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This summer I added a new pathway from the woods in the back toward the garden and screened in porch. I found these cute foot stepping stones, but the dealer only had left feet remaining with no more coming in since they'd been discontinued. I grabbed all eleven feet, painted their toenails, & created this Left Footed Path! 😍🙋♀️
This oak tree lives in a field very near to my home and I have photographed it in every season and every kind of weather and light. I have stood next to this field while Northern Lights were kicking off behind me, while there was snow on the ground, while the wind was trying to rip my lips off my face, in blazing sunshine and freezing winter mornings.But my favourite time to photograph it is when the milky way features in the night sky above it. On this night I had met up with Jack Lodge, a fantastic photographer and all round nice chap to introduce him to Lonely Joe (the name of the oak) and to attempt to capture a milky way image with maybe the chance of an early showing of a Persied meteor.
The corn in the field was particularly high at this point and obscured the trunk of Joe. But the night was still with no wind so a long foreground exposure left the corn still looking sharp. The sky was ten images stacked in starry landscape stacker to reduce noise and then the foreground and background were combined in PS. Jack kindlly let me use his Nisi Glow mist filter which adds a nice halo around the bigger stars and gives the sky a dreamy look which I am a big fan of. I was hoping to get another session of astrophotography in this month but sadly the weather, as it often does in the UK has decided that wont happen. This means that the core of the milky way vanishes from our night skies over the winter and wont show now until early April next year.
This summer I added a new pathway from the woods in the back toward the garden and screened in porch. I found these cute foot stepping stones, but the dealer only had left feet remaining with no more coming in since they'd been discontinued. I grabbed all eleven feet, painted their toenails, & created this Left Footed Path! 😍🙋♀️
"Never let life's hardships disturb you ... no one can avoid problems, not even saints or sages."
Nichiren Daishonen
Have a great Wednesday!
(130/365)
As pathways are opened to us, we make decisions either to walk through or turn around.
I've decided to walk through with an open heart and I've started another home based business...what can I say, I like to challenge myself.
My visits to Flickr have been fewer as I jumped into this new venture with both feet. I'm hoping things will settle in soon. I'll be posting less often but don't count this kid out completely.
Thanks for so much support and kindness. I truly appreciate you all!!
In some ways landscape photography is a journey, not just to places but to yourself as a person and an artist.
There's lots of times I've going running in one direction with an image only to stop... Walk away, clear my head and recreate the vision I had from that moment.
While this photo was shot in early 2015, it's one of those photos that took me a while to really grasp what I saw that day... Much like the slot canyons, not all pathways took me to what I wanted... You just have to ask "is this what I felt at that moment in time" and eventually the vision becomes clearer...
This hidden corner of our overgrown garden is actually a pathway - but only the cats can push thru it at the moment! It's profuse in ferns, geraniums & aquilegias.
Western wing of the Château de Hautefort with the château’s gateway, Dordogne, France
Some background information:
The Château de Hautefort (in English: "Hautefort Castle") is situated on a plateau in the northern part of the French department of Dordogne. It overlooks the village of Hautefort and is located approximately 34 kilometers (21 miles) northeast of the town of Périgueux. The building complex is the largest Baroque castle in southwestern France and one of the most significant castles in the Périgord region. Located in the far eastern part of the White Périgord (in French: "Périgord blanc"), the castle was classified as a historic monument in 1958. Since 1967, its French formal gardens and the landscaped park have also been listed as historic monuments.
As early as the 9th century, a fortress was located at the site of the present-day Hautefort Castle, belonging to the viscounts of Limoges. In 1030, the castle became the property of Guy de Lastours after he defeated the rebellious viscounts at Arnac on behalf of the Count of Périgord. Following his death in 1046, his sole daughter Aloaarz brought the property into her marriage with Aymar de Laron, who adopted the Lastours name.
Through the marriage of Agnes de Lastours in 1160, the castle passed to the family of her husband, Constantin de Born. Constantin and his brother Bertran de Born, quarreled over the castle, as they supported opposing factions of the English princes Henry the Young King and Richard the Lionheart. Bertran sided with Prince Henry, while Constantin aligned himself with Richard's camp. In 1182, Bertran managed to expel Constantin from the castle, but in the following year, after Henry's death, Richard the Lionheart laid siege to the fortress. After eight days, he captured it, took Bertran prisoner, and demolished the fortifications.
