Provençal Moulin Photo

Photographer’s Note

On the plain below Gordes, Provence, France

Scene
On the first day in the Roussillon area of Provence my wife and I were exploring backroads, hill top villages, and just taking in the region. In the afternoon as we were heading back toward Gordes we discovered this vineyard and windmill. I don't think we would have found this windmill under normal circumstances as we had been detoured onto a very narrow local road due to some road construction. If we are not in a hurry these detours can provide some interesting scenes and situations and they fall into our general exploring scheme. When we have a car, we try to avoid being locked into a schedule. We pick a few things and destinations we think might be interesting and then just go and discover what is around the next bend. Sometimes we make our destinations and sometimes we don't.

Background
Moulin is the French word for windmill. At one time this moulin was used either as a grape press or a granary for grinding local grains. Now, this moulin is a residence, I must assume, as there are wires leading into the structure as well as a satellite dish. When this image was captured it was mid May so the grapes were just the size of peas and the local lavender fields had budded and the blooms were still a month away but there was just a hint of lavender in the air.

carper, luiscar, gelor, scobert, Photo65Net, lilimih33, Floydian, delkoo, pboehringer, jmcl, wishlist, plimrn has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

carper (65742) 2007-05-24 12:43

lovely shot John,
the light is very good here, the composition is nice too, you have good contrast with the sky. What you can try to do to improve shots like this. Is to goo higher with youF and lower with your speed. I think F16 and 1/100 can be done. try it out on your shot and give later the results. farther very good photojob here.
gr. jaap

luiscar (3282) 2007-05-24 12:45

hola Jonh, gran escena la que presentas con gran gama tonal en tonos apagados perfectos, resolucion y POV, maravillosa.
felicidades un saludo
luiscar.
mañana puntos (..)

labro33 (2804) 2007-05-24 12:56

Hi John .
Great shot with nice composition.The colors are superb and the windmill standing as a big beautiful giant...
Well done
George

rgarrigus (0) 2007-05-24 13:05

John,

Beautiful shot! You've composed the lines of this image about perfectly I'd say and the texture of the stone is great.

scobert (5333) 2007-05-24 13:21

Hi John,
A beautiful photo! The lighting and composition is perfect. We just don't have these wonderful windmills in ths USA. They make great subjects. The slight softness of the DOF in the immediate foreground only affects this photo in a very insignificent way. This photo make me think of Don Quixote of La Mancha. Superb photo!
Stan

Photo65Net (43096) 2007-05-24 13:26

John,
A typical Provence view.
You composed it nicely, with beautiful foreground with the vineyard, and you got impressive sharpness.
Beautiful,
Regards,
JB.

lilimih33 (9874) 2007-05-24 13:29

Hello John!
Very beautiful composition and lovely colours, light and clarity!
Nice point of view!
Excellent done!
Lili

Floydian (30970) 2007-05-24 17:45

Hi John,
Composition is flawless, nothing to pick on that. The windmill a bit off center and has a good balnce between the large tree further to the right.
Light was not the best, sky is a bit hazy, but seeing her the result you did a decent job on this one.
Regards, Henk

RSK (34) 2007-05-24 20:29

Hi John, great composition,it is wonderful the things you can come across when least expected,a real find here for sure.

delkoo (34810) 2007-05-25 3:36

hi john
interesting shot, good composition under a pretty light , i like the wineyard on the foreground Symbolizing well this area.
best regards
didier

feather (50168) 2007-05-25 11:02

I like the way the bush on the right and the windmill balance each other. Despite the overcast sky there is a pleasant light on the scene. The little tree on the left looks a bit blurred; did you use some noise reduction on the sky?
Kath

pboehringer (770) 2007-05-26 13:26

Jonh, the diagonally coming in vineyard and the dirt street at the very left of the image are a strong compositional element that leads the view to the windmill in an interesting way. The windmill is pretty much in the dead center but with that diagonal element you achieved an opitcal illusion. It actually looks like being more in the left part of the image and that is quite important to keep it as an engaging image.

cdmonson (2769) 2007-05-29 13:20

Hi John:

Nice shot. Feels about as rural as it gets. I like the little sculpted tree next to it--a good imitation. Thanks for sharing.

Clark

jmcl (14149) 2007-06-01 1:07

HI John,

It defines the word pastoral to me. Soft, natural but ordered, peaceful, green. Great discovery and a wonderful image.

take care,

John

wishlist (4133) 2007-06-05 8:47

Hi John,
nice shoot indeed with a beautiful compo and colours..saturation and contrast are also good!
Excellent result delivered
Cheers
Igor

bazal (7898) 2007-06-06 2:13

Hi John.
It's a very picturesque place that you share with us here and your composition combines very typical details of this part of Provence. The small windmill, the vineyard, the cypress tree are combined to give a very 'Mediterranean' feeling. The crop of the picture is well chosen and I like the good balance and the fact that you decided to put the windmill in a slightly excentered position.
Thanks for sharing.

christor (271) 2007-06-06 19:27

It is the best way to explore is it not? Yes, being an accidental tourist and photographing the resulting journey are is the most honest way to capture the feeling and lay of the land. Beautiful shot.

plimrn (19740) 2007-06-07 11:17

Hi John,
You managed this difficult light well; you captured excellent detail especially in the clouds. The colors are very natural and true; a vertical shot might have also weorked well here.

That is clearly the way to travel; I claim that we are the world's slowest travelers. I really enjoyed your note, I didn't know that Moulin meant windmill and your comment asbout qa hint of lavenmder in the air added olfactory sensations to the photo.

HLJ, Pat & Larry