Thursday, February 25, 2010

On the Beach . . .

On Reunion Island, the beaches just go on and on, sometimes accompanied by colorful bits of architecture . . .
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A message scratched in the sand . . .
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And as there were requests from certain quarters for more Indian Ocean sunsets . . .
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36 comments:

James said...

Hi Owen. We are about to get hit with between one and two feet of snow so it's great to see these wonderful pictures. The sunset is mind blowing.

Nathalie H.D. said...

Oh ouiiiii ! Bright colours, tropical sunsets, just what we needed!

Owen there's a blog that you might enjoy reading if you don't know it already, it's called La Mom - an American mom in Paris. Pretty witty and great fun!

http://lamomparis.blogspot.com/

Lynne with an e said...

Owen, you should post warnings for your blog readers to don our sunglasses before viewing these gorgeous scenes. And our bibs to catch the drool. And plenty of make-up to tone down the green tinge our skins are acquiring. At least, speaking for myself.
:-)

Amanda said...

It must have been very hard coming back. Thank you so much for the wonderful photos and letting us know all about this gorgeous island.

CiCi said...

Did you scratch the message in the sand? Great picture with the multi colored front strips. I really am into colors like that. When I paint furniture I use bright colors like these, and work one color and begin blending color into the next color.

Anonymous said...

What a joy to see your photography again, providing light throughout the night.
Agree with you that being at a beach changes nearly everything into the good.
Please have you all a wonderful Thursday.

Amy said...

Thank you for these brilliant bits of color Owen. The beach and some bright sunshine are just what I need today!

Barlinnie said...

Superb photies, and I'm somewhat envious of the magnificent sunsets.

Steve said...

Owen, your photos are making me open up like a flower... methinks I need a holiday!

Eleonora Baldwin said...

You are wicked, Owen! That beach walk and sunset photo are making me very envious, and I don't like being envious.

Tell more about La Reunion, was it wonderfully quiet and un-touristy? I hope so.

Lovely, thank you for taking us there with you, even if only virtually (grr!)

Ciao
Eleonora xx

:: Karine :: said...

comme c'est beau ces planches de bois colorées !
les couleurs de l'arc en ciel, les couleurs de la vie !

belle journée owen adoré

Batteson.Ind said...

*long winded, deep throated, soul shredding... goooaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnn.........

Today I'm sat at the computer.. it's ten degrees inside the house. The shed has just run out of hay for the animals.. we're skint... and apparantly there is no sign of spring.. ANYWHERE!.. never mind summer! (the rainy season as we call it).
I'm so incredibly BORED of the cold now... and so incredibly jealous.. yes jealous.. that you went somewhere so beautiful.. and colouredy!.. and warm!... and took such stunning photos....

*sobs pathetically into five thermal layers....

BLOGitse said...

It would be so nice to walk on the beach...see colourful houses and beautiful sunsets...
I can dream about them though!

BLOGitse

Plum' said...

C'est magnifique Owen :)
Bien vu le contraste entre les lattes colorées et le ciel gris de la première photo.
Et le coucher de soleil...je n'ai pas de mots pour le commenter !
Bises cher Owen,
K'line
PS : j'aime bien aussi le côté éphémère des écritures sur le sable...

jeff said...

Et tout le monde se croit obligé de te dire... magnifique, nice, comme c'est beau, what a joy to see, oh ouiii, superb... à toi, oui, toi, qui t'es tiré pour te la couler douce sous les cocotiers ! Tous des masos...! ! ! Sauf moi ! Oui... moi ! ! !
Non ! Je ne te dirais rien si ce n'est que le coucher du soleil approche et que du port que tu as vu sur ma page, je suis prêt à embarquer une belle cargaison de 5 tonnes de tonneaux... tous remplis d'une tisane en ébullition en direction de ton blog, prête à faire tout "péter" sous son passage !
La réunion...! Et en plus tu nous nargues... avec un truc écrit sur le sable ! On dirait au passage du sable de bretagne ! je te le dis entre potes... Ne crois pas nous flouer aussi vite avec tes... co co tiers ! ! !
Ton coucher de soleil pourrait bien voir arriver ma cargaison, en pleine nuit, glissant tranquillement sur cette eau de la Réu... de la Bretagne ! Oui ! Parfaitement ! Ce n'est pas la réunion et bien la bretagne et ses atichauts que tu nous as mis là ! Y a un truc qui se voit gros comme une maison mais que je me garderait bien de dire à haute voix ! ! !... ... ... Vous voulez tous savoir ?... Hé bien... Vous avez vus le sens des nuages... Hé bien... regardez bien ! LA BRETAGNE et pas la Réunion !
C'est ça oui ! A bientôt !...
Je ne te salue pas ! Une cargaison de tonneaux... dès l'aube... et plouf ! A pu Lantern Show ! ! !
...:)))

Bon quoi...:) On peut rigoler des fois... non ?
Sacré Owen ! Tu sais que tu nous a bien eu avec tes photos de la BRETAGNE déguisées en Réunion ! ! !

