A Vincent Mounier Photography Blog
Once Upon a Time, le Club
March 29, 2014
For four years, I bounced from one tropical location to the next, tanned as a chocolate bar and barely drying up between dives.
Two of those years were spent aboard the Club's sister sailing ships, Club Med 1 and Club Med 2, largest sailing vessels in the world. Being a dive instructor for Club Med tought me a lot about diving and even more about people. Unfortunately, it also tried to teach me to dance and I lost my inner left meniscus to a French Cancan in rough seas....
6 Comments
Swee Waxbill
March 25, 2014
Shot in the luxurious Constantia garden last NYC winter.
Female swee waxbill
A Few Steps Above The Clutter
March 20, 2014
On our last Saturday walk we aimed for a ridge that stretches along the northwestern side of Manhattan like a spine. It features Inwood Park at its northern tip, then the Cloisters and finally a section of the Upper West Side we had never really explored.
A gigantic cathedral greeted us at the top of a flight of stairs through a narrow park. The Cathedral of St John the Divine, isn't. It is huge, though, and fenced by a barbed wire perimeter, the tall stone walls beggin...
Wandering Across Times Square
March 15, 2014
There still isn't much to say.
Times Square is a flirt between good and evil, between science-fiction come true and the decadence of materialistic America. But mostly these days, walking around and staring at the giant displays, I get a sense of doom. As though we have gone too far and will soon pay for our arrogance. Times Square represents the essence of human greed. Incredible amounts of money are spent here trying to convince people that they lack something, that th...
Queen Mary 2 and Liberty
March 8, 2014
As I am working hard to bring the Print Shop section of VMP online, I have been browsing through thousands of pictures and occasionally find little gems that never seemed to have made it to the blog. This is one of them. I really like its absolute lack of scale or reference point.
It was taken in Brooklyn, while the QM2 was docked in our Red Hook terminal.
VIP passengers: "Oh, ah!"
Officer: [yawn].
The bow of Queen Mary 2 with a Statue of Liberty backdrop
Black Cat in the Light
March 6, 2014
Don Estorbo de la Bodega, famous Harlem resident, sits by a 127th Street window.
Far Above New York City
February 23, 2014
After a nightmarish summer working bizarre shifts in a futile attempt at managing mad crowds and the absolute stillness of union employees, I left the Empire State Building Observatory almost four years ago with the firm intention of never going back.
Yet when my current workplace shifted from the Financial District and its blood-thirsty bankers to the bloody tourists of Mid-Town - in other words from ticks to fleas - I eventually decided that, against all odds, I would...
White Out
February 15, 2014
Stillness through motion.
The world outside the train is white. Light snow has been falling since we hopped off Manhattan. Hours stretch into one another. Short stops in small towns break the rhythm of blurred fields, skinny trees, icy water and dull skies.
Penn Station was true to itself, a zoo, wild characters and wandering travelers. People hunched on cell phones and chewed donuts. Now wi-fi is spotty at best and they are eating on-board hot-dogs that cost more th...
New skin for Vincent Mounier Photography!
February 13, 2014
Leading the way towards a new white minimalist skin, the main photo website is now live in its new livery. The new back-end there is going to allow me to update these galleries much more regularly to reflect the best of this blog's content.
Soon, the second stage of the release will involve the long-awaited Print shop where select photos will be available for purchase as fine art prints.
Then finally, the blog will be adjusted to a pale skin to match the first two.
...
Changes
February 4, 2014
Ironically, after almost six years in New York City, I have only worked in two of the most iconic areas of the Five Boroughs. Until recently, I commuted daily to the Financial District in Lower Manhattan, right next to the NYSE and a half-a-block away from Wall Street. Our office's bathroom had an unbeatable view of the Statue of Liberty. I had nothing to do with banking or finance, but the guilty ones were all around.
Then a week or so ago, having outgrown our space, w...
Cape Point Blank - Part 2
January 26, 2014
[This is part 2 of 2]
They did come back in an African summer that was their winter. While New York shrank and shivered in a cold early December, they flew south again and landed smack in the middle of beauty.
That second of many visits to Cape Point was a warmer outing and blue skies competed with turquoise seas. The wind, however, kept hauling.
They drove along misty cliffs towards the park. Olifantboos having become a ritual destination, they tracked and backtrac...
Cape Point Blank - Part 1
January 18, 2014
Strong of a picnic, four cameras, a SANParks family pass, some time to kill and much freedom to spend, they left the plush Constantia neighborhood under hesitant weather, steering away from Cape Town and towards the Cape of Good Hope.
It was wintertime in South Africa and a rainy May had vetoed shorts and t-shirts in favor of jackets and layers.
The valiant Landcruiser purred as it stretched its legs and leaped in search of infinite openness. It would not reach a dir...