A Vincent Mounier Photography Blog
Fall Was Straggling, Summer Had Gone
October 18, 2014
The Zipcar is dirty. Again.
Its seats are stained and you sit down uneasily. The windshield reluctantly shows you the world through a slightly foggy film embedded with fingerprints, the ghost of multiple GPS-mount suction bites and nicotine. But behind you is a full load of camera gear and picnic goodies in an open handbag. Thinks could be worse.
Google Maps plots and suggests a route taking into account distance, speed limit, tolls, construction, accidents...
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Personae Non Grata
October 4, 2014
This is a re-post of a series of stories the first of which was written in 2008. I have revised it and completed it and added some pictures. It will now be part of the new "Little Cayman Chronicles". This will be a nostalgic series. The photos are very old, most taken with a two-megapixel point-and-shoot. Sigh.
Back in 2002, or maybe 2003, I had been living in Little Cayman for a few years, having arrived just as the Millennium bug was terrifying civili...
Hummingbird, the Sequel
September 30, 2014
Marie saw two of them in territorial fights on Saturday, I found one on Sunday, and by the time we were picnicking in the garden on Monday after work, on a strangely dull and almost milky late-afternoon, the hummingbirds appeared to have abandoned New York City in search of healthier southern climates.
Ruby-throated hummingbird
Running Around Harlem
September 21, 2014
I recently went for a Sunday run around the northern tip of Manhattan. Summer was coming to an end and people were out and about, determined to suck every last bit of marrow out of life.
Aiming for a fifteen-kilometer route that took me straight back home, I rode the no. 3 subway a few stations north, to avoid about twenty blocks of nasty street running. I started the run at the top of the Harlem River Driveway and followed it down and northward-bound, crossing over the...
Hummin' Harlem
September 17, 2014
When I came home last night after running back from work, I rang the buzzer but got no answer. Surprised, I let myself in and found the apartment deserted.
Assuming Marie would be on the terrace and torn between a childish desire to surprise her loudly and a more mature impulse to respect peace and harmony, I walked through in silence, our old wooden floors creaking as I advanced, and peeking through the bedroom door I found Marie standing on the terrace camera in hand,...
Escape from New York - In Motion
September 7, 2014
This was put together with old test clips shot with the GoPro while going to work or wandering around the city, and some recent footage from our Catskills drive. The NYC clips are anachronistic and the technique is shaky. I'm trying to get used to both the GoPro and the 6D and 7D. Surprisingly for its size, the GoPro is sharper, and I have not even touched 4K. Pardon the amateurish result, one must start somewhere...
Once in the Catskills, the stream's current was relat...
Escape from New York - Panorama of the Pool
September 5, 2014
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Following the stills I posted this week of our same-day run to the Catskills, here is a full spherical panorama of our secret spot.
Somewhere in the Catskills
As always, click on the full screen icon at the top right of the pano, and then zoom in and out with the mouse wheel, and pan manually in all directions by click-and-dragging the scene.
Escape From New York City
September 2, 2014
There are no easy options when it comes to escaping the Big Apple and its madly turbulent crowds. I like to imagine the city as surrounded at all times by a series of concentric circles, or bubbles, characterized by a slowly decreasing level of overpopulation.
The inner bubble is centered on Manhattan and within it, no hope subsists. There will be a mob no matter where one goes. The second bubble typically includes the five boroughs and while there are hotspots, it is u...
Torn to Run
August 26, 2014
I have been running for some fifteen years. Yes, a late start simply because figuring out how to do it took forever. Contrary to what one might think, it was not as simple as tying up my shoe laces and taking off. That had been attempted throughout the years and with one notable exception, systematically ended prematurely in breathing disarray and discouragement.
The exception, surprisingly, had happened when I was a late teenager. I had gone on a five-kilometer run and...
Breathing Hard through Dust, Filth, Concrete and Exhaust
August 23, 2014
Not all runs are pretty or epic. This one was an experimental breach of protocol in search of virgin grounds and unsettling sights.
It took me from home in Harlem towards the East River, where I crossed the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge onto strange Randall's Island. There I ran in a circle, my path mimicking life. This was quite a while back when cramps were still a daily plague - I'll write about that soon. I winced and stopped and stretched a lot. There was no momentum to...
That Perspective we Gain and Lose
August 16, 2014
This is a re-post of a series of stories the first of which was written in 2008. I have revised it and completed it and added some pictures. It will now be part of the new "Little Cayman Chronicles". This will be a nostalgic series. The photos are very old, most taken with a two-megapixel point-and-shoot. Sigh.
Marie was just reminding me—very appropriately—of the way one can just crave fondue. There is nothing rational about such a dish and how it cree...
Estorbo's Birthday
August 10, 2014
So the cat has a big personality. He got presents. He is not all that young anymore but swears like a trooper and enjoys a party. We think he is fifteen, which would make him seventy-seven in human years. I took pictures for his blog but happened to like them a lot, and here we are. I am particularly fond of the third one where the little taxi - it cranks and will drive off the table's edge with beautiful fatality - reflects in his eye.
Trying out the new catnip mat
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