Menton Daily Photo's 5th Birthday!

Menton Daily Photo and Monte Carlo Daily Photo celebrate their 5th birthdays today - that's one photo (sometimes more) every single day for five years - twice! Not quite sure how it happened, but it did!

In fact, it all started with Eric Tenin's Paris Daily Photo and his vision for a world-wide City Daily Photo community of which today there are 1452 representing cities all over the world. I will be forever grateful to Eric for starting something that was to totally change my life and in ways I never could have imagined. Who knew I'd fall asleep at night reading books on photography!

According to Google, Menton Daily Photo has 12,000 visits a month (of which 6000 are unique visits) with 20,000 page views a month. Monte Carlo Daily Photo has 13,000 visits a month (of which 7,500 are unique visits) and with 27,000 page views. You can see, with these monthly numbers, why I can't stop and indeed I don't want to! It's such a honour and a privilege to know so many people are enjoying the photos. A heartfelt thank you to my wonderful readers, for your loyalty, encouragement, kind emails and comments - without you, I think I'd have faltered long ago.

But along with the numbers have come friends - blogging friends, photography friends, people who come and visit and who I'd not have known but for the blogs. People who write me - we've never met - but are friends nonetheless. And one thing is particularly important to me, acceptance by the people of the amazing village where I live - Gorbio. I adore this village, its traditions and its people who have so generously made me (a foreigner) welcome. They know me as the English woman, with the blogs - the one who always has a camera in her hand! I feel very much a part of this medieval hill village and I can't begin to tell you how much this means to me.

Thank you to my dear friend and neighbour, Agnès Pinelli, who corrects the translations for Menton Daily Photo every single evening. A big hug, Agnès.

And this photo of me? Well that was taken by Gorbio's wonderful Mayor, Monsieur Michel Isnard, a fabulous artist and teacher, who does so much for the village, both culturally and in every way imaginable - he even finds time to encourage me. Thanks for the photo, Monsieur le Maire.

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Menton Daily Photo et Monte Carlo Daily Photo célèbrent leur 5e anniversaire aujourd'hui - cela représente une photo (parfois plus) chaque jour pendant cinq ans et deux fois! Pas tout à fait sûr de savoir comment c'est arrivé, mais c'est ainsi!

En fait, tout a commencé avec Paris Daily Photo de Eric Tenin et sa vision d'une communauté mondiale City Daily Photo qui aujourd'hui, regroupe 1452 villes dans le monde entier. Je serai éternellement reconnaissante à Eric d'avoir mis en place quelque chose qui devait changer totalement ma vie d 'une façon que je n'aurais jamais pu imaginer. Qui sait que je m'endors la nuit en lisant des livres sur la photographie?

Selon Google, Menton Daily Photo a 12.000 visites par mois (dont 6000 sont des visites uniques) avec 20.000 pages vues par mois. Monte-Carlo Daily Photo a 13.000 visites par mois (dont 7.500 sont des visites uniques) et avec 27.000 pages vues. Vous pouvez comprendre, avec ces chiffres mensuels, pourquoi je ne peux pas arrêter et aussi je ne le veux pas! C'est un tel honneur et un privilège de savoir que tant de gens apprécient les photos. Un grand merci à mes merveilleux lecteurs, pour votre fidélité, vos encouragements,vos e-mails amicaux et vos commentaires - sans vous, je pense que j'aurais renoncé depuis longtemps.

Et avec le temps, bon nombre sont devenus des amis - amis de blogs, amis de photographie, personnes qui viennent me rendre visite et que sans le blog je n'aurais pas connues. Les gens qui m'écrivent - nous ne nous sommes jamais rencontrés - mais qui sont néanmoins des amis. Et une chose est particulièrement importante pour moi, c'est l'accueil par les habitants de l'étonnant village où je vis - Gorbio. J'adore ce village, ses traditions et ses gens qui ont si généreusement accueillie l' étrangère que je suis. Ils me connaissent comme la dame anglaise des blogs - celle qui a toujours une appareil-photo à la main! Je me sens très bien intégrée dans ce village médiéval et je n'ai pas de mots pour vous dire ce que cela signifie pour moi .

Merci à ma chère amie et voisine, Agnès Pinelli, qui corrige les traductions pour Menton Daily Photo, tous les soirs. Un gros câlin, Agnès.

Et cette photo de moi? Eh bien elle a été prise par le merveilleux maire de Gorbio, M. Michel Isnard, un artiste formidable et un professeur, qui fait tant pour le village, à la fois culturellement et dans tous les domaines imaginables - il trouve même le temps de m'encourager. Merci pour la photo, M. Le Maire.

The Caged Bird that Sings for Nathalie

Guess who came to stay for the weekend? Yes, it's the divine Nathalie from Avignon in Photos and here she is doing what she does so beautifully - taking photographs. We went to the hill villages of Dolceacqua and Apricale in Italy on Saturday and yesterday spent the day in Menton and later, a quick trip to Gorbio.

