Southern France and my Canon G10

dadwtwins · August 18, 2009

First let me say sorry that I have been gone for so long. I took a little break from public life to just relax and spend sometime with the family. I spent the last several weeks in the southern part of France visiting my parents and recouping from a recent illness.

I decided to bring and test out the limits of my Canon G10 Point & Shoot. It is not nearly as cooperative, flexible nor as sharp as my Nikon D3 but it also does not weigh a ton and is convenient enough to stuff in my pockets. The only real disappointment I had was with the high noise in the shadows and its inability to shot quality shots in dark situations. I found that many of my shots were just not that sharp unless the lighting conditions were ideal. Maybe I am just terribly spoiled by the abilities of my D3 paired with the lens collection I own. I just need to remind myself that this was not a photo vacation but a time to spend with my family and to recoup.

Instead of overcrowding my parents place in Caune-Minervois with all five of us, we ended up staying a few kilometers away at a wonderful place called <a href="http://www.caunesminervois.com/Les-Berges-Caunes-Minervois_143.html">Les Berges</a> that is run by longtime family friends Lois and Terry Link. They rent out four apartments in their vast home that they fixed up to a very comfortable place to stay. If any of you are thinking of visiting the Southern part of France in or around Caunes-Minervois, give them a call to see if they have room for you and your family. You will not regret it, especially if you have children.

<a href="http://www.caunesminervois.com/Les-Berges-Caunes-Minervois_143.html">Berges</a> is the absolute perfect place for children of all ages. Their land is filled with a ton of activities that kids just eat up. My kids spent most of their time either playing in the creek hunting for minnows and harmless water snakes to swimming in the pool. They also have a nice kids play area with a swing, tree fort and open grass area.

Les Berges
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Walking towards Adventure
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Friends Climbing onto the in-progress tree house
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All three enjoying a little swinging relaxation.
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On the hunt for minnows
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Isabel spotting fish for her sister
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Eva loved this swing
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Using the Olympus 1030sw for some underwater shots
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I kept thinking that this camera is just too cool while Eva and Isabel show off their skills
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Theresa and Declan cooling off from the heat
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Declan's perfect size pool
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That is it for now. I just wanted to give you a little taste of what I have been up to. I will keep posting about my trip over the next few days.

Stay tuned.........

Cuong · August 18, 2009

Looks like everyone had a great time. The G10 is no D3 for sure, but you didn't do too badly from what we can see. The twins are so photogenic.

Cuong

Andy · August 18, 2009

Been missing you!

dadwtwins · August 18, 2009

Andy wrote:

Been missing you!

Thanks Andy. Will I see you in Utah???

Awais Yaqub · August 18, 2009

Oh man really missed you, even FB was so boring without you. But i am glad you were away for such a beautiful vacation with your family.

Lovely photos, i will love to spend some time at your friend's guest room someday

dadwtwins · August 18, 2009

Cuong wrote:

Looks like everyone had a great time. The G10 is no D3 for sure, but you didn't do too badly from what we can see. The twins are so photogenic.

Cuong

Thank you Coung. As I post the rest of the pictures, you will see the struggles I had with the G10. I do not know why i expected so much. I have to remember that the G10 does a great job considering its size. I sort of wish they would drop the megapixels and stuff a larger sensor that can handle higher ISO's to capture darker scenes better. Just a wish

dadwtwins · August 18, 2009

Awais Yaqub wrote:

Oh man really missed you, even FB was so boring without you. But i am glad you were away for such a beautiful vacation with your family. Lovely photos, i will love to spend some time at your friend's guest room someday

hahaha, Thank you Awais. I know you would love Caunes-Minervois. The amount of photo opportunities is staggering. I you ever do travel to Southern France, I know I could hook you up

dadwtwins · August 18, 2009

Part 2
One of many great memories I have come away with from Les Berges is the unbelievable diversity and amount of little wildlife. There might not be majestic big cats, elegant plains animals or cute furry little animals running around but there is no shortage of wildlife here in this part of Southern France. You just have to look down, listen and focus on the smaller world of Insects, bugs and reptiles.

