Making a Spectacle

The other day I was photographing the Place des Arenas in Nimes. The Place des Arenas is the best preserved Roman Coliseum in Europe. It is also, of course, the site of much bloodshed during the days of Gladiators! I climbed up to the upper lip, thinking nothing of it, to take a photograph. When I looked down a group of students had noticed me and were waving there arms franticly. Interestingly enough the events that took place in the Coliseum were referred to as spectacles.

PHOTOGRAPHY
- The dramatic lighting in the image of the rim of the Coliseum is simply the result of nature and underexposing the image.

TRAVEL
- Nimes is a historic city famous for Roman Architecture and well worth a visit.

CLIMBING
- You are not allowed to climb up on the upper rim of the the Place des Arenas.

Thunder showers

A friend from the middle of France named Raphael was just in town for a visit and of course he wanted to see Annot. I asked my parents if they wanted to check it out and they were excited. The boulders are at 5000 ft and routinely catch afternoon thunderstorms. About an hour into climbing we started to hear drops falling but, protected by thick foliage, we were able to continue climbing. However, after a half an hour the full grunt of the storm moved in and the four of us needed to run for shelter from torrential rain and crashing thunder. We found refuge in ancient cave dwelling probably built in the 13 hundreds.

PHOTOGRAPHY
- I have included a couple images from the old town in Annot. This town is almost entirely built of sandstone. The image of the two boys wringing out the t-shirt beside the aqueduct is an unreleased image. Meaning that the people in the photo did not sign a model release. I bring it up because when you shoot for a stock agent everything needs to be released and I find myself totally programmed to look for images that do not need to be released. I think this is a shame because you can miss what is really important, however because this image is not released I will probably never sell it.

CLIMBING
- The weather patterns in Annot consistently produce afternoon thunder showers after a warm day down in the valley. The seem to have their own little micro climate.

TRAVEL
- Annot has three restaurants and a bar. You can eat at the bar until 8pm and would recommend it over the restaurants where you can expect to pay 25 euro a meal.

Parents

My parents are in town. They are going to be traveling around Europe for a month. I picked them up at the Aix train station a few days ago after they had missed their flight from Paris beause a women on their first flight had a heart attack. When I first saw them they were a little run down from crossing the atlantic but they seem to be in form now so I took them on a wine tasting tour around the town of Cassis. After driving the Route des Crêtes above the Soubeyran cliffs we dropped down into wine country. With a poor map we followed small roads through acres of farm land looking for wineries with an open cave for wine tasting. The wineries weren’t hard to find and it wasn’t long before the folks had tasted a number of whites, reds and roses.

PHOTOGRAPHY
- The french in general seem very open to picture taking and the owners of the wineries didn’t mind me taking photos at all. I have been in countries where you can have your throat cut for taking a photograph.

TRAVEL
- Cassis is a beautiful resort town just west of Marseille. Hemmed in by high cliffs, its modern development has been limited and it retains much of the charm lost by its more high-profile neighbours.

CLIMBING
- The Soubeyran cliffs overhang the Mediterranean Sea between La Ciotat and Cassis. Their impressive height (416 m) makes them the highest seaside cliffs in Europe. They can be accessed by the Route des Crêtes (17 km long). I haven’t had the chance to climb on them but it looks like loose, poorly protected sandstone — very exciting!

Lights, Camera, Action!

Merrick Shaefer just rolled through town while on a whirlwind world tour. Merrick was just climbing in Hampi India, then flew back to New York to visit his girlfriend and then I got the word that he would be blazing through Southern France on his way to Rome. I picked Merrick up at the airport at 11:30am local time Saturday. He had left New York on a night flight and managed to sleep on the plane so he was fully energized and he wouldn’t stop talking. A couple hours later we were wondering through the forest of Annot surronded by boulders. We climbed until dark and afterwards Merrick wanted some fancy french food. Still in climbing attire with chalk on our pants the first two restaurants refused us service. One restaurant told us they didn’t have enough food. More than likely we didn’t have the look of their standard cliental. The third and last restaurant in the small town of Annot greeted us warmly and Merrick enjoyed the quail with wine from the region while I had the fish of the day and a martini. The next day was back to work pulling pockets and slapping slopers. After a good session we jumped in the car to get Merrick to Nice to catch his train. We gave ourselves an extra hour but still managed to get to the train just ten minutes before it departed.

CLIMBING
- Merrick confirmed that everything I was saying about Annot wasn’t just spray.

PHOTOGRAPHY
- I always find it much easier to photograph old friends than new people.

TRAVEL
- Merrick is one of the best travelers I know and he seems to pull it off full time. I think he simply desires to be in new places all the time.

Arete of Marseille

Last week my half sister from the UK came to Southern France for a visit. We headed to the Sugiton Calanque near Marseille to climb one of the most classic climbs in the area: The Arete of Marseille. Rated 5c (5.9) this 5 pitch climb has a famous gap on the second pitch that is spanned by leaning out as far as you can and then falling forward catching the other-side. Very heroic indeed! The top offers one of the best views in Southern France with a 360 degree view of the coastline. Nia and I had a late start and topped out just as the sun dropped below the horizon. We couldn’t find the rap station so we ended up rapping off a small tree and walked back to the car by headlamp.

CLIMBING
- The best time of year to climb the Arete of Marseille it is fall and spring but winter can be fine with some warm clothing. The wind picked up while we were on route and I was constantly changing from a t-shirt to a windbreaker. The first pitch is a little polished.

PHOTOGRAPHY
- I lugged my digital SLR with a 16-35 and 70-200 up the route. I normally don’t like to climb with this much gear but it is usually worth the effort unless is slows you down too much.

TRAVEL
- The Arete of Marseille is just outside the city of Marseille on the eastside. It has an hour to hour and a half approach but be aware that it is closed in the summer because of fire bans.