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Hello there
. . . and before we knew it, it was high summer. Even after five years of living in France, we’ve still to get used to how the seasons seem to concertina compared to Scotland. Already, on 2nd June, I’ve seen common cow wheat and wood sage in bloom - plants I always used to associate with August. But this year, perhaps spurred by the early drought, plants seem to be in an even greater hurry to complete their cycle. The tassel hyacinths I discovered for the first time last week were over when I returned to shoot them yesterday.
First broods have fledged now - including a nest-full of nightingales in our garden whose super-neurotic parents kept up a 20-hour-a-day alarm for several days. Why!? - we sleep, the cat sleeps, the dog sleeps. Enough already - just chill.
What has not fledged yet are bee eaters in the colony I discovered three km along our lane a couple of weeks ago. I’ve watched nest excavation and birds mating so I think it will be about another 10 days or so before they start feeding chicks. Exciting times!
And as you’ll see as you scroll down here, there has been another emergence this spring in the form of Denzil Darius Kazadi - Emily’s first child. It’s the start of another phase in our lives. There’s lot to get your teeth into in this issue of MENUette so, please, enjoy.
We hope to see you soon.
Charlotte and Niall
May 2025 Chez-nous
Each Chez-nous brings its own opportunities for fun - for our guests and for ourselves. And no two are ever the same. Last week we welcomed, from Austria and Switzerland, Paul and Gitti, who have travelled with us several times before. This was their second Chez-nous and, from previous experience, we knew we’d have the opportunity to push some creative boundaries.
Perhaps you’ll remember le Moine Errant, the Wandering Monk, from the last MENUette? Well, the character proved popular again, as a presence in empty landscapes and as a logical addition to other locations. Gitti was keener to be the Franciscan than the photographer and was fearless about robing-up in public for the shots. “It’s nun of anyone else’s business”, she exclaimed.
All these picture, in particular the woodland shots, benefitted from colour grading. While I lean heavily on some modified Lightroom presets, Paul and Gitti, who are Capture One users, introduced me to a new, exciting feature in their app. called Match Look. Capture One can analyse the colour grading of any photograph you introduce into Match Look then generate a profile you can apply to your own photo. We tried it with one of my colour-graded images as the source and when the resultant profile was applied to one of Paul’s pictures, the “look” was eerily similar. If you’re in the business of selling presets, or colour grading more generally, it’s time to look for other work, I fear. If Capture One has this feature today, there’s a fair chance that Lightroom will have it within the year. Bring it on.
Gitti was keen to refine the still-life work she did the last time she was with us and that coincided nicely with an idea that had struck me the previous week. When we photograph glass, so that the reflection is an attractive part of the composition, we double diffuse the light: once through the fabric of the softbox the flash is in and once again through a secondary diffuser placed just out of shot. In the case of glass photography, we do it to get a nicely feathered reflection that lacks the hard edges that result from the softbox alone.
So, why couldn’t this work with other still-life subjects to get light that looks like daylight, only with the control you get from using flash? Well, it turned out that you could- and that the light looked very natural indeed.
We put an Elinchrom head in a strip softbox about a meter from the edge of my “dark space” (this is simply a folding, three-sided set of black boards we position round the subject to control the flow of light onto it). We used a piece of Flyweight/ Corlite as the secondary diffuser, also on the right of the subject, about 15 cm from it.
One corner of the dark space opens to accommodate the subject. The trick is to position the front of the subject at the edge of the opening so that it only just catches the light. Too far out and there is no fall-off of light on the subject.
These pictures of Gitti’s show the effect with both 45˚ and over-head images. Each time, there is only one light source - and it could as easily have been an old, manual flashgun instead of the fancy Elinchrom. It all comes down to the light modification.
Amongst other things, Paul and Gitti brought us two beautiful jars of dried vegetables that Charlotte will use when she makes stock. The veg are such individual and colourful objects, that I shot fifty of them, individually, to create composites. They are useful design elements to scatter in the margins of a page, too.
We timed a visit to the Floral Parc at Apremont-sur-Allier to coincide with peak rose season, transforming the already picture-perfect village into something, well, very English.
