Surely our favorite beach in Saint Barth, Colombier Bay. You have to walk about 20’ to access the beach, with some fantastic views on the ocean. And there, a marvelous place for snorkeling! Some underwater pictures to come!
http://visuals.didierbeck.com/ria/ShizVidz-2008120101.swf
And today, Saline Beach, I think the largest in Saint Barth. Very nice actually, we like it a lot! Some pictures and as usual now, a video (a bit longer this time) realized with MS Windows Movie Maker. It is not Adobe Premiere for sure, but not sooo bad for a small sequence.
http://visuals.didierbeck.com/ria/ShizVidz-2008120101.swf
The Saint Jean Beach, as usual with beautiful colors. Lots of families are coming here, as the beach is quite protected from the swell and the biggest waves.
And a short video taken from this beach!
http://visuals.didierbeck.com/ria/ShizVidz-2008120101.swf
Yesterday, before the Saint Barth carnaval, a good time at the Shell Beach.
http://cdn.smugmug.com/ria/ShizVidz-2008120101.swf
Short video message, taken from the Gouverneur beach (sorry for my “French” accent ;-).
http://cdn.smugmug.com/ria/ShizVidz-2008120101.swf
First news from St Barth!
…was quite long this time ;-) We first took a flight from the EuroAirport to Paris-Orly, then from Paris to Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe (about 7.5 hours and 6’800 km). Flight on time, quite good, only about 1/3 of the plane was full, as there are some heavy strikes in Guadeloupe since weeks now. When we arrived in Guadeloupe, we were “informed” (in the French West Indies, the proactive information has another definition as in the rest of the world, i.e. you *have* to get information by yourself, customer or not, it doesn’t matter!) that our direct flight from Pointe-à-Pitre to Saint Barth was canceled and that we have to take a flight to Saint Martin and then, from there, to take a boat to Saint Barth. This cancelation was clearly due to the strikes.
Actually, it was funny because we had flight-tickets with Air Caraibes, which has delegated our “canceled” flight to Air Antilles Express. After a while, Air Antilles didn’t have any plane left, so they had to delegate themselves to … Air Guyane Express! The flight was very nice (some pictures below), the landing extremely tough (lots of wind and turbulences). On the other side, we have discovered the second (super small) airport of Saint Martin, Grand-Case…
After that, we had to take the so-called Voyageur (high-speed boat) to Saint Barth. The trip takes about 1.5 hours, but this time, the sea was really awful, with a very strong lateral swell. A nightmare, specially for my wife and my son, who were both sick during the whole trip.
All in all, and as usual, I must say that the service and the people from Air Caraibes were just *extremely* bad. And I am not talking about customer-orientation, just about the minimum level of politeness we should all have among human-beings… These Air Caraibes employees just deserve … nothing! On the other side, the Air Antilles Express people were informative, polite and have really tried to find a solution for everybody. Our detour through Saint Martin was properly organized, we had to pay nothing, and we had also the full excuses from the company. Well done!
Anyway, we arrived at St Barth “by night”, in the harbor instead the airport, with about 4 hours delay, which is definitely not catastrophic ;-) We had also the chance to see some great sailboats before entering the harbor, illuminating in a fantastic way! Great experience.
We had the chance to have a marvelous sunset before landing at Saint Martin.
And a good view on Saint Martin before landing.
…is really cool, with a nice swimming-pool and fantastic views on the ocean!
The back-side of the villa, which is called “L’Abricotier”:
And the main terrace with the “infinity” swimming-pool, and the view on the Lorient beach, Saint Jean Bay and the airport, plus the Anse des Cayes in the background:
This morning, we were at the Gouverneur beach, one of our preferred. Fantastic colors, and the ocean and its waves were quite … interesting for having fun with my son ;-)
The weather is typical for Saint Barth at this time: 28°C during the day with a very strong sun, 23°C during the night, 26°C in the ocean. Some sudden rains this afternoon, but during perhaps 10 minutes.
Click on the different pictures to see the full-sized versions!
More to come when I will have time again!
Some of the fantastic sunsets we have seen last year, from the villa Ella.
In about 10 days, we will there again, so I don’t know if I will publish new ones or not till then ;-)
Let’s see!
As usual, you should have a look at the high-res version here.
http://cdn.smugmug.com/ria/ShizVidz-2008120101.swf
After the short presentation of the the villa Ella, a third HD video about Saint Barth, this time concerning one of our preferred beach, Colombier. One of the must of the island and a marvelous location for snorkeling!
As usual, you should also have a look at the high-res version here.
http://cdn.smugmug.com/ria/ShizVidz-2008120101.swf
And still not the last video.
The next one will be for Laurent.
As mentioned in this post, I am publishing some HD video (720p, i.e. a 1280×720 resolution) on SmugMug.
Below, the second one (embedded in DVD quality). Topic is still Saint Barth, this time, with some views of the villa we were in, and the fantastic panoramic views on the Saint Barth airport and the Saint Jean Bay.
You should also have a look at the high-res version here.
http://cdn.smugmug.com/ria/ShizVidz-2008120101.swf
Some other new HD videos to be published in the coming days!
via Marc Silber
Marc Silber, who is regularly bringing very interesting information and inputs concerning photography and visuals (his blog, his portfolio, his press-room), has posted a link to a video from Vincent Laforet.
I haven’t known the work of Vincent before and … what for a visual shock! This is a MUST-HAVE-SEEN to my mind. Very innovative, fresh, emotional, and just beautiful at the end.
http://cdn.smugmug.com/ria/ShizVidz-2008120101.swf
The absolute must-seen HD (720p) version
http://cdn.smugmug.com/ria/ShizVidz-2008120101.swf
The absolute must-seen HD (720p) version
From his blog, impressive bio!
Vincent Laforet is a New York based commercial and editorial photographer who is regularly commissioned to work on a variety of fine art, advertising, corporate and editorial projects. His approach to aerial photography has been singled out as one of the most unique and interpretive amongst photographers today.
At the age of 33, his work has been published in most major publications around the world and he has been sent on assignment by Vanity Fair, The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, Time, Newsweek, and Life Magazine. In 2006, Laforet modified his staff position at The New York Times to become The Times’ first national contract photographer.
Vincent’s fine art prints are exhibited in galleries internationally including the International Center of Photography in New York City, and Visa Pour L’Image in Perpignan, and are part of numerous private collections.
Vincent was recognized as one of the “100 Most Influential People in Photography” by American Photo Magazine in 2005 and was named one of the “30 photographers to watch under 30″ by PDN in 2002. He and four other photographers were awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Feature Photography for their post-9/11 coverage overseas in 2002. His work has been recognized in the Communication Arts Annual, PDN Annual, The SPD Magazine Cover of the Year, The World Press Photo Awards, The Pictures of the Year Competition, The Overseas Press Club, The National Headliners Awards, The Pro-Football Hall of Fame. Vincent is a Canon Explorer of Light and Canon Printmaster and serves as consultant to companies such as Apple, Bogen, Lexar, and X-Rite. He and his work have been profiled on CNN and Good Morning America.
Vincent has been invited as a keynote speaker by a variety of organizations and universities from around the world. He has served as an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, and the International Center of Photography. Vincent is represented by the Stockland Martel Agency. He resides in Manhattan with his wife, Amber, and son, Noah.
A lot of great visual material are available online on the portfolio website of Vincent Laforet.
Have a look, for example, at the Paniolo cowboys Hawaii in the Adventure section, or at the Golf digest in the Sports section.