other side of the river Tummel that we have not seen yet. There was a lovely view of the river from the Pitlochry Boating Station & Adventure Hire site.

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Other posts you may like

  • I went for a Spring walk with a macro lens around my home town, the images can be seen in this post.
  • I also went for a walk along the coast of France near Etretat and its famous arches

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Statue of Liberty

Posted on by SteveH
Estimated Reading Time: < 1 minute

I wanted to take a current view of the statue of liberty and try to show the felling it might have on someone who was arriving in the USA today but with the conditions of 100 years ago. No idea what was happening, what was being said, what the process was but a belief that the future was bright. To help show that brightness I decided to take a Black and white Statue of Liberty image.

The photos were taken in colour and can be found on my 500px page (opens in a new tab). I felt that a Black and white Statue of Liberty was more imposing and a better fit with the idea I had.

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statue of liberty art

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The Sentier des Douaniers

Posted on by SteveH
Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes

One of the most predictable routes to get fantastic views of the beautiful French coastline is to walk along The Sentier des Douaniers. The path was created 100s of years ago to allow the coast to be monitored and prevent smuggling. The path runs along the Mediterranean coast by Toulon. Here The Sentier des Douaniers is referred to as the sentier du littoral, a less adventurous name.

Not for everyone

The path is no longer a wild track for the most part and has been made safer and more accessible. Around Toulon work is still in progress and part of The Sentier des Douaniers is currently closed (May 2022) for work. You should also be aware that it runs along the very edge of sea, close to cliffs at some stages. If you take the route you will have to walk along beaches, along the cliffs and may get wet feet.

My walk

I took the bus 6 from the centre of Toulon, direction La Terre Promise. Bus is the best way to get around Toulon and I recommend the 10 trip pass which I installed on my phone. All the information is on the Reseau Mistral website (opens in a new tab). Time was limited so I got off at Magaud to start my walk back to Toulon from the Anse de Magaud. Anse is the French for a small deep bay.

From the bus stop I took the chemin de la mer. It is a single track road down to the east end of the anse. Although I didn’t, there is a restaurant on the beach here should you wish to start with lunch.

Fabulous rock formations

I was surrounded by the sea and rugged rocks along the walk. I keep my eyes open for interesting shots and different perspectives. Here are a couple of the photos and one that I think captures the tranquility of my day.

From the anse I walked around the pebble beach to the fishing village of Cap Brun.

Cap Brun

Walk up through the village and car parks to the promontory. Here you have splendid views of the Anse de Magaud that I have just walked along and to the west the Anse de Méjean, with Toulon in the distance.

At Cap Brun the Sentier des Douaniers offers spectacular views.

Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Cap-Falcon

On Cap Brun there is the Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Cap-Falcon which is not open to the public. There is an impressive statue of the Virgin Mary which was installed in 1975. The statue itself dates from the second world war.

Work in Progress

Unfortunately the work on The Sentier des Douaniers is still in progress from here tio Toulon. So I had to walk up to the road via the chemin de la Batterie Basse. I walked to town but you could take the 23 bus to town (it is only 4 stops). This takes you to Mourillon, and its beaches. There is also the Tour Royale, which is closed at the moment, and its park. There are public toilets here too.

Back to town

Because of the presence in Toulon of the large naval base its not possible to follw the coast to town so head back to the Av. des Tirailleurs Sénégalais and had back to the Mayol Stadium.

As a little treat I used my mistral travel pass to take the boat across the bay to Sablettes. The pass is valid on both the bus and boat services. There was no other reason than I wanted to take é boat trip. I then took the 8 bus back from the other side of the bay to see the town.

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There are many pages with photos of the sea and landscapes for example

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Waterfalls always impress

Posted on by SteveH
Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes

It doesn’t matter what the size and scale is, waterfalls always impress. It may the noise, the spray, the pull of the rushing water or the sheer scale of the waterfall, in the end waterfalls always impress. I realized looking through some photos that I have visited 4 different size waterfalls and in each case I loved the visit. Why? Is it the overall experience, the beauty, the context and the feeling of power?

Big or Small, Which do you prefer?

Let’s start small; I have posted a blog post on the smallest and closest waterfall earlier, you can see it here where I was discussing shutter speeds. It still has a lot of charm and makes this small park a lovely place to visit.

The same stream continues to a smaller fall maybe 50m downstream

It is clearly not the size of the river or the height of the fall that makes these waterfalls always impress.

