Bah HUMbug!

I went out on Monday chasing symbols on the Michelin map and listings in the Michelin Green Guide: a chapel near Brignoles, a church near Montmeyan, a ruined castle in la Verderie, and the ruins of an abbey near Tourtour. Well, the chapel near Brignoles is the only one I successfully found, and believe it or not there wasn't anything terribly photogenic about it.

The chapel is an abandoned Romanesque chapel and priory; the chapel is still fairly sound but you can't get any distance away from it without being downhill from it and having problems with converging verticals. The priory is unsound and closed off, but oddly enough there have been new window surrounds installed within the last 50 years or less, in two window openings.

The church near Montmeyan: there are symbols in the Michelin atlas for a ruin, and the words "Notre Dame". Well, following signs for "Notre Dame de Tuileries" leads to a dead-end road with no indication of a ruined church anywhere out there. I'll probably go back at some point.

The "ruined" castle in la Verderie is actually being restored; I think the Michelin Green Guide people need to do some fact-checking before they bring out a new edition!

The entry for Tourtour says, in the introductory text, that the ruins of the Abbaye de Florielle can be seen. No indication of where, how, etc., and I've been to Tourtour several times without ever knowing there were ruins of an abbey there. I think, now that I have had some time to do some more research, that I may know where the thing is. But it was a long day (over 250 kilometers) with absolutely no photographic work!

Next time out: Abbaye de Montmajour, and other things near Arles...

Welcome to Provence in 6x6, my new blog about medium-format photography in Provence. Hopefully you won't get bored, and maybe you'll even be inspired to come and visit, along with a camera!

Up until last year, I've done my photography with a couple Canon AE-1s and a Yashica twin-lens 6x6 camera. But in summer 2006 I lucked into someone selling an entire Hasselblad kit... camera body, 5 lenses, 2 film backs, and various other bits and pieces. Well, what do you do with an opportunity like that? Take it! So I did.

Now I'm trying to improve my photography to the same level as the gear I have. It's not easy, but yesterday while I was out chasing map symbols I made a resolution: I'm taking the camera out at least every two weeks to go photograph my favorite part of the world. And I hope you enjoy the results.