Personal: Trekking in Mercantour.

After having been raised in the French Alps and living in Ireland for 5 years, being now in Paris is somewhat against my nature. Feels like being trapped in a concrete prison and I really miss wildlife. So on my free time, I go trekking in the Alps. Of course I take a camera, in that case a D600 Nikon with a 35mm f2 full frame lens. This usually leads to very interesting light, and different subjects than young female models.

Since my better half will now be going from hospital to rehabilitation center for the next 3 months (ACL Gone Wild, I have the video of the accident, not cool). We decided to make the most of her last days of mobility. Surprising what you can do without knee ligaments, providing that you have the right custom brace.

Anyway, we went to Mercantour in the southern Alps. We used the lac d'Allos and its refuge as a (very comfy) "base camp". Sleeping the in wild of course (otherwise it doesn't count) and carrying your home on your back (otherwise it doesn't count). Here are my good shots from the trip. 

PS: I am starting to have sensor cleanliness issues on the D600, even without ever changing the lens. The sensor cleaning function gets rid of it for few ours only, it's a pain. I'll contact Nikon and see how they deal with it.

That is me, I don't reckon there are many pictures of your host on this site.

Which one of you ladies will be my girlfriend tonight...

In between weather leads to great light.

Few from the refuge terrasse at lac d'Allos, 2250m

Last one, not a good picture but an amusing story. We are sleeping in the wild, it's rainy and windy outside so the tent make a lot of noise. However, I got the feeling something is moving next to me, rubbing against the tent. I first blame it on the wind, it's dark, I'm sleepy...screw it, don't care. But then it becomes more obvious. First reflex: wolf? Not so close to the 2 shepard dogs that are 100m away with a herd. And we have no more meat in the bags. Marmotte maybe (some sort of mountain gopher fluffy-fat animal) ...they are curious indeed. Not a sheep, it would make more noise. 

Anyway I give up guessing and fall asleep again. The next day, my 10kg (20 pounds) bag has been pulled out of the tent from under the top layer, definitely not a marmotte ! We find what's left of our fruit stash 10 meters away (see picture). When we later had a chat with the shepard (some really really vintage dude, wonder if he ever got down in a village in the past 30 years) and the refuge owner, they told us that a fox (they do love fruits) roams around and steal food at night. I love wildlife :) Next time I'll put the camera on time lapse with a tripod near the tent !