Yorkshire, UK: The Dales

I visited Yorkshire and in the Dales came across 2 falls of significance. They are a big step up from those discussed above. The West Burton Falls. The Cauldron Falls, on Walden Beck, pictured here, were painted by Turner and are just a short walk from the village. Nearby there are the Cray Gill falls but I didn’t get to see them. Maybe next time.

Instead I drove a short distance to the Aysgarth falls. These are on the River Ure (W3W location) and have also been painted by Turner. They consist of three stepped waterfalls and are easily accessed by a footpath. They have featured in the cinema blockbuster movie Robin Hood Prince of Thieves.

Mortain, France

Mortain-Bocage is situated in Normandy, in the Manche department of France. There are 2 waterfalls in Mortain. I talked about my weekend in Normandy in this blog post. The larger falls are 25m tall and are impressive and the tallest in Northern France.

Quebec, Canada

Parc de la Chute‑Montmorency, the Montmorency Falls in Quebec are in a totally different league. They are located on the Montmorency river just before it joins the St Lawrence river. In the past there was a power station here. The most impressive aspect of these falls is tehri height. The falls are 83m, over 270 feet, and that is a significant 30m more that the famous Niagara Falls.

There are several things to see here besides the thundering falls, the suspension bridge, the panoramic staircase (which was closed when I went in April) and the Via Ferrata (opens in a new tab) which is only for adrenalin mad people. The panoramic photo I have here was taken from the cable car station at the lower car park. I don’t feel I missed much by not taking the car, it soon becomes expensive when you are not travelling alone and that cost is outweighed by the fact that the car park fee covers both car parks. The lower one by the station and the upper one by the Manoir Montmorency.

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Some of these photos are available for purchase on my Adobe Stock store. Or from the menu above, or even buy your art directly below.

Reflections on water

Posted on by SteveH
Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes

The early part of 2022 has seen a lot of rain. The river Seine is rising once again and puddles are everywhere. The wide well maintained easy walkways are turning into muddy cross country challenges. Water is an unpredictable medium and can give surprising images. On this day I decided to focus on reflections on water. I returned to the Étang de la Galiotte and walked around the parc du peuple de l’herbe. I have published a post about this park before when I visited in June 2021. This post is here and here you will find information on how to get there.

Today I was travelling light, no tripods, filters, spare objectives, and went by chance just to see what the river was doing at the end of the day following a lot of rain. As I have said before (in my post on Urban Settings) I like to set myself a theme so today it was reflections on water.

The Étang de la Galiotte

The lake is separated from the river Seine by a thin strip of land. This forms part of the walkways around the park. The first photo is taken from the viewing platform here looking away from the river. The second from the northern pathway looking towards the south and the floating buildings.

River Seine

Looking the other way, to the west is the river Seine. Paris is upstream (left) from this point. As it’s been raining a lot the river is rising and encroaching on the river banks and viewing platforms.

The parc du peuple de l’herbe

Heading back inland and trying to stick to my theme the paths were wet on sometimes underwater. There are many seating areas and picnic tables and these would be great for summer days out. But in winter after a lot of rain these chairs and their reflections should give you an idea of the general state of the park.

You will find other photos of reflections in many pages, for example Beautiful Landscapes, Using a zoom lens, Spring walk along the Seine.

Some of my photos are available for purchase on my Adobe Stock store or the link in the menu.

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Late evening sunlight

Posted on by SteveH
Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes

The late fall/autumn evenings announce the arrival of a sun that is lower in the sky and gives a warmer glow to your images. Late evening sunlight is often enhanced by a sprinkling of cloud in a crisp blue sky. I particularly like it for creating silhouettes, sunbursts and warm panoramic scenes.

The sunlight early in the morning is also a desirable commodity and gives wonderful lighting to your photographs. Late evening sunlight, like early morning sunlight, takes a different, longer journey through the atmosphere before reaching the subject of your photograph. The blue light tends to get dispersed on this longer journey leaving more red and oranges.

The Golden and Blue hours

As the quantity of blue light is reduced the Late evening sunlight has a more golden colour, and this gives rise to the popular term of the Golden Hour. The golden hour occurs shortly after the sun has risen and before the sun sets. As the sun sets and sinks below the horizon all those red and orange lights are fired over our heads and the light turns bluer as we head towards night. Likewise in eth morning, before the sun rises the light has a blue tinge to it. It isn’t difficult to understand why these periods are known as the blue hours. It’s worth noting that neither the blue, nor golden hours actually last rigorously an hour. Their duration depends on the time of year and where you find yourself on the planet.

Position of the sun

The lighting around dawn and dusk are determined by the position of the sun. During the golden hour the sun’s position is low. The late evening sunlight of the golden hour gives you :

  • more reds and oranges
  • longer shadows
  • lower intensity light
  • side or straight on lighting

The midday sun would be the opposite lighting. The sun gives

  • bright whites and dark blacks
  • short shadows
  • bright bleached washed out colours
  • top down lighting

So the golden hour is the prefer time for many photographers.

Morning and Evening

There are two golden hours each day. In summer, the closer you live to the poles, the earlier or later you have to be out taking photographs. That can be a considerable advantage of the winter golden hours for the late risers. Taking advantage of the both golden hours is not always required. Choose the best one for your subject. The sun won’t be totally opposite in the morning and evening golden hours but if the sun is the wrong side of your subject in the morning, there is a good chance in the late evening sunlight you will have the shot you are looking for.

As the day turns to night the photographs are transformed with the changing light. The last few minutes of the late evening sunlight give beautiful sunsets.

Some of these photos are available for purchase on my Adobe Stock store. Or from the menu above, or even buy your art directly below.


Other posts that may interest you

End of the day – the Eiffel tower

Low light needs a tripod and patience

Urban settings

Posted on by SteveH
Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes

Urban settings can provide you with a refreshing new environment and different stimuli to get your creative juices following. On the western edge of Paris is the large urban development of “Paris La Défense”. It spreads out over three towns: Courbevoie, Nanterre and Puteaux. It includes a large pedestrian area surrounded by huge office towers, a few residential buildings, dozens of works of art and a large shopping centre. It’s a great place for an afternoon’s photography.

Urban settings provide a wide variety of potential themes and can be overwhelming. When I head to an urban setting I give myself a theme and try to use that to get myself on a roll. Inevitably I get distracted and wander off topic and that’s exactly what I want!

My visit took place on a sunny afternoon. Much more pleasant when walking around outside. But wet and cloudy weather should not be a reason to cancel. It could actually be the subject of another urban setting post if I remember.

Themes

What sort of themes can you choose to help you get going in such an environment? Well there’s no real limit. Some of the easier, and larger topics, include :

  • Reflections and Shadows
  • Curves and Straight lines
  • Art and Graffiti
  • People
  • Buildings and bridges
  • Skyline and towers

You pick your favorite and then go where it takes you. It’s very hard not to be distracted by the things that catch your eye. I think I started with curves and lines.

As you can see it didn’t take long to get into shadows, reflections skylines, and people. What is important is to be imaginative. A couple of my favorites from the afternoon out are the reflection of people and the cube, more properly referred to as the Grand Arche de La Defense.

Preparing your trip

So what do you need to do before heading out to ensure you get the best of the visit?

Time needed: 2 hours and 30 minutes

Tips to help you organize your day.

  1. Camera and Equipment

    You’ll need an empty SD card and a full battery. A zoom lens, maybe a polarizing filter. If you’re going to be there late, pack your tripod. Some protection against the weather if you have a doubt.

  2. Getting there

    There are a large variety of transport infrastructures at La defense, including many car parks. However I would avoid cars if you can and prefer Overground or underground rail, bus, or tram. The parvis is also designed for bicycles, and scooters. Which also means getting around if you are less able is not a problem.

  3. The visit

    There are no rules here. But I like to do a loop. For 2 reasons, firstly it gets me back to my transport system, and secondly I get 2 chances to photograph everything in two different periods of the day. I start at the western end, near Nanterre where the tram and overground SNCF stations are. You can do it the other way by starting near Paris in the east at the metro station Parvis de La Defense. The RER station and buses are in between these. Also note the RER train tickets are more expensive that the metro.

  4. Useful web sites

    La defense French and English with all the latest news and events, and maps
    Le 4 temps and CNIT shopping
    Public transport In English and French

While you are there

If you really want make a day of it, and evening. there are other things to do including:

  • The Paris La Défense Arena which hosts concerts and sporting events.
  • La Grande Arche, which is itself a spectacular building, but also has an exhibition area which often has photography exhibitions

I hope that helps you have a successful day.

There are some photos of bridges in my walk along the river Seine post and more of La Défense from a more recent visit.

Other photos of mine are available for purchase on my Adobe Stock store or via the store below.