However, King Henry II of England granted Bertran his freedom and even restored the castle to him. In 1184, the rebuilding of the castle began. By 1196, Bertran retired to the Cistercian Abbey of Dalon and became a monk, while the grounds passed to his son. At that time, the structure consisted of a large donjon and several smaller towers connected by curtain walls and battlements.
In the course of the Hundred Years' War, English soldiers occupied the castle in 1355 and forced its owners to recognize the English king as their liege lord. However, in 1406, the castle returned to French control. Shortly before, the last male representative of the family, Bertrand, had died, and the property passed to his sole daughter, Marthe. Her son Antoine, from her second marriage to Hélie de Gontaut, adopted the name of the Hautefort lordship when he became the new lord of the castle. In 1588, the northwestern entrance wing of the castle was altered and fortified – perhaps influenced by the French Wars of Religion. This renovation likely replaced a less defensible Renaissance-style structure.
In 1614, under François de Hautefort, the seigneurie was elevated to a marquisate. Accordingly, he sought to replace the outdated structure with a representative château. In 1633, the marquis commissioned Nicolas Rambourg, an architect from Périgueux, to undertake a major renovation of the estate. When François passed away in 1640, the work was far from complete, leaving the task of continuing the project to his successor, his grandson Jacques-François. Jacques-François' sister, Marie, gained fame at the Parisian royal court as the platonic companion of King Louis XIII.
The death of Nicolas Rambourg in 1649 temporarily halted construction, but in 1651, the inauguration of a château chapel on the ground floor of the new logis was celebrated. In 1669, the marquis resumed the renovation project, enlisting the Parisian architect Jean Maigret. Maigret completed the château as a symmetrical three-wing complex in the style of classical Baroque, adding the current south tower and relocating the chapel there in 1670. Although the second marquis died in 1680, Maigret's work on the château continued until 1695. During the renovations, the defensive elements that had still been present at the beginning of the 17th century were gradually dismantled.
During the French Revolution, the citizens of Hautefort prevented the château's destruction. From 1793 to 1795, the estate was used as a prison. But after the revolutionary period, Sigismonde Charlotte Louise de Hautefort, the daughter of the last marquis, Louis Frédéric Emmanuel, regained control of the family seat. In 1853, the redesign of the château's gardens was commissioned and the plans were drawn up by Paul de Lavenne, one of the most renowned landscape architects in France at the time. He reimagined the baroque gardens on the terraces surrounding the château and designed a large English landscape garden with broad sightlines into the surrounding countryside.
After the death of Maxence de Hautefort in 1887, his second wife sold the estate in 1890 to wealthy industrialist Bertrand Artigues. Artigues undertook various restoration projects and demolished the old outbuildings to the northwest of the château. Despite these efforts, the structural condition of the château remained poor. After Bertrand Artigues passed away in 1908, his heirs sold the château in 1913 to a real estate speculator. Between then and 1925, the speculator sold off all the furnishings and interior elements, including paneling and parquet floors. Subsequently, the parceled estate was sold off piece by piece.
In 1929, Baron Henry de Bastard and his wife Simone, the daughter of banker and patron David David-Weill, purchased the château. They began extensive restoration work in 1930, which continued until 1965. The couple undertook a complete restoration of both the interior and exterior of the buildings and also worked to restore the baroque garden parterres based on historical plans. While the flowerbeds were replanted, the design created by Paul de Lavenne was preserved.
After the death of the baron in 1957, his widow opened the château to the public. However, this decision proved disastrous for the estate. In 1968, a major fire broke out, caused by a carelessly discarded cigarette butt from a visitor. The fire devastated the main northeastern wing, including its interiors and furnishings. Only the side wings with their round towers at the ends remained intact. But the baroness wasted no time and began restoration work as early as September of the same year. Using old photographs, the destroyed wing and its rooms were faithfully reconstructed and refurnished.
Today, the Château de Hautefort, along with its park and large sections of the French gardens, can be visited for an admission fee. Visitors can explore the interior rooms, including the grand reception hall, the château lord’s bedroom, Marie de Hautefort’s room in the Louis Quinze style, the chapel, and the kitchen. Furthermore, it is worth mentioning that the palace has also served as a film location for several productions. The last one was the movie "Ever After" from 1998, starring Drew Barrymore and Anjelica Huston.