Nostalgia of summer, Saint-Laurent Photo

Photographer’s Note

August 8th, 2009
Saint-Laurent-le-Minier 300280 30440
Gard Languedoc-Roussillon
43.933 0.767 180 m

Autumnal nostalgia of summer, St-Laurent.

Under the bridge.
On the bridge.

Song of Autumn
Soon we shall plunge into the cold darkness;
Farewell, vivid brightness of our short-lived summers!
Already I hear the dismal sound of firewood
Falling with a clatter on the courtyard pavements.
...
Les fleurs du mal - Spleen et Idéal - Charles Baudelaire
Charles Pierre Baudelaire, born in Paris on April 9th, 1821 and dead on August 31st, 1867 in Paris, is a French poet.

The freshness and the purity of the Vis river are appraisals, close to its classified falls.

The Vis is a small river, abundant but very irregular. Supplied with its catchment area, its risings can be extremely important. November 8, 1982, the maximum instantaneous flow was 542 m³, five hundred and forty two m³, a second, in Saint-Laurent-le-Minier for a rising hardly of a decennial nature, banal and by no means exceptional.

Tributary of Herault, a 30 km length. It takes its source on the Saint-Guiral mount in the solid mass of Aigoual. It disappears in the ground with Larcy whereas its flow reaches 50 l/s. Approximately 15 km further, it goes on surface in a résurgence with Vissec, with the mill of Lafoux with a flow of 1200 to 2500 l/s. Its affluents are in major undergrounds part. the Vis erodes the basement, provocative constantly underground crumblings able to stop its course of the hours, even days, as in 1779, 1890, 1927 and 1961. Its exploration, appears difficult and dangerous in a water with 11 ° and a very strong current. The Vis then impressed its bed of surface in impressive canyons reaching 300 m of depth dug in plates limestones called causses, of which the Causse of Larzac, crossing the imposing site of the Circus of Navacelles. It follows its torrential course giving its energy to an electric micro-power station in Madières, and its purity with some pisciculture with trouts of quality, then is thrown in Herault in Ganges.

A stone bridge of the 15th 16th centuries, and a castle, 17th 18th centuries, registered with the with the historic buildings and private property, is next to the fall.

Saint-Laurent-le-Minier is a french commune, located in the department of the Gard of the Languedoc-Roussillon area, populated of 362 laureniers in 1999, divided out of 13 km², that is to say 27 hab./km².

The village located at the feet of the solid mass of Aigoual and Causse of Blandas, is crossed by the Vis river and its affluents, Crenze, Braun, Naduel, Maudesse, which explains the presence of nine bridges.

After having lived of agriculture, Saint-Laurent-le-Minier had lived for several decades, up to one very recent time of the mining extraction of the mine of the Malines, where the sphalerite and crystal were extracted to draw zinc and lead from it. The exploitation of metals started as of the Bronze Âge.
The mine closed in 1994, after a production of 1.000.000 of tons of metals of which zinc and lead, but also 250 tons of silver. Remarkable baryta crystals there are found.

My images of Saint-Laurent-le-Minier.

Budapestman, Vasa, subhendu_bagchi, snunney, pierrefonds, saxo042, Clementi, phwall, plimrn, adramad has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Budapestman (42844) 2009-10-30 2:32

Hi Joel,
oh, yes, this is a beautiful sunny mood with lovely details and spectacular composition, the environment is beautiful, the title is superb, idyllic sight, indeed. Have a nice day!
George

Vasa (6357) 2009-10-30 2:51

Quelle belle plage et quel beau contexte, Joel. La presence des baigneurs complete bien l'impreseion deja seduisante. J'espere que toi aussi tu as mouille les pieds. L'image qui rend la morale le matin. Merci ami,

Branko

subhendu_bagchi (3516) 2009-10-30 3:04

Namaste Joel,
very good presentation of the scene with nice POV. Great light management and nice colours. The river side is full of colourful people, the bridge added a dimension to your composition. Very well done.
Congrats.
Subhendu

snunney (35476) 2009-10-30 3:19

Hello Joël,
A long and distant memory now? A fine composition of these avid sun worshippers. The old stone bridge makes a very attractive backdrop. The beach towels and umbrellas introduce some nice splashes of colour.

ifege (1983) 2009-10-30 3:38

A beautifully composed photo Joel but a little strange. A seaside photo but not beside the sea. A great old bridge and good colour.
cheers
Ian

pierrefonds (26659) 2009-10-30 4:20

Bonjour Joël,

La ligne diagonale du pont est un atout à la composition. La présence des baigneurs a un effet d'échelle de grandeur. La prise de vue envoie mon regard au travers de l'arche vers les arbres ce qui donne de la profondeur à la photo. Une bonne gestion de la lumière qui a un bel effet sur les couleurs. Bonne journée.