Slightly, only slightly, less salubrious Moulins Engilbert provided its usual abundance of quirky details - and further evidence that you can never have too many signs to advertise your business.
If you fancy joining us for a Chez-nous, we still have some availability later this summer and autumn. Drop us a line!
We have also published the Winter 2025-26 Chez-nous brochure. There are limited slots so secure your place as soon as you can.
When it comes to the question of whether or not workshop leaders should shoot alongside their guests/ students, we fall squarely into the DO camp. How else can you know the specifics of what the student is dealing with? If the leader isn’t shooting, is it because there are no pictures to be had? That’s not a good signal to give out. And if the student ends up making a better picture than you…well, park your ego and acknowledge it: boosting the student’s confidence is more important. So long as you make space for your students’ questions, there really is no reason not to shoot alongside them, we think..
Now, while some students want to be left in peace to get on with things, others are very keen to know what the leader is up to (and if they have a better take). We also all know the pure hopelessness of trying show anyone, let alone a group of students, the little image on the back of your camera.
This is why the up-dated Camranger eh, 2, is the ideal tool for sharing images in the field, especially in a workshop setting. Files are sent wirelessly from the camera to a laptop or iPad up to 150m away over the strong wifi network the device creates, This provide anyone who is interested with an insight into what the leader is shooting.
This is just one of many applications for the Camranger 2, a much- improved version of the one I used years ago. The updated app. on the iPad, phone or laptop provides lots of remote control of the camera’s settings, as well as remote triggering and focus stacking.
I’ve found it useful in portrait photography to give the sitter real-time previews and, in Live View mode, it’s indispensable in tight corners where I can’t get behind the camera. It can be used for remote control photography and I use it in my food work when I want to stay and shoot from set-side so I can move elements around, rather than going to and from the camera to review the image.
Best of all. . . there is NO LONG CABLE. I’ve never had happy experiences with tethering cables and last one wrecked the transfer socket of my previous camera. That said, it’s prudent to secure the short cable that connects the Camranger to the camera and I do this by fixing it to my L-bracket with a re-usable cable-tie. I’ve put an old Arca-Swiss type QR mount on the base of the Camranger to allow me to fit it to the camera’s bracket. It can also be suspended in its case from the tripod . A Smallrig clamp secures the iPad to another tripod or directly to my camera’s tripod.
Make sure you ask us for a demo. on your next Retreat with us.
Some news…and baked ricotta and asparagus tart
A very special event took place in our family on the 4th April when my daughter, Emily, gave birth to a beautiful baby boy named Denzil Darius. I was lucky enough to be with them during that time and then even more lucky to be able to return just over a month later. On my return home from the second visit, I went to the fridge to see what ingredients there were for me to make dinner and it was a bit like the old tv programme, Ready Steady Cook, which I used to watch when Emily was a tiny baby herself..
I found a few small red onions, a lovely fresh bunch of asparagus, some boursin cheese, a little cream cheese, scraps of hard cheeses and some dried-out parma ham, all of which were within date. But it left me puzzling for a while as to what I would make for us. So, I turned to my trusty cookery books of which, as you know, there are many! (note from Niall: I was economising on food in Charlotte’s absence. I had not really forgotten to shop. . .)
I love Nigel Slater’s recipes and books and found a recipe which I hoped would work with the ingredients I had, albeit not exactly the same ones as in his recipe.
I set-to with a mix of the cream cheese and boursin, grated the harder cheeses, and also added in some lightly sautéed red onion. I always taste as I’m cooking and this tasted fine. Niall, who looked unusually hungry, said it was the best thing he’d eaten all week. Even if you don’t have the exact ingredients, you don’t have to rush off to the shop - just adapt with what you have. Watching Ready Steady Cook all those years ago taught me so much that has been useful to me ever since, especially when we have been on Retreats in remote places where the ingredients differ from what I’m used to.
Here is the actual Nigel Slater recipe, but feel free to adapt where you like. It’s really tasty served with a vinaigrette-dressed fresh green salad, some juicy tomatoes drizzled with balsamic vinegar and a sprinkle of sea salt on herb or garlic bread. The “proper” asparagus season doesn’t last long so don’t delay!
Bon appétit!
