Gardens of the castle, Saint-Porchaire Photo

Photographer’s Note

July 15th, 2009
Saint-Porchaire 170387 17250
Charente-Maritime Charentes-Poitou
45.823 -0.785 21 m

Gardens of the castle, Saint-Porchaire.

One sight.
Other sight.

The Roche Courbon castle, "Le Chateau de la Belle-au-Bois-Dormant" according to writer PIERRE LOTI, academician on May 21st, 1891.

The Castle was built at the 15th century, on banks of Bruant river, tributary of Charente, and was deeply altered at the 17th century.

It is Jehan of LATOUR which made build around 1475, a defensive castle equipped with 4 powerful towers and a massive keep.
Jean-Louis of COURBON, transforms at the 17th century the castle of military architecture, in residence surrounded by French gardens.

The castle which was not sold like national good with the French revolution, is sold with the biddings by a heiress of the COURBON in 1817.
The hundreds of hectares of forest will then be transformed into charcoal, while the castle is left with the abandonment until the beginning of the 20th century.

It is thanks to a call in the newspaper Le Figaro of October 21st, 1908, of Julien Viaud, known as PIERRE LOTI, for whom the field was a place of walk of his youth, that in 1920 Paul Chénereau (1869-1967), fortunate child of the country, acquires the Roche Courbon, and makes reappear of 1928 to 1939, the gardens and the castle.
The whole will be classified with the historic buildings on September 17th, 1946.

Louis Marie Julien Viaud, is a French writer whose pen name becomes PIERRE LOTI in 1876. Born in Rochefort on January 14th, 1850, died in Hendaye on June 10th, 1923, buried in the island of Oléron.

He wrote inter alia the book "Le Château de la Belle-au-Bois-Dormant", appeared in 1910, inspired of the castle and the forest of the Roche Courbon, and by his discovery of the carnal shivers.
For reading on line "Le Chateau de la Belle-au-Bois-Dormant", in french.

On the field of the castle, The "Bouil-Bleu" caves, along the small valley of the Bruant brook. A site dating from the Middle Paleolithic, inhabited approximately 50,000 years ago, and excavated since the 19th century until our days.

Saint-Porchaire is a french commune, located in the department of the Charente-Maritime of the Poitou-Charentes area, populated of 1335 Saint-Porcherois, divided on 17 km², that is to say 77 hab./km².

The town of Saint-Porchaire have his name from the third abbot of the church “Saint-Hilaire la Grande” of Poitiers, dead hermit with on 6th century.

My images of Saint-Porchaire.

saxo042, snunney, delkoo, Budapestman, thaprem, subhendu_bagchi, pierrefonds, paura, pasternak, gervaso, Vasa, Clementi, adores has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

saxo042 (15388) 2009-11-12 1:04

Hi Joël,
A very impressive and beautiful castle. Interesting to see the three different angles here, but, as usual, hard to decide which one is the best one. They are all very good. The slightly off-centre view here works very good. And, as usual too, a very interesting note!
Kind regards
Gunnar

snunney (34460) 2009-11-12 1:38

Hello Joël,
A splendid symmetrical view over these lovely well maintained gardens. The château with its reflection makes a fine backdrop. You seem to have had the gardens to yourself on the day you visited; it was more or less the same when I went there a few years ago.

rikko77 (5822) 2009-11-12 1:50

Hi Joel
great use of the wide angle lens which emphatize the footpath around the lake. I like the colors in this composition, it's a very good job.
TFS
have a good day
Rikk

macondo (13035) 2009-11-12 1:59

Hello Joel.
Amazing - no people around, in the middle of Summer!
Very good shot with strong back lighting. I like the expansive view of the gardens and lake in front of this superb castle. And the off-centre composition is a good one. You managed to preserve a lot of detail in the sky, always a difficult task when there is probably quite a lot of contrast. And the reflection looks good. Your photos and those of Stephen Nunney from Poitou Charents make me realise there is much more to see than simply La Rochelle.
Regards,
Andrew

ifege (1665) 2009-11-12 2:00

Another great Chateau photo Joel. good POV and colours.
cheers
Ian

delkoo (34086) 2009-11-12 2:12

bonjour joel,

le cadrage quasi symetrique donne une bonne profondeur à la photo, de plus les lignes convergent vers le chateau et son reflet, ce qui renforce la composition,

bien vu
didier

Budapestman (41394) 2009-11-12 2:15

Hi Joel,
what a beautiful place...and reflection, and POV. You took a splendid photo of this picturesque place, the composition is excellent, the romantic clouds adds a lot to the mood. Beautiful view, Congratulations. Thank you for sharing!
Have a nice day!
George

subhendu_bagchi (2766) 2009-11-12 4:59

Hi Joel,
nice capture of the majestic castle and the lovely foreground destroying symmetry. Nice construction. DOF is so great that provide nice sharp look of the castle and the FG. The curves in foreground area with the water is fantastic. Very well done. Tfs.
Have a nice evening.
Subhendu

pierrefonds (26009) 2009-11-12 5:03

Bonjour Joël,

Les réflexions sur l'eau de l'étang sont des atouts à la composition. La prise de vue entraine mon regard au travers de l'étang, des jardins vers le château ce qui donne de la profondeur à la photo.. elle permet aussi de voir les détails et les couleurs du château de Saint-Porchaire. Le ciel nuageux envoie une lumière qui donne un bon contraste aux couleurs. bonne journée.