Ciao !
A plus !

BRETAGNE...

PeterParis said...

Well, what can you expect as comments here? Wonderful, beautiful... and a little bit of jealousy! :-)

Curious to see what kind old wrecks, abandoned buildings... you will certainly soon show us!

LR Photography said...

Great sky!

Nanny Goats In Panties said...

Wiow! Just...wow. That sunset is gorgeous.

Stickup Artist said...

Oh, Love that long shot of the receding coastline and clouds opposing the receding bands of color.

And the sunset, well you're speaking my language... and that one is epic!

Keep them coming is right!

Nevine Sultan said...

And "I Love La Reunion" through your lens. The colors, more than anything else, stand out. Brilliant! There is a small slice of your soul in every photo, isn't there, Owen? ;-)

Nevine

Linda said...

OMG....what you do with a camera! I love that you are back and the eye candy is better than ever. Welcome back.

Lydia said...

Simply has to be the most gorgeous sunset shot ever.

Re: Linda's comment above mine...what kind of a camera do you have, Owen?

LadyFi said...

Such magnificent shots. I like that first one in particular.

namaki said...

ma préférence va au coucher de soleil dans l'océan Indien ... quelles couleurs splendides !

Jess said...

That sunset warms me up just looking at it! I love to see colourful seaside huts too. :o)

Owen said...

James... this is the winter that just won't quit ! And more on the way tonight I gather... Which is why we took off and headed to the tropics finally, had had enough of freezing weather !

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Hi Nath ! Many thanks for the blog reference... I'd come across her some time back, I'm in her followers several pages in... but hadn't been by to look in a while, so thanks for the reminder. If only we had infinite time to blog and check out other blogs ! sigh...
:-)

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Ah Lynne, will have to dream up a suitable warning sign to post at the top of the sidebar... to warn against drooling... and to bring a towel if needed. Just like in the Hitchiker's Guide, never leave home without your towel !

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Nadege, you are so right, coming back was alot harder than going !

The Pliers said...

Do you really want to be responsible for a steep surge in travel to La Réunion?

If you keep it up with the jaw-droppingly gorgeous sunsets and such that's just what's going to happen.

Don't say I didn't warn you...

Owen said...

Hi TechnoB... well, it wasn't me who scratched the message in the sand, it was my 12 year old daughter. And seconds after the photo was taken, a wave washed it all away...

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Tag Robert... too true, beaches have strange transformative powers... perhaps because the take us back to distant genetic memories when life crawled out of the water... ?
Tchuss...

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Amy, you are completely welcome, glad to bring a little joy somewhere... !

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Hey Jimmy, May some good sunsets come your way soon then...

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Steve, I'm looking in my crystal ball, and reading the tea leaves, I think there is a holiday in the near future for you, shortly after your book gets published and goes viral....

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Dear Eleonora; this time of year la Réunion is fairly quiet, as it is Summer down there, so rather hot, and the rainy season, sometimes prone to cyclones, but we were lucky and had lovely weather, relatively few tourists, and plenty of space on the beaches, not many people on the hiking trails... a good time to go if one is looking to get away from the cold...

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Owen said...

Bonsoir Karine... et oui, et parfois au bout d'un arc en ciel se trouve un pot de pièces en or, n'est-ce pas... je cherchais...
:-)

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Hi Vicky, Listen, when your first album goes gold, and when we've won the lottery here, we will have to organize a month-long party in a beach house on la Réunion... big enough for all our blogging pals to drop by... ok ? Just keep thoughts of that in mind to ward off any further wintertime blues !
:-)

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Hi Blogitse... I think that is what blogging is all about... facilitating dreams...

Owen said...

