Some 8 weeks ago I woke to the sound of a local artist of Arles describing for at least half an hour to the Arlesian press how his work was very much linked to Vincent van Gogh. Well, mine is too, you know? The evidence is in the image above. Do a Google on Cafe Terrace at Night and you’ll know what I’m talking about: this was the setting of one of his famous paintings. Vincent and I: we’re very close, as luck would have it.

If I had to pick one image of our trip to the south to depict the atmosphere over there: this would be it. Pétanque, the quintessential French game, played by men that look as ancient as the game itself in the shade of old platane trees on a square in the beautiful historic city of Nîmes. Had I been able to add a baguette somewhere, it would have easily scored 121%.

What can I say except: we were on vacation and this is how that looks like in the south of France, in this case in the quaint old port of Cassis that I can heartily recommend. And nope, that ain’t me in the picture: such is the fate of the photographer.

We’ve spent a few weeks in the south and life there basically hasn’t changed since I first visited the area some 30 years ago. The narrow streets are still the same, as are the houses, the countryside and even the people look the same as back then. Well, the local winery nowadays calls itself “biological” but as it hasn’t changed its way of producing wine, it doesn’t count. Expect more from the south in the weeks to come.

Less is more, in photography as in life itself. Were we to appreciate the simple things in this world better, life would be more rewarding than it often is in this day and age. At least, that was one of my lessons learned from the recent suicide of a friend. Hence I present you an image of some of the simpler things: sunlight reflected in water underneath a running tap. Making it even simpler would result in it being art and thus make it more complex again.

Finally I’ve found some time to look at images I shot during a trip to the south a month ago. This photo of reflections of trees in the Dordogne river was taken on March 14 in the Auvergne region, right after I found a snake and just before I found a bat and nearly squashed a scorpion with my car. France resembles Africa in more ways than meet the eye.

It took a while because of above average temperatures during the last few months, but autumn is finally here in all it’s splendor. This photo was taken in the vast (and once upon a long ago very royal) forests near Compiègne, some 80 kilometers north of Paris, which have become a favorite hideaway for us during the weekends.