First let me introduce you to the critters that gave me the willies. Since I do not know their names in English, having only a bug identification book in French, I will use their French names.

Le Scorpian Noir - We found one of these guys almost every other day hanging on the walls in our apartment. It seemed there was a slight scorpion infestation this year at Berges or they just loved me so much, they decided to greet me on a daily basis.

Le scorpion noir w-Le Psammodrone das sables - The lizard was already dead when this scorpion decided to carry it around.

La Scutigere - This little creature is super fast. Even though they do not bite, they still gave me the willies. This one was found in our shower basin and was unable to climb up the sides to escape. She was probable 2 inches long

The translated French name for this seven legged beast is Big Hairy and Scary. This spider was at least 6 inches long but I never saw it move. It was smacked by a very big shoe before it had a chance. She was sitting a foot away from my head by our bed.

Le Minioptere - Twice at our stay in Berges we had visitors fly through the windows at night chasing moths attracted by our lights. I do not mind visitors as long as they leave when I ask. These bats just did not seem to care about manners. A broom seemed to do the trick.

Couleuvre a Collier - The creeks in this area are filled with these little water snakes that were no longer than a couple of feet in length. I was amazed how long they were able to stay under water before coming up for air. These particular snakes have almost exact markings of a viper that live in the same area. The major differences are that these snakes have round eyes instead of oval eyes.

Now for the more tame creatures that did not give me a fright but more of a warm fuzzy feeling.

L'Hemidactyle verruqueux - This Gecko fascinated me. She stood in front of these lights and as the moths flew towards her, she would eat them. Very cool

L'Escargot Elegant - On the way back from Mirapoix's farmers market, we found these beautiful snails.

I do not know about this gal. She kept given me the eye ;-)

Bumble Bee

Le Xylocope violace ou Abeille charpentiere - These carpenter bees are huge. They were probably an inch to one and one half of an inch in length. They have beautiful deep purple wings with black bodies.

Le Moro-Sphinx - This 1 inch moth took me a good two weeks to capture a somewhat clear shot. At first I thought she was a hummingbird but the locals told me otherwise. They move, look and are as shy as hummingbirds but to my surprise, they are not by the evidence of this shot. I never did see how one looked when they landed

Le Criquet - Lets just say they were everywhere. At night time, their calls were deafening and calming at the same time.

Le Criquet rhodanien - Another huge bug. This one was probably 4 inches in length. When she finally jumped to get away from me, she went at least 20 feet. I was amazed how far they could jump without the use of wings.

Le Cotoine Doree - I loved the colors on this scarab. They seemed to really love the roses.

Le Calopteryx vierge meridional - probably the most gorgeous damsel fly I have seen. She was dark blue with extremely bright alternating light blue stripes.

That is all I have for small creatures but that was just the tip compared to the varieties I saw. I could spend months just taking pics of these little critters but I had my family to enjoy as well during my stay here in southern France.

more to come in part 3

dadwtwins · August 19, 2009

part 3
During our stay at Berges, my mom offered to watch the kids so Theresa and I can drive off for a day trip. You got to love Moms. Theresa and I decided to head towards the Mediterranean Sea to the city of Sete and Meze. Both cities are huge fishing towns as by the design of the Canal du Midi that starts from Sete runs through Toulouse and then all the way to the Atlantic ocean some 150 miles in total length.

Before big semi-trucks and airplanes, the Canal du Midi was the main blood line for goods through the southern part of France. This path was much faster path than sailing clear around Spain as well as being much safer by avoiding the pirates of the time. Canal du Midi was built between 1666 and 1681. Hard to believe that this man made canal was dug up with shovels and picks.

Canal du Midi

Canal Lock - In order for the canal to run in mostly a straight line it must deal with elevation changes. It handles this by the use of a series of Locks. This is just one of the 91 locks that were built for the canal.

Since Theresa and I are not much into beaches, we stayed away from the extremely over crowded sand traps and stuck with Sete's and Meze's water ways. Meze is famous for their farming of Mussels and Oysters. This was very evident by the amount of farming platforms we saw there.

