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Why Choose Bicycle Gourmet’s Photography Course Workshop France 2014?
Why Choose Bicycle Gourmet’s Photography Course Workshop France 2014?
Good question! And, as you would expect DA BG has the answer.
While I am generally regarded as an all around environmentally conscious recyclin’ organic,bio, tree-hugger type-o- guy who doesn’t kick his dog, helps old ladies across the street, brushes regularly and watches between meal treats, there be one (in all modesty) very significant advantage I can offer my Photo Workshop pals
10 plus years of cycling through virtually all regions of France sharing (albiet briefly) the lives of the people of ALL Nationalities that make French Country Travel Life such unique and rewarding adventure.
Imagine the landscapes I’ve seen. The people I’ve met. And, not to forget, the food and wine I’ve tasted. And more to the point for my snappers, imagine 10 years (and counting) of awesome, incredible once-in-a-life time images. And (again, in all modesty) the experience that comes from everything I went through to snag them.
Experience that I can and will impart to the best of my ability. So that you will be able to personally share the indescribable beauty and wonder to be found in this here land. (The reason I’m still here, evidement!)
Are there other Photographers who’ve lived in France for 10 years Plus? Absolutely. Have they travelled extensively through this land that they also love?
That’s another big “10-4.” Have they spent 5 months a year for 10 years in a different village/town every day? Je pensez pas (“I think not”)
BOTTOM LINE: DA BG has the MOST intimate knowledge of what France has to offer. For all folks. But for Photographers especially.
That is why, if you’re serious about having the highest level of emotional experience, and the images that flow from that experience….you know the answer to : Why Choose Bicycle Gourmet’s Photography Course Workshop France 2014?
THROW ME A BONE HERE, PEOPLE!
What are ya thinkin’?
French Country Travel Life – Made in France?
French Country Travel Life – Made in France?
You would think, right? But so much of French Country Life(and it’s City cousins’) is imported. And not just the obvious stuff like Music and Movies. While there are, obviously French Supermarket Chains, We have two Giant German “discount” outlets that are not only in France, but all over Western Europe like a cheap suit.
And, as you might expect, their enormous buying power allows them to offer, for example, the same quality of orange juice for 96 cents (the “centime” died with the Franc, folks) – that the French Chains flog at 2.50 euro plus. (Can you say: “Globalization?”)
The result of all this economic “competition” has been for French entrepeneurs to loudly thump their chests (and isn’t that the best way?) proclaiming(and proving) that their products are “Made in France.” A not so subtle appeal to patriotism. Ignoring the obvious fact that budgets and hunger are not. And, equally are not flexible.
You may recall, a few years back, the film: “Supersize Me.” Which documented a young American’s “culinary voyage” of 30 days “dining” exclusively on fast food from a hamburger chain whose mascot is a clown with his first name beginning with ‘R” and the last starting with “Mc” (hint: not Scots or Irish) A“portrait” of (some of) the food “Made in the USA.”
Now, Benjamin Carle, a young French Journalist has attempted a more healthful but complimentary equivalent. Living all aspects of his life (not just the food) from those wonderous things “Made in France” for 10 months.
Our amis at France24.com have the patriotic details:
“On a budget of only 1,800 euros (2,480 US dollars) per month, Carle travelled around the country, immersing himself in a culture with which he says it’s easy to lose touch – especially as a young person in France today.
By turning his camera on his experiment, Carle explores a range of social, cultural, political and economic questions: What are the strengths and weaknesses of French industries? Can the French economy be saved if everyone makes an effