British military championship

Serre Chevalier has hosted the British military championship of alpine and nordic skiing for about 15 years. I have only done the downhill this time. It was sunny but very cold. Also, I have done a little bit of nordic skiing 15 km, Biathlon and Patrol.

Working in Serre Chevalier as photographer

Serre Chevalier is one of the biggest ski resorts in Europe. It covers 250 kilometres of pistes, at altitudes of between 1200 and 2800 metres and is for everyone from beginners to expert skiers!
Serre Chevalier is a long south-facing valley between the Col du Lautaret and Briançon with several villages and hamlets dotted along the way. These range from the ultra modern to the more traditional.
Serre Chevalier is in France’s Hautes-Alpes department, part of the PACA or Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region. The Hautes-Alpes is France’s only department in the alpine chain situated entirely in the mountains, making it the highest department in France.

I take pictures of mainly tourists who ski or surf, from beginners to the advanced as well as local competitions.
I spend all my day on the ski slopes as well, trying to find the ski lessons and shoot action pictures even of beginners. It depends the level: for example I will shoot a beginner on a blue or green slope and the advanced on a black one or even off piste (Not often because I waste time following them). Sometimes, I take pictures of beginners doing fake snowboard jumps. The photograph makes them look like they do a big jump.
In the evening I shoot snow scooters. Tourists complete a one hour ride after the slopes close.

My Favorite Chateau

Many years ago when I first started earning an income from photography I did some work for a French Editor who specialized in pictures of Famous French architecture and monuments. At this time I was using a Canon EOS1n and a Canon 28-70 2.8L zoom with Fuji Velvia film. I did shots of the Chateaux de La Loire. The Chateau de Chambord I took some shots of for a postcard. This picture was later used on a French postage stamp. I was very pleased about this.
I returned to the Chateau de Chambord in 2004 and took more pictures using my first digital Canon EOS1D Mark2 and a Canon 24-70 2.8L . After returning home from one of my South African trips I discovered that one of my pictures of the Chateau de Chambord had been used for a 2000 piece puzzle http://hasbro.fr/articles/puzzles/puzzle-de-2000-pieces-geo-collections-1651-1.html. I am glad that a picture that I have taken will be displayed in such a manner and that people of all ages will build this 2000 piece puzzle in years to come.

Waterhole in Pilanesberg

After driving around in the park for a while, I decided to stop off at a hide situated at a waterhole. I found the hide rather peaceful with no one else present, so I decided to stay a while and have breakfast there. A short while after I had finished breakfast, a couple of Vervet monkeys started sneaking up on the hide. I suppose they had smelt the food, that I had been eating. I was rather surprised when two of these little creatures hopped into the hide. Out of their own choice they came within about 2 meters from me, which gave me such a great chance to take several close up shots of them. While my attention was focused on these tiny animals, I heard a rather loud splash. I turned back toward the water and was surprised to see a lone elephant drinking and playing in the water! This presented me with a couple of stunning shots of this beautiful animal. It also suggests that if one would like to see a variety of wildlife it might just be a good idea to stay put at a place where you know that the animals will come to. After all most animals need water at some stage during the day.

A new day in Pilanesberg

A familiar sight in the park are the hot air balloons that are seen at dawn, when they take off in the park. It was early one morning, I saw the balloons over the lake. I decided to go in that direction, but came across one of the Big Five, I just had to stop and photograph this magnificent lion. Sadly by the time I was finished taking pictures of the lion, the hot air balloons had drifted further away. I was however able to get a couple of pictures of them over the water. This would seem to me to be an incredible way to view the game park, as the balloon is silent and above the ground, which would give a different perspective to that from a vehicle window.