Bonsoir K'line... une gentilesse profonde chez toi, toujours, quel plaisir de lire ce petit mot ici... et oui, le mots dans le sable étaient plus qu'éphemère, car une vague les a éffacés peu de temps après la photo... et à la limite, les couchers de soleil n'ont pas besoin de mots... juste silence...

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Ah Monsieur Jeff !!!
Toujours débordant de cet incroyable esprit qui tourne à une vitesse de croisière comme la navette spatiale autour de la terre, comme la terre autour du soleil, comme la lumière qui vient des étoiles... à la vitesse de la lumière quoi... c'est à dire rapide et éblouissant... et oui, vieux compagnon de la blog-route, tu ne cesse pas surprendre, et de nous faire bien rigoler, bien marrer, bien sourire... et oui, ne t'arrêtes surtout pas sous aucun prétexte, d'accord ?

Et comment tu as pu déviner ma supercherie ??? Comment tu as pu reconnaitre mes faux cocotiers que j'ai travaillé si longuement en photoshop, et comment tu as pu piger que ce coucher de soleil était pris de Brest et non pas de St Gilles les Bains de la Réunion... ahhh, tu es trop fort mon ami, on ne peut rien te cacher ni tricher. Bon, je vais ravaler mes larmes de celui qui est démasqué, et retourner essayer de créer qqchse de plus convaincant pour la prochaine épisode... ok... faudrait que je m'inspire avec de plus grandes quantités de tisane, du genre qui sort des sucreries de la Réunion, avec des fruits dedans, ce qu'ils s'appellent le rhum arrangé, mais comme je n'y étais pas, et donc n'ai pas pu en ramener, faudrait que je trouve une source locale bretonne... afin de mieux bredouiller ma petite histoire ici...

Bonne soirée pixpote perspicace...!

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Hi Peter, well, there are still some superlative adjectives that could be employed... magnificent, fabulous, incredible... et cetera... As for the wrecks of cars and factories and whatnot, they shall be forthcoming shortly... it takes quite a while to sort through so many photos and select the ones suitable for blogification, then adapt them to the right screen size and so forth... but all will be revealed in due time...
;-)

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Adrian, many thanks !

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Hi Margaret NGIP... at the lower right it almost looks like a goat, no ? Hee hee... hope all is well in goatland. I searched the island of la Réunion all over, but didn't spot a single goat, though I'm sure there are some there somewhere. Am just going to have to go back !!!

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Hi ya StickUp ! Will do my best to keep them coming... have to go back to work next week, which will no doubt slow me down somewhat... but will labor on to share the bounty with all of you good folks...

Display Name said...

Wow Owen! That sunset is just spectacular!!! I love the clouds!!!

Owen said...

Dear Nevine, I guess it is remarkable how one signs one's photographs with a bit of one's soul... perhaps inevitable ? Everyone has a vision of the world around them uniquely theirs... it can't help but become visible in an art like photography, just as your poems are indelibly marked "Nevine was here"...
:-)

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Many thanks Linda ! Will try to keep the lollipops coming ...

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Hi Lydia... many thanks ! The camera used for the vast majority of the color photos in this blog is a Canon 40D, with a 17-85 Canon lens. A very small number of the color ones are from a Panasonic point and shoot which is sometimes handier than the heavy artillery. The old black and white shots were taken on Kodak Tri-X film using a Canon A1... but that was long ago and far away.

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Hi LadyFi... many thanks for dropping in here ! Just out of curiosity, how did you find this obscure little blog ???

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Hi Namaki... almost every night the sun going down did spectacular theatre shows for us... I wonder if the locals get bored after a while ???

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Hi Jessie, many thanks !

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Dear Pliers !
You may have noticed Jeff's hilarious comment above, where he figured out that these photos are not in fact from la Réunion, but from Bretagne, so I guess for the future of this series I'll just have to say they're from Bretagne, and thus send the tourists that way instead... you're right, we wouldn't want such a small and lovely island to get inundated with tourists...
:-)

Owen said...

Hi Rain ! You slipped in there while I was answering the previous comments... hope you are well ! After all the glorious sunsets you've been publishing, I just felt like I had to toss in my two cents worth ...
:-)

Ann said...

Owen.magnificent photos..I am so enjoying "my vacation" through your blog. THANK YOU,THANK YOU,THANK YOU!!!!! Been taking it easy due to a cracked rib...enjoyed the walk without having to move!

seanjonesfoto said...

the photograph of the sky is just superb... beautiful color and light...

Anonymous said...

magnifiques couleurs du ciel j'adore !