A Vincent Mounier Photography Blog
Stumbling upon cool stuff
March 15, 2008
Once in a while, to change the routine or take a break from intense photo or design work, I'll allow myself to Stumble for a while. Here are a few interesting sites discovered on my last ride...A rather interesting awareness test. Read the final credits. Smart of them.Some motivation if you feel like you are failing. I feel better now.Very funny aircraft snag book entries. Ok, maybe you need to be a pilot to laugh at some of those...Science-fiction meets the present at t...
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Sleepless in Seattle
March 15, 2008
An dashed white line rushes by me with a boring, hypnotic but fascinating rhythm. The trance is shallow, though, and easily broken by a change in speed or a nervous tick in the driver's wrist which instantly bring me back to reality. Seven people is too many for a single bloody car, even a Honda van. I feel like a sardine in a can and can't escape the dullness of our destination, a trade show in Seattle. We have agreed to declare at the border that we're attending a simple...
Hybrid cars: the future is today
March 13, 2008
When I was a very small boy, my parents had on the shelves on their library a few issues of a hybrid, a cross between a book and a magazine called Planète. Of Planète, I remember three things: a sexy James Bond cartoon; the excellent extraterrestrial short story "Comment servir l'homme"; and a drawing of the "car of tomorrow", slender lines, bright colors and a person sitting in the passenger seat, door open upwards and legs stretched, writing a lette...
Beached
March 6, 2008
Sometimes, I talk too much. "Talk" as in "write", I mean. Learning to shut up (the keyboard) is my number two goal in life - number one being to master my hatred of ticks, of course. So I will try to shut up now, and ask you not to read but just to look. The pictures speak for themselves and the context has been blogged about very thoroughly on 66 Square Feet. Long, beautiful beaches, some waves, a hot day, a picnic, the best company. Peace.
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The many faces of Cape Town
March 4, 2008
Cape Town could be Vancouver's long lost sister. Separated at birth, they would have grown independently, unaware of each other yet obeying instincts far greater than just their own. They both are tucked in the most intricate way between mountain and ocean. A ride through town is a threat to the neck as eyes are drawn in all directions, each vista rivaling the next.
Like Vancouver, Cape Town is a scene in which many micro-climates compete to surprise you. Strong winds fro...
Pictures from the road
March 2, 2008
There's something to be said for road trips - small adventures within a larger one, little lives of their own, precious and forever remembered like each kiss of a love story.
They are my favorite way to travel. I enjoy the absolute freedom bordering anarchy, the long, cozy hours at the wheel, rocked gently by the rhythm of speed and hypnotized by the flickering of passing poles and changing scenery.
I crave the symbiotic relationship established with the road, becomi...
The Chronicles of Knysna
March 1, 2008
The Garden Route is Cape Town's vacation playground. Located a few hours east of the city, it's a coastal paradise of little towns bordered by flowers and lush vegetation reminiscent of the Mediterranean, which then turns into the semi-arid region of the Karoo to the north, where we arrived from. First driving through Wilderness and Sedgefield, I had assumed that Knysna would be alike, small, narrow and sandwiched between gentle hills and a rough ocean. Far from it. The to...
Meaner pets
March 1, 2008
For local hazards, Americans have pit bulls and bears. South Africans, because they think like National Geographic editors, have baboons and ostriches. Don't be fooled. These aren't cute and they aren't sweet. They're mean, dangerous and moody creatures. Or so I was told.
Take the case of baboons, for instance: driving around Cape Town, Cape Point and the Karoo, one would be hard pressed to ignore the presence of these odd primates. There are signs everywhere reminding mo...
A very sweet day
February 29, 2008
Something just came up, tonight, which reminded me of the Little Prince; what's essential might be temporarily invisible to the eyes but is always seen quite well with one's heart. And this too: roses are proud flowers, self-aware and more critical of themselves then anybody could ever be. And then I noticed I hadn't written yet about the following. Maybe I should've started with this post, when I came home over a week ago, since it mattered to me most. I've been very diso...
Next stop: Ronnie's Sex Shop
February 27, 2008
Picture a long, hypnotically desert stretch of dryness leading to Barrydale, Little Karoo. The landscape is arid and flattened by an immense sky, modest rolling hills only beginning in the far distance. Yellow is the predominant tint and colors are warm but washed out. You're driving 120 km/h on a single lane road as is often the case in South Africa. Then, up ahead appears a white speck, which soon turns out to be a low lying house with bleached walls and a red sign paint...
From Porterville to the Map of Africa
February 27, 2008
For reasons far out of one's control, the paragliding side of this SA trip was rather thin. While the weather was mostly stunning, it was rarely flyable and we frankly had so much to do that choices had to be made. As a first attempt, we went on a short road trip to Porterville, north, the local cross-country Mecca.
The plan was to sleep in a... well, we'll call it a bungalow, at the Beaverlac campground located by a water source behind the ridge where the flying is don...
Picnic on the Lion's Head
February 26, 2008
It was late afternoon. We packed up a picnic - Marie being the absolute queen and ruler of such things - hopped in the Kombi and hit the road, bound for Lion's Head. We were not going to scale it, it was too late for that. We would do the easy thing: walk up the service road for a while, find a spot to sit down, and enjoy the sunset while we feasted.
Lion's Head, a small pyramid-shaped hump located to the northwest of Table Mountain just against the sea, is a strange comp...