On Location:

In The Footsteps of van Gogh - Provence and Camargue

by Jane O’Connor

My recent trip to Provence in the south of France was my fourth Light & Land tour, which I chose mainly because of my passion for horses and some happy childhood memories of times in the Massif Central near the Camargue. I wasn’t disappointed.

Astrid and Charlotte were the leaders on the tour. They had planned an extensive itinerary for us and made sure we were given the best opportunities to see as much of the area as possible in the time available - which went very quickly.

Everywhere we went, the terrain was stunning. We drove through hillside vineyards, rice fields, which were just beginning to show signs of green shoots above the surface of the water, and landscapes which had small churches and agricultural buildings scattered among the fields.

Although we had a packed agenda, we were given time for exploring on our own or just sitting and reflecting, and I was thrilled to be able to photograph my favourite cypress trees and a distant poppy field during early morning walks at the Mas - our last hotel nestled deep in the countryside.

We were blessed with good weather for the whole tour - sometimes it was very hot indeed - but it was variable, and at the Mas, our last hotel, I felt so safe that one night I slept with the doors to the patio wide open so I could listen to the storm.

For me, the highlight of the tour was photographing the beautiful wild white horses on the marshland of the Camargue at sunrise, which was a truly magical experience, despite having to slap on anti-mozzie spray and don mosquito nets over our heads to combat the voracious insects of the marsh!  We were joined for this excursion by an experienced photographer and guide, accompanied by three ‘guardians’ on horseback who managed the horses and helped us get the most out of the experience, even providing knee-high boots and waders so we could photograph the horses in the water as they cantered towards us. I discovered unexpectedly that, as well as enjoying the classic images of white horses splashing through the water, I was also interested in the quieter, darker moments when an individual horse might decide to go off-piste, or when I was able to notice the relationships within the herd. 

There were opportunities to immerse ourselves in our preferred genres, be they landscape photography, street, architecture, or macro. Flowers and butterflies abounded among the rocks and trees in the hills near Les Baux de Provence, where the rock formations were beautiful, and intimate landscapes were there for the taking, whichever direction you turned.

Between planned destinations there were opportunities to stop at interesting chapels (12th century Romanesque Chapelle Saint-Sixte d’Eygalieres), cherry orchards and the 3rd century Roman bridge of Pont Julien on the road to Roussillon, where we wandered along the dried-up riverbed and photographed long-time dead tree roots and small green pools of stagnant water!

A visit not to be missed was to the Parc Ornithologique de Pont de Gau – a 30-acre wildlife sanctuary with lakes and marshland in the Regional Natural Park of the Camargue - where we watched iconic pink flamingos twisting and turning their necks as they searched for food in the still water and flocks flying to roost around dusk.  It was fun to pick up food from a supermarket on the journey and picnic together as the sun grew lower, watching nesting storks and other birds that also lived on the marsh.

For lovers of art and architecture - and one of my favourite places - there was a visit to the LUMA while we were staying in Arles. LUMA is an interdisciplinary creative campus constructed on a 19th century industrial site originally dedicated to the construction and repair of steam locomotives. Former industrial buildings have been renovated and include restaurants and a landscaped park which has been planted with flowers, bushes and native trees from the landscapes in the surrounding area, and boasts a stunning Tower designed by the architect Frank Gehry.

Much of the tour focused on the work of the painter Vincent van Gogh, who lived and worked in Arles in 1888/89. Although many of the original buildings he painted have long since disappeared, we had many opportunities to visit the sites of his paintings and imagine what his life would have been like in and around Arles. It was fascinating to be able to walk in and photograph some of the places he would have frequented.

One evening, we had a shoot on the bank of the River Rhone, inspired by Vincent’s ‘Starry Night over the Rhone’ painting. We watched the stars and the twinkling lights on the river and experimented with ICM photography to see if we could produce our own interpretation of his painting.

The Langlois Bridge that featured in several of his paintings from 1888 has been moved from its original site in Arles to the Canal d’Arles a Fos, but to me it still seems to retain an air of mystery and presence.

A whole day was required for a visit to the stunning and peaceful psychiatric hospital of Saint-Paul-de-Masole, where Vincent van Gogh spent time in 1889, and in which his bedroom, workshop, dormitories and other rooms have been reconstructed. The enclosed field he saw from his window is now a pleasure garden brimming with wild flowers, lavender, olive groves and long grass, butterflies and irises. We wandered for hours amongst the landscape before entering the hospital itself, which was intriguing.

The area around Rustrel and Roussillon in the Luberon are famous for a series of dramatic ochre quarries where ochre extraction and iron ore mining took place for many generations. We had two wonderful opportunities to photograph the glorious colours of the ochre quarries in the area. During our first visit, we wove our way through dramatic cliffs, woodland and ancient quarries of the sandstone formations at Rustrel, which is known as the Colorado of Provence because of its vibrant landscapes, in which shades of red, orange and yellow sit side by side to produce an otherworldly effect.

A visit to the pretty pink-hued village of Roussillon provided a second opportunity to walk through the arched valleys at Les Sentier des Ochres and to photograph the bizarre shapes left in the landscape by the quarrying, the lone pines that have seeded themselves on the side of the cliffs, and to capture the beautiful complementary red and green combinations of the trees against the earth. I found that the landscape here truly took my breath away!

And so the trip inevitably came to an end! It was great to have Astrid and Charlotte as leaders on the tour. They encouraged everyone equally and shared ideas with the group, giving as much advice as was needed. Daily briefings provided us with all the information we needed and meant we could choose the right equipment to take with us each day.

We were a diverse group but with much in common. Everyone was kind, generous and good-humoured, and there was much sharing - mainly of wine, mosquito spray and antihistamine treatments! We were all given opportunities to experiment with creative techniques such as ICM (Intentional Camera Movement) and in-camera multiple exposures that people may have been wanting to learn about for some time. Charlotte is truly a master of ICM and Astrid seems to be able to produce beautiful multiple exposures at the drop of a hat! 

Thank you so much for a wonderful experience!