We’ve been feeling something like prisoners not only due to the prevailing weather conditions but also because of the condition that the ground has been left in. Farmer Luc has a couple of walks around the area centred on his farm and we’d tried one, only to have to abandon it due to soaking wet thigh-high grass growing through mud. At this time of year the grass is laden with seeds, too, and there’s little better than grass seeds for making a mess of new walking shoes.
When we had been waiting to board our bus tour of the Scenes de Vies photographic exhibits, Francine had spotted a curious sculpture near our point of departure in Fanjeaux. Nadine [Mrs. Farmer] explained that it was to do with celebrating Fanjeaux’s Cathar heritage. It bore a verse from Blake’s Tiger, Tiger poem but translated into French. I find the concept of translating poetry into a foreign language rather reminds me of a wonderful moment in the film Educating Rita concerning assonance which, Rita says following Frank’s explanation, “means getting the rhyme wrong”.
Nadine and Luc told us there were more five or so more sculptures to do with the Cathar heritage in Fanjeaux at a viewpoint so, given an afternoon that was proving brighter and drier, we decided to do our own circuit out through the rear entrance to the farm, to Fanjeaux to see the statues, then back through the more conventional front entrance of the farm. Our poor old legs have been feeling underused.
I was expecting, perhaps, a collection of individual sculptures but found that it was actually five sculptures arranged in a group called disputation, sculptures fashioned out of what I assume was scrap metal. They formed an imposing group with the valley as a backdrop.
Our return route back to the farm took us along the 2km road between crop fields. Francine was interested in playing with poppies, photographically speaking, so were kept an eye open for suitable subjects. As if frequently the case when one forms a mental image of a picture, finding the right subject in the right situation doesn’t happen. Solo poppies with their heads above a neat corn backdrop were proving elusive. We did, however, find a group of mixed poppies and white flowers, possibly one of the camomiles, that were intermittently sunny as clouds drifted over the sun and then cleared it. Francine liked the grouping and began playing with that instead.
Isolating the group using a narrow depth of field [no pun intended] worked quite nicely but then I spotted her taking additional shots of the corn to the side, thinking of a multiple exposure shot. Along with so-called ICM [Intentional Camera Movement], multiple exposures are always tend to require some luck along with the vision but she seems very happy with this result.
Now that looks arty to me.
Fab photos of fab subjects.