Pierre

saxo042 (16298) 2009-10-30 5:54

Hi Joël,
A real summer picture where the line around the hill continues in the bridge and along the red umbrella to the rest of the picture. A lot of human presence also and the usual beautiful landscape!
Kind regards
Gunnar

delkoo (34792) 2009-10-30 7:42

bonjour joel,
quand le soleil cogne fort, les baignades dans la Vis son un réel plaisir, j'aime bien le coté reportage qui decrit parfaitement ce moment de detente.

bon weekend
didier

ghilain (1714) 2009-10-30 8:04

Oh que oui, nostalgie des vacances. Photo dynamique, Joël.

Bon WE!

brigitte

Nicou (45743) 2009-10-30 8:48

Hello,

ici c'est encore comme l'été, il faut chaud la journée, merveilleuse image de ces gens qui se délassent en bord de la rivière, avec ce merveilleux pont, sueprbe compo qui fait très très envie, la touche coloére de parasol donnent un très bel effet.

Bravoe et amitié

Nicou

Nicou

sabermonajati (652) 2009-10-30 9:30

hi joel
people in photo are very real and exist nice composition here.nice frame.
best regard
saber

Clementi (45245) 2009-10-30 12:07

Ciao Joel,
una bella scena ricca di vita che ci ricorda il caldo dell'estate, bello il pov che ci permette di vedere sia le persone e il ponte sullo sfondo, come sempre ottimo lavoro con note e ws.
Giorgio

Cricri (43762) 2009-10-30 12:53

Bonsoir Joel
Sympat cet endroit, le charme des vielles pierres avec le côté sauvage et l'eau qui donne envie de s'y baigné
c'est beau de voir toutes ces personnes se détendre et prendre du plaisir
Beau week end
cricri

phwall (5705) 2009-10-30 20:02

Hi Joel,
It's a difficult choice but I prefer your "on the bridge" POV. For me, the shot has better dynamics, especially with the stone trough on the left of frame and not such a large group of people dominating the foreground as they do in this POV.
Really though, they are both very good captures showing the French relaxing and at play.
Composition is good too, you've really captured the atmosphere and relaxed mood perfectly. I like the upward look too, the round top hill segways nicly into the round arches of the bridge.
Lovely work, all three of the images.
Regards
Peter

burraburra (906) 2009-10-31 23:49

Hi Joel,
Colourful composition with scattered people enjoying themselves. The water looks inviting. Nice framework. Love the sky and clouds with the mountain in right bg. Lovely old bridge also.
Thaks for the interesting note.
Regards,
Graham

JCG (25753) 2009-11-01 2:59

Bonjour Joël,

Avec le temps que l'on se trimballe sur Versailles ce jour, mais c'est de saison... voilà une agréable photo qui illumine ma pièce. Endroit fréquenté ça se voit que ce soit d'une berge à l'autre, et quel plaisir de se baigner dans une eau si claire. Trois belles et lumineuses photos sur ce site enchanteur, où ici j'aime bien ces parasols qui donnent une touche de couleurs supplémentaires. Merci Joël.

Avec toutes mes amitiés et un très bon dimanche,

Jean-Charles

plimrn (19720) 2009-11-01 14:12

Bonsoir Joel,
I really like the lines and curves in this composition while the water, clouds, sky, umbrellas and taned bodies add spice to the scene. It sounds liuke a very interesting river.
SAJ, Pat

Graal (58732) 2009-11-01 22:50

Bonjour Joel,
very nice scenery. Amazing summer image, an interesting old bridge in BG. Fine rest by river. Good captured place and theme. I like it.
Gr., Aleksander

adramad (4000) 2009-11-02 1:25

Salut Joël.
Une belle composition avec cette diagonale créée par le pont dans une image pleine de vie et de couleur, le pont médiéval a une enclave précieuse, la présence donne une grande touche de vie à l'image, la couleur et la luminosité parfaits. Un bonheur.
Une bonne semaine. Des saluts.
Luis.

TopGeo (22231) 2009-11-02 4:30

Hi Joel! Significant work and note on a site that impressed me! Wonderful scenes of the river to the bathers! It's interesting good idea, because there is not something similar in Greece
best regards
Georgios