We lunched by the beach at La Pergola, where I had the best risotto I've ever eaten - Nathalie had a plate of assorted fried fishes, which she declared to be excellent and all this washed down with a delicious pale rosé called Out of the Blue. Of course all this meant we had to walk it off and so, after lunch, we wandered along the Promenade de la Mer (Les Sablettes) where Nathalie noticed the caged birds at the Teranga Plage. Her photo is below.

Come back soon, dear Nathalie! Life is always the best fun when you are around.

Ste. Agnès: Fête de Lavande - the Distillation

Copyright 2009 Menton Daily Photo. All rights reserved.

In the main photo, we see the two 400-year old lavender stills (alambic in French). The still on the right makes double the amount of lavender oil to the one on the left.

120 kilos of the cut and dried lavender + 70 litres of water goes into the still. It's sealed tightly with the 'blue band' and the fire is lit.

With heat comes condensation. Vapour from the lavender rises into a coil tube, which is cooled by water. It condenses again and is recuperated through a separator (1st small photo) producing essential oil and distilled water.

When 40 litres of distilled water is collected, the lavender is exhausted and needs replenishing, otherwise it starts to burn.

When the essential oil is drained off, the distilled pipe is blocked off, and the copper pipe is turned downwards (2nd small photo)

Approx 250 mls is yielded from 120 kilos of wild lavender. (1000 kilos of lavender yields 2 litres of wild lavender oil.) Wild lavender oil is more expensive than cultivated oil. 10 ml sells for €5.00. It's considered to be far stronger and is used for medicinal and culinary purposes. In the 3rd smaller pic we see the oil being bottled and finally, the village stall where it is sold at the Fête de Lavande.

Please click on any of the photos to enlarge. Thanks so much to my friend Anita, who lives in Sainte Agnès and took all the photographs and also provided such an easy explanation.

If you missed Anita's photograph of Julien harvesting the lavender please see yesterday's post or click on the link. You can also read of the charming little house that Anita has for holiday rentals in Sainte Agnès - ideal for visitors to Menton who would like to stay in a medieval hill village.

Note: I've posted more photos than usual today but it seemed necessary to explain the process.

Photos: Anita Bingeman ©

Ste. Agnès: Fête de Lavande - the Harvest

Copyright 2009 Menton Daily Photo. All rights reserved.

The lavender is harvested one week before the Fête de Lavande, and as you can see Julien is cutting it with this small scythe. The lavender is wild (not the same as the cultivated varieties we grow in pots or gardens) and is cut from the mountains around Sainte Agnès.

The cutting started at 6 a.m. with 20 villagers turning up to help, including my friend, Anita, who took this photograph. Anita lives in Ste. Agnès and apart from being a super photographer, is a fantastic horsewoman, and was a noted breeder of Arabian horses in the past.

This year 800 kilos of lavender was cut, put into sacks, lugged down to the village (those sacks are heavy) and later spread out in the Salle des Fêtes to dry till the following weekend. Tomorrow we'll see the stills and learn how the essential oil is extracted.

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Anita has an absolutely charming little house she rents to visitors, so if anyone is coming to Menton on holiday and would like to stay in Sainte Agnès, let me know and I'll put you on to Anita.

Photo: Anita Bingeman ©

Chuckeroon's Menton - Facade

Today is the last day of this Guest Photographer series and Chuckeroon shows us the facade of the Old Town taken from the beach - one photograph in black and white and one in colour.

Thank you so much to Peter, Nathalie, Richard and Chuckeroon for sending their photos and most of all for the good times we had together. It's been just fascinating seeing how these talented photographers see Menton, Roquebrune, Gorbio and Monte Carlo.

I learned so much - how to see the 'bigger' picture and not always focus on the detail. Seeing shadows and reflections. And also learning to remember when I've changed settings on my camera! Don't ask!

Thanks Guys, come back soon!

Tomorrow - normal service will be resumed...

Richard's Menton - the Old Town

This is a shot of the Old Town I just love - but I'd never thought of presenting it in black and white before. Of course, when the photograph is taken by Richard, then it's not a surprise. You can see all of Richard's Menton shots, (including Roquebrune, Gorbio and Monte Carlo) some taken on digital and some on film, by clicking on the link.

Nathalie's Menton - the Beetle

Photographed by Nathalie on the ancient donkey track to Gorbio village.

Peter's Menton - La Mer

Peter's photograph says it all really - the Mediterranean and palm trees. Click on the link to see a beautiful collage of photographs Peter took in the medieval village of Roquebrune.

Chuckeroon's Menton - Erigeron karvinskianus

A long name for this small daisy-like plant photographed by Chuckeroon. You see it everywhere in the south of France, tumbling out of walls and seeding very easily. It's a very useful plant to fill gaps in a garden but beware, it can take over.

Richard's Menton - the Parvis

In Richard's photo we are looking over a corner of the parvis (the square in front of the Basilica) down the rampes to the beach and the sea.

The mosaic decoration on the parvis was created in 1757 by Honoré III and is made of white and black stones formed in diamond shapes to depict the weapons of the princes. The rounded 'H' was the initial of the sovereign.

A few years ago - maybe seven, maybe more - we had terrible rains in November, just endless, and some of the rampes were badly damaged. Access was forbidden for months and eventually restoration was complete. It has been done well although one can tell the difference between the original stones and the new ones - perhaps not a suprise considering the difference in age and wear.

