Before & after images of the Dordogne

Tweet Follow @photograferry

Going through my website recently, I realised how much my processing style had changed over the years, hopefully for the better! Workflow and processing skills should evolve over time, and along with things like camera technique and compositional skills, go to make us better photographers. 

The down side is of course, when I look at images I processed years ago I don't exactly get a warm feeling inside. So to that end I decided to re-visit my images from the Dordogne taken in 2010, and thought it might be interesting, at least to me anyway, to compare how my processing from 6 years ago has changed to how I process them today.

The full article can be seen on my website, where I have to tools to offer a direct comparison between the images.

Dordogne Day 3 - Bustling markets and deserted villages

Tweet Follow @photograferry

We began where we had left off the day before, by visiting another château, this one was slightly different from the rest though. Château de Commarque is a ruined castle deep in the Perigord forest. We arrived well before it opened, so once we had taken the 20 minute walk through dense woodland to get to it, we had the place to yourselves.

Dordogne Day 2 - Misty trees & imposing chateaux

Tweet Follow @photograferry

It was a chilly start to the day, the nights in fact had been particularly cold, I was having to use 3 blankets just to be warm enough to get some sleep. But thanks to the balmy days and cool nights, the early mornings offered plenty of mist.

We headed over to same woodland we’d been the day before to get some shots of trees swaddled in the creamy haze, while the sun warmed their shining boughs. The white trunks stood in lines like a picket fence, supporting a canopy of glittering leaves alight with the morning glow. It made for a beautiful sight, but it wasn’t long before the sun had driven the majority of the fog away, so we packed up and drove to St Cyprien for the obligatory coffee, and picked up a baguette for lunch.

Dodogne Day 1 - Villages both Medieval & troglodyte

Tweet Follow @photograferry

We headed out first thing, to the nearest town of Le Bugue, to get ourselves some breakfast; a pain au chocolat and a coffee were definitely on the cards. After that it was a quick trip to the Supermarché to stock up on essentials, plus of course some tea towels so we could remove the much maligned calcer, and a couple of bottles of the local vino.

This eye catching group of trees caught our attention.

Dordogne - Arrival

Tweet Follow @photograferry

Decided to hop over the pond, well, the puddle, to France, to spend a few carefree days in the beautiful surrounds of the Dordogne. I was in the company of my occasional travelling companion, Sarah, who was scouting suitable spots for an upcoming photography workshop in the area, and invited me to tag along.

The journey over was possibly one of the easiest in the history of travel. Exiting the leafy kingdom of Oxfordshire and motoring along the M40 and M25 without a single hold up had left us suitably jubilant, and not a little surprised. Then, being able to stretch out on the plane, as it was only half full, was nothing short of astonishing. And to top it all off, ours was the only plane at Bergerac airport, which is not much more than a large corrugated shed, so passport control, namely a smiling official in a small plywood booth, was an absolute breeze.

A few snaps from the trip as a bit of a taster. Here my esteemed colleague wanders blithely through my shot.