Baked Ricotta and Asparagus
Ingredients
Asparagus- 300g
Ricotta- 500g
Eggs- 2 large
Fresh thyme leaves- 1 tablespoon (fresh is best but dried works just as well)
Finely-grated Parmesan cheese- 100g
Salt- a pinch for the asparagus water, and some freshly ground black pepper
A little softened butter to grease the dish
You will also need a 20cm soufflé dish or similar baking dish of your choice,
How to make
Set the oven to 200˚C/180˚C fan oven/Gas 6 then butter your 20cm soufflé or baking dish and set it aside.
First of all, put a pan of water on to boil, then trim the asparagus, discarding any tough stalk-ends. Cut each spear into short lengths (about 5-6 cm each). When the water is boiling, add a little salt then drop in the asparagus and cook the spears for just for two to three minutes. Drain and set aside. Set aside a few of the spears for the top of the dish before baking).
Next, put the ricotta in a mixing bowl along with the thyme leaves. Add most of the grated parmesan -saving a handful for the top - and then add the asparagus spears.
Break the eggs into a separate bowl and mix them well with a fork then add them to the ricotta mixture. Stir the mix well and season it with freshly ground black pepper.
Add the ricotta mixture to the buttered baking dish then top it with the reserved asparagus spears and sprinkle on the remaining parmesan.
Bake it for about 35 minutes until well-risen and the top and edges are tinged a light golden brown.
A glass of chilled Chardonnay is not an essential accompaniment. . . but is highly recommended.
Yum yum.
Highlights of the Hebrides e-book
Photographic inspiration for anyone dreaming of the Hebrides.
The Scottish Western Isles are close to our hearts and with dozens of visits between us, we’ve come to know some of the islands very well. This new- and free - Folio e-book focuses on our favourites - Harris, Lewis, Mull, Lunga, Islay and Jura - the ones that have produced the most lasting memories, many of which were made while hosting groups there.
This is a book of lived dreams. Live them for yourself, with us.
As with other books in our FOLIO series, this one is designed to be viewed on a large screen so you can see the pictures at their best. And it’s all for free. Did I mention that already?
English language • 246 Mb • 134 spreads • 2560 x 1600 pixels • PDF format • 6100 words • 188 images
There will be a German language edition later this summer.
Doing more with your photographs, the professional way.
If you want to make an e-book, a zine, multiple-image collages, books or magazines for press or anything else that requires you to combine words and/ or pictures, by far the best way to do that is with a desktop-publishing application. And unless you want to be locked into the full Adobe subscription plan, Affinity Publisher V2 is the natural choice. As a professional application, it is every bit as capable as the industry standard, Abobe Indesign, but is very competitively priced and in many ways, more intuitive.
Nevertheless, learning either of these applications is a steep hill to climb.
Our starting-off point is to identify your project. Once we’ve done that, I create a template for you then teach you over four, one-and-a-half hour lessons how to populate it. That way, you’re learning exactly what you need to learn. We leave enough time between lessons for you to practise what you learned during the previous one and for us to resolve any problems you encounter, before the next one. And of course, there are always the Zoom videos to re-watch, for reference.
£450 for your template and 4, one-and-a-half hour lessons on Zoom with a screen recording at the end of your sessions.
This is an old picture, made at a time when Iona was just 8, and I still clung to the belief that conservation agencies might see the value of what creative types like myself, and the other members of the 2020VISION project, could produce for them. After it seemed that an agreement had been struck with the Wildlife Trusts it transpired that they expected the work to be supplied free of charge. That episode and that project marked the end of large scale cooperative efforts amongst professional wildlife photographers in Britian to engage constructively with the conservation agencies to further the latter’s agendas. I think, as I would, that it was an ill-judged economy in a world so reliant on novel imagery for effective communication.
One of the things that I learned during my work for the project was not to be afraid of over-simplification in this sort of messaging - to quieten the instinct for qualification and explanation.
It’s a mistake, though, to think that direct simplicity is all that counts in effective messaging. The other side of the coin, the thing that makes us credible, is demonstrable honesty.. And that’s what sorts out the rouges from the honest ones.
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Many thanks,
Our best wishes, Charlotte and Niall
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