Sete is a fishing village. There were huge fishing boats crowding the water ways throughout Sete. In these pictures you will also see some rowers practicing for a sport that really intrigued me. Jousting with row boats.

In this part of the world, they have a sport called Joutes Nautiques. Even though we did not get to see an actual Joust competition, we did see the boats and the crews practicing speed rowing. The jousts are performed in these large row boats manned by one Jouster that stands atop of the raised platform and 10 oarsman that provide the motor power. I really wish we were there on a day of an event. Maybe next time.

Jousting Boats

more to come......

tisun · August 20, 2009

Dan,

Good to see your posts again. I visited Carcassonne and Toulouse during the winter of 2000 and love that area. Food was so good and cost a lot less than Paris. I didn't see bugs in the winter. I'll stick to winter visit to avoid them.

--Anthony

dadwtwins · August 20, 2009

tisun wrote:

Dan,

Good to see your posts again. I visited Carcassonne and Toulouse during the winter of 2000 and love that area. Food was so good and cost a lot less than Paris. I didn't see bugs in the winter. I'll stick to winter visit to avoid them.

--Anthony

If you ever go back, you stay at Berges or my parents place. You will love the cosy enviroment of the small village Caunes-Minervois.

The funny thing about France is that you really see a fat French person but the food is so damn good. It just shows you that quality food is just so much healthier than mass produced food we see here.

tisun · August 21, 2009

dadwtwins wrote:

If you ever go back, you stay at Berges or my parents place. You will love the cosy enviroment of the small village Caunes-Minervois.

The funny thing about France is that you really see a fat French person but the food is so damn good. It just shows you that quality food is just so much healthier than mass produced food we see here.

I would love to go back there one day. Perhaps, when my kid is a little bit older. A small cozy village sounds wonderful. I am craving for duck confit, magret, and cassoulet. Must go back...

Good food using good ingredients and consumed in moderation is always better than a large portion of processed food full of high-fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated vegetable oil, or drowned in salt.

dadwtwins · August 21, 2009

part 4
My kids were extremely excited when we told them that we were going to a real Castle called Cité de Carcassonne that is still occupied by private citizens. To tell you the truth, no matter how many times I have been here I still get a little excited. I can do without the touristy gift shop junk but I love the wall city itself. Where else can one walk across a moat into a wall city built in medieval times?

Le Cite - The city was gorgeous at night. This is where I wish a had a tripod with me.

Entrance to the center area of Le Cite. The walled city had three separate walls and two moats that protected this area from outside invaders.

This Gothic church was covered with Gargoyles.

I have always been fascinated by Gargoyles. The people that know me personally can contest to this by the large tattoo affixed to my right calf. I always thought of Gargoyles as the protectors from bad spirits.

still to come...part 5 and probably my last installment of this great family trip.

Andy · August 21, 2009

dadwtwins wrote:

Thanks Andy. Will I see you in Utah???

Awais Yaqub · August 21, 2009

Wow beautiful photographs Dan!
Came out very nice even without tripod !

dadwtwins · August 21, 2009

Awais Yaqub wrote:

Wow beautiful photographs Dan!
Came out very nice even without tripod !

It was my best attempt at a hand held 1 sec exposure time.

dadwtwins · August 23, 2009

The Finale of my trip entries.
I love to cook as much as photography and there is no better place for awesome ingredients than France. I went to Farmer's market at least twice week to buy food for the family. Unlike our mass food chains, the food does not last as long before one must use it or through it away. But, and this is a very big BUT, the produce is so much tastier since they are picked ripe and not picked weeks before they hit the market.

The meat is all grass feed and not stuffed with corn so the fat content is much lower and the flavours are much bolder. Beef tastes like beef, pork is freaking awesome, lamb, Veal, chicken and so on are just sooo good.

Enough talking about the food since I am starting to drool on my Mac and it is not pretty and onto some pics I took at some of the Markets.

Seafood is very big in these parts as one would expect since we are so close to the Mediterranean. At first I was a little weary about buying seafood from the market but that faded away as soon as I started to see how fresh the seafood really was.