Of course you need none of this information to enjoy Richard's photograph.

Nathalie's Menton - Alyssa

On our last day, we went up to the medieval village of Gorbio to see the baptism of two village children, Alyssa and Kylian. Here you see Nathalie's beautiful portrait of little Alyssa before the ceremony.

Peter's Menton - Bougainvillea

A painted, cracked wall in the medieval village of Roquebrune by Peter. A perfect backdrop to bougainvillea.

Chuckeroon's Menton - Place Honoré II

This group of buildings form Place Honoré II, named in honour of the Prince of Monaco (1597-1662) who was responsible for the creation of many of the great buildings of Menton, including the beautiful Basilica. To the left of this 'place' you can walk up very (very!) steep steps to the Basilica, or you can choose to walk (more gently) through Porte St. Antoine, along Rue Longue and climb the rampes.

Bet you didn't know all this, Chuckeroon, when you took the photograph.

Richard's Menton - Life on the Côte d'Azur

Taken on Menton's rue Piétonne (pedestrian street) by Richard.

One of the many joys of life in Menton is sitting outside a bar watching the world go by...

Nathalie's Menton - Kir Pétillant

Look at the good things you find at the Beausejour, the beautiful restaurant in the square of Gorbio, a medieval village 7 kilometres above Menton.

In this photograph by Nathalie of Avignon, we are looking at Kir Pétillant - made with sparkling wine, as opposed to champagne, when it would be called Kir Royale. The flavours - lavande, coquelicot, rose and violette (lavender, poppy, rose and violet).

For lunch, we chose the restaurant's speciality, La Farandole, which you can see by clicking on the link.

Please visit Richmond-upon-Thames for Chuckeroon's photo of this drink. I think it went down rather well with the visitors!

Peter's Menton - the Postman

In the Old Town of Menton, Peter from Paris found the postman. Please click on Peter's link to see a marvellous collage and reportage of his time in Menton - so many marvellous photographs.

Some of you may remember the same postman last Christmas, when Rue Longue was still undergoing renovation. As you can see, in both photographs, he has the time of day for everyone - a good kind man.

Nathalie's Moveable Feast

Crazy fruit and vegetables in Menton's market. Nathalie from Avignon in Photos took this photograph on her recent visit to Menton (see yesterday's post).

Positioned above a fruit and vegetable stand is a long narrow distorting mirror. I must have walked past this stall a thousand times and never noticed the mirror, let alone the reflection - Nathalie saw it immediately!

Tomorrow - La Fête du Citron! - Menton's famous Lemon Festival.

Nathalie in Rue Longue

One of the many joys of being part of the City Daily Photo community is meeting other CDP bloggers. Already I've had the immense pleasure of meeting Fabrizio from Turin, Sally and her family from Sydney and the Benauts from Adelaide and recently I had a real treat when Nathalie from Avignon in Photos came to visit.

Nathalie has long inspired me. I love the detail in her work, I love her shadows and her reflections and her street art. I love her photography. Walking around with her was fascinating. Nathalie sees shadows and reflections before anything else. Earlier, I had told her there are no political posters in Menton - she found them here in Rue Longue!

Nathalie takes her time framing a shot. She knows when a shot won't work because the light is all wrong. We swapped cameras, we laughed, we had such fun.

The smaller photo is the scene Nathalie was photographing when I photographed her - a perfect example of what I mean when talking about her wonderful shadows. (Please click to enlarge) And for a Nathalie reflection go to Monte Carlo Daily Photo today.

And on Avignon in Photos today you'll find two photos Nathalie took of Gorbio village.

Russian orthodox chapel

One of the delights of a Daily Photo blog is when you hear from people who have enjoyed the photographs, are taken with your town, and then they come and stay. That is what happened with James Arzente, the American artist. He had a trip planned to take photographs of Eze for his work, but chose to stay at Menton and it is who who took this photograph and is therefore Menton DP's second Guest Photographer. James is a well-known American artist who uses photography in his beautiful creations. To read more and see some of his amazing art, please click on the link above.

As you walk around the old cemetery of Menton, you'll find, alongside the tombs of the old Mentonnais families, many of those with British and Russian names on them. The Russian orthodox chapel in this photograph contains the remains of Prince Troubetzkoy (1822-1892). It was built in memory of Alexandrine de Tapliakoff, who died in Menton in 1884. No less than 6 princes of the Russian royal house are buried in Menton.

Pur-sang Arabe - 2

No - I didn't take this photograph. Let me introduce you to my friend, fellow dog-lover, and first Guest Photographer, Katie de Gea. Katie lives in the Var and is a brilliant artist and web designer. Take a look at her work on the Pension Milou website.

Not only did we spend two brilliant days at the Arabian horse show but with Katie, I discovered areas of Menton I didn't know existed. She also explained the intricacies of my camera (a Canon Ixus 850 IS) so hopefully, what I've learned will be evident in future photograhs! Katie's camera is a Canon EOS 350D. Thanks for a great weekend, Katie!