A Vincent Mounier Photography Blog
South Africa - The eagles have landed, bouncing only twice
December 21, 2008
Cape Town, on a sunny day after a sunny day and before another.Rainy Vancouver and chilly New York are now mere memories and South Africa is once again spinning around us her fine web of sunshine, wind, mountains and sea. Life has slowed down to an almost lazy rhythm punctuated by langourous coffees, hearty lunches and candlelight dinners, with the ocean ever-present even if out of sight, in all directions and behind every landmass, in our minds and hearts and ears.The inb...
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See ya later, l'tle Vancouver...
December 11, 2008
She's putting up a last fight. Right before I am scheduled to leave her behind, the city of glass is attempting to steal my heart again. After a seemingly endless - but normal - stretch of rain and grey weather, this morning shines like a single jewel on a forgotten crown.It started as I was leaving home. About to turn right towards the bus stop, I spotted a flock of birds on the beach and a closer look revealed crows harassing a beautiful bald eagle. The bird of prey ev...
Canada's latest and most embarrassing political farce
December 5, 2008
If this were any other time in history, I’d probably be laughing out loud. I can hear the world’s patronizing snort: "Them Canadians are throwing a fit again, eh? Who cares, they never pass 0.5 on the Richter scale anyway. It’s refreshing to be able to watch a political struggle with no consequence to us. It’s like watching a soap opera."But. This is now and we are in the midst of an extreme - and global - economic crisis. My sense of humor is running low. Cana...
Amazed by Google, heart in a vise
November 30, 2008
Incredible things are happening with technology as we speak. The internet is growing exponentially. I find it almost impossible to stay up to date. And sure enough, once in a while, I find out that I have indeed fallen behind.
It was the case this evening. Having looked up the French town of Anjou on Google Maps while Skyping with Marie earlier, I was left with an open browser and beautiful France smiling at me. I began to zoom in and traveled south. A little orange icon ...
The beauty of MySQL REPLACE()
November 27, 2008
For those of you who might have wondered where the pictures of old posts had gone recently, well, they were in server la-la land. I had forgotten to update my database table to replace the string of my old domain with the new one in over 300 entries!It's now a done deal. Oops. I'm an idiot. It shouldn't have made a difference since the files are still there. Haven't had enough coffee this morning. It would seem that the old site is down. I'll investigate...
Cape Town to the Namib Desert - A stretch?
November 27, 2008
This is the stuff dreams are made of. A road trip from Cape Town to the Namib Desert. One border and 2000 kilometers on African roads in unknown conditions, in the peak of summertime, with no cell phone reception nor wi-fi hotspots, aiming for the oldest desert on Earth and the most incredible landscapes one can imagine.
Of course, the word dream implies many - still - loose ends, including securing the use of said vehicle, swallowing the cost of fuel, leaving loved ones ...
And live we go...
November 24, 2008
5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 - Ignition!Well, so to speak. The fireworks are inner ones. There's really nothing to brag about but I hope you'll enjoy the new look and streamlined interface. I certainly have learned a great deal and for that reason alone, it was worth it!Please post any comments, typos, feedback, bug reports (are you still seeing the blog in blue, Gitte?), constructive criticism and blown away exclamation marks either in here or even better, in the guestbook accessi...
Are we there yet?
November 23, 2008
Saturday morning, 1:30 am. I wish I had a big black cat here to distract me from the computer and beg for pellets. Or its owner, to distract me from the computer and beg. ;-) But writing this post should do the trick and put me to sleep. The redesign is about complete and I should be going live tomorrow, hence today.I've finished transferring files from one domain to the other, and thank god there will be less crap on the new site. The old one had become like a dark base...
Countdown
November 21, 2008
We are now in the final stages of a multiple countdown, the three main features of which being a trip (ours) to the antipodes, an interview (hers) with the foreign powers that be, and the launch of the (read "thee") new-born web site (mine). The former is due in a few weeks, the latter might conclude as soon as this week-end, depending on how little sleep I get and how many bugs I manage to squash on my way there. And the middle one, more formidable still than ...
Of photography and mathematics
November 15, 2008
I once hated maths. I was so bad at it that I had to see a tutor outside of my school time. But time passed and I improved, having been given the lucky privilege of an extra school year while transiting from a country to another. College came and I juggled happily with the basics of trigonometry, differential and integral calculus, and other wonderful buggers. And then I forgot it all. Such is the usefulness of our school years. (Don't get me started on that...)
However...
New web site - Progress update
November 13, 2008
Because I am neglecting this blog so badly and because hearing myself talk about it will encourage me to keep pushing forward, here's a brief update on the site redesign process. I have just about completed the skeleton and will soon be addressing all galleries themselves (as in choosing which pictures make it to the limelight and which don't.) The site still runs on a basic HTML structure in order for it to remain search-friendly, but the main gallery is ran by Flash an...