Hennell James Photography publishes a new blog - Pinhole Carrelets on the Gironde

March 22, 2011 - PRLog -- I arrived just outside of Talmont sur Gironde before the sun appeared.  I was hoping for a cloudy sky to add some mood, facing west I wasn’t going to get a classic sunrise.
Having spent a couple of days hammering down the auto routes of the west coast of France interspersed with intensive photography of everything new that came into view I decided to slow it down and take a few chances!  The first was clambering down the chalky cliff face to the slippery boulders on the beach where this image was made.  The second was photographic, to use my wooden film pinhole camera.
Pinhole cameras really slow you down.  You take an educated guess at what’s in view – there’s no viewfinder.  You rely on your light-meter for the exposure – there’s no screen on the back of the camera to check.  You won’t know what’s on the film until long after you get home.
You take some time and think about what you’re doing and there’s plenty of thinking time. This early in the day each exposure is going to take at least a minute or two.  But that time sitting while the film is exposing is time to sit and think; about your next shot, your surroundings or what you’ll do next.  The pace of life is governed by the sound of waves gently lapping on the shore.
But the peace is finally broken.  After an hour or so I heard voices, workmen coming to fix one of the carrelet damaged by a storm.  Time to move on - I wasn't sure I should have been were I was and I didn't have enough French to argue.  In any case time for breakfast.  My mind was recharged, so off to the village for coffee & croissant to get my body going too.
These carrelets are just outside the small village of Talmont sur Gironde on the river north of Bordeaux.  There are some fantastic locations for a landscape photographer.  Both banks of the Gironde are known for their fine wines and when you’re there you’ll find the vines crammed into every available space.  But if you turn away from the land you’ll see the Gironde and if you’re in the right place you may be lucky to see some “carrelet”.  I wouldn’t have known they were there if I hadn’t been tipped off.
A carrelet is best described as a fishing hut on stilts joined to the shore by a wooden pathway – a net at the water end is lowered into the river and later lifted, hopefully full of fish!  They’re not used much for fishing now but they’ve become a French equivalent of the English beach hut – somewhere to while away the day.

If you’d like to see more of my landscape work then please take a look at http://www.hennelljameslandscapes.co.uk.
You can follow Hennell James Photography on Twitter at @HJPhotographer or email jeremy@hennelljamesphotography.co.uk.

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Jeremy Hennell James is a wedding, portrait and landscape photographer based in East Anglia. Weddings & portraits capture memories in a moment. Jeremy’s landscapes, often including water, adding an ethereal look to a scene.