Pierre

rodgerg (23539) 2009-11-12 5:05

Bonjour Joël,

Une autre présentaion très soignée et très efficace d'un élément du patrimoine avec notamment un angle de vue bien choisi qui procure un avant-plan très graphique et riche de somptueux reflets. Cet avant-plan ouvre également une très belle perspective vers le château.
Amitiés,
Roger

paura (38078) 2009-11-12 5:29

Joel,
Uma incrível profundidade você alcançou aqui. A paisagem é uma beleza e está muito bem mostrada.

Abraço

Paulo

pasternak (13168) 2009-11-12 5:47

Really nice "classical" view of the castle, the FG element is very well used.

Cheers
A

Cricri (43030) 2009-11-12 5:55

Bonjour Joel
Très jolie vue du château, ses reflets et de ses jardins super bien entretenu, un cadrage qui donne une belle profondeur, une lumière plaisante malgré le ciel nuageux, j'aime beaucoup aussi celle en WS 2,
Belle journée
cricri

Nicou (44323) 2009-11-12 6:09

Hello,

Fantastique vue et du jardin et du château et à double, un superbe refet sur l'étang, quelle ensemble ces boules de végétation, ce beau verte cette architecture, une perle, un régae pour les yeux, se ballader dans ces jardins doit être un moment de havre et de paix.

Bravo et amitié

Nicou

amaryllis (17271) 2009-11-12 10:19

bonjour Joel
je dois dire que je vote pour les 3, car un plan différent à chaque fois et tois superbes photos qui nous montrent bien même en plan rapproché les jardins, l'autre la balustrade et les reflets du chateau dans le bassin
superbe travail
juliette

npecanhuk (13479) 2009-11-12 10:54

Salut Joël!
C'est une belle photo de ces jardins-là!
La netteté, la gestion de la lumière, le format carré, la profondeur, les couleurs douces, le point de vue et la compo sont excellents!
J'adore les reflets aussi!
Merci du partage!
Amitiés,
Neyvan

gilou530 (34945) 2009-11-12 12:16

salut joel
un chateau qui en impose dans ce jardin difficile de tout faire rentrer, tu as presque tu eu, belle profondeur,bon boulot
amitiés
gilbert

jemaflor (39099) 2009-11-12 12:28

Salut Joel,
Bien vu ce cadrage avec le très bel effet donné par cet avant plan et cette courbe claire, jolis reflets aussi qui valorisent l'architecture du château.

gervaso (5064) 2009-11-12 13:42

Olá, Joel!

Linda vista do castelo duplicado pelo seu belo reflexo no lago! A paisagem é muito bonita e sua foto soube aproveitar as curvas pra deixar a composição ainda mais interessante. Belo trabalho!

Vasa (5244) 2009-11-12 13:43

Ta note est precieuse Joel, et soutient bien cette tres belle vue du Chateau. Pierre Loti est dans le programme de la litterature francaise a la Faculte de Belgrade et on souligne qu'il passe Montenegro dans un moment, tout en laissant les traces par sa plume. Entre toutes tes images de ce chateau celle-ci se distingue par la composition completee avec la piscine qui seduit par son elegence. Tres beau et grand merci,

Branko

jafadabret (39207) 2009-11-12 23:21

Bonjour Joël.
C'est une joie de découvrir à travers les photos de TE la beauté et la diversité du patrimoine. Tes trois photos sont superbes. J'aime le jardin et la pièce d'eau qui mettent en valeur le château. Excellent travail !
Bonne journée !
Amicalement
Jacques

Clementi (43399) 2009-11-12 23:39

Ciao Joel,
spettacolari come sempre i tuoi castelli,bellissimo questo taglio delle curve e la leggera decentratura dell'immagine, a completamento dell'opera delle note interessanti.
ben fatto
Giorgio

cd70 (645) 2009-11-13 15:46

Hello Joel,
Ah j'avais pas vu celle là, elle est impressionnante ! Le parc est très joli avec ce bassin et un beau reflet en plus. Le point de vue donne une sacrée perspective, avec ce chateau en fond c'est parfait !
Bon WE,
Cyrille

adores (15387) 2009-11-15 16:24

Hi Joel!
I always like to see your castles, so different from ours here!It seems very well preserved. I like the reflection and especially the pov and the way you included the garden in foreground.

sacavem (8205) 2009-11-16 1:19

Olá Joel,

Very beautiful landscape with lovely colours. Amazing tones, very good sharpness and very well framed.
TFS and greetings,
Filipe