The French version of crawdads. I loved these little guys. Nothing like admitting to eating and loving water insects. My kids would not touch them unless the meat was out of the shells.

The Markets not only sold fresh items but dry goods as well. Anyone want some rose pedals for their salads or to make rose pedal infused oil and sauces. The perfume wafting from these dried roses was incredible.

I made some humus with ingredients I bought from the market for a BBQ potluck we were going to at my parents. I used the normal amount of garlic I would usually use but that was a mistake. This garlic compared to the garlic from Gilroy is much much stronger. Still, everyone seemed to gobble it up but the smell the next day was brutal. Good thing we were all family and friends.

I so loved these small villages were the smaller farmer's markets were located. One really got a great feeling of age and time from the more modern homes that are a few hundred years old to the older abbeys and churches that date back to the 13th century or older.

Besides the joy of going to the markets, I also became a big fan of Le Cosy in Carcassone. This little bistro owned by Joseph Di Domenico not only has great food and atmosphere, it also has live jazz playing on special nights. One of those special nights that Theresa and I never missed while we were there was Saturdays. On this day, my dad, his drummer and sometimes bassist plays from 8pm to 11pm. I do not think there was a more proud son than I when I truly enjoyed listeneing to my dad play.

As you might notice on my home page of my web site is a picture of my dads hands floating across the piano. Even though my dad played mostly acoustic guitar when I was a kid, he held a passion for his first love of musical instruments, the piano.

I would have of never believed that my dad would become a jazz performer after he retired and especially of all places in southern France. You go dad!!!

Theresa and I enjoying great food and awesome Jazz

My Dad

On the second Saturday that we went to Le Cosy, we ran into a couple that got lost going from Toulouse to Beziers. They ended up at Le Cosy by chance, hungry, tired and probably frustrated since Beziers was another 90 km away.

As life goes, this was a blessing for me and all the guests at the bistro that night. The couple consisted of Adam Berry, American professional photojournalist working in Berlin, and his travel companion classically trained violinist from Hungry. For the life of me I can not remember her name :-(.

As we chatted with Adam, we convinced his travel companion to take out her violin and play some sets with my dad. It was amazing. She improvised beautifully even with extremely different music styles between the technically perfect style of classical music to the very rebelliousness style of Jazz.

It just shows you how a bad day for a frustrated traveling lost couple can turn into an evening of awesome music, great food and wonderful memories.

The owner of Le Cosy stood in awe over the music he was hearing. What a magical and memorable night

I hope everyone following along with me on this journey entry was able to have an understanding of how great of a time my family and I had here in southern France. The few times that I have gone to this part of the world, I am reminded why my parents ran away from home and planted themselves in a little part of heaven called southern France.

Love to my parents - Miss you already

1andyw · August 24, 2009

Outstanding presentation! The G-10 served you well.

AndyW

dadwtwins · August 27, 2009

1andyw wrote:

Outstanding presentation! The G-10 served you well.

AndyW

It did indeed.

I think the main draw back for me with P&S's is trying to take quick shots using the LCD instead of a good eye-piece. I much rather put the camera to my eye, compose the shot and then shoot.

Holding the camera at arms length, yes I am getting old

, compose the shot and then press the shutter just takes too long for me. I missed too many shots with the kids, bugs and street people trying to compose shots using the rear view LCD panel especially in bright daylight.:cry

aktse · August 27, 2009

:smo:smo:smo:smo:smo

G10. humph! I bet if you didn't tell people, some people would have assumed you got these with the D3!

And remember -- the best camera is the one that you have with you!

Truly amazing! I can't believe you got those bug macros without a macro lens!

dadwtwins · August 27, 2009

aktse wrote:

And remember -- the best camera is the one that you have with you!

I surly can not argue with that.

Elaine · August 27, 2009

Great story and photos! Thanks for sharing!

Mav · August 28, 2009

Absolutely incredible pictures

clap

And, as others have said, very cool that you took such great shots with the G10 - when I look at these shots, it makes me wonder why I needed an dSLR!!

Thanks for taking the time to post - I'm looking forward to your next set

Southern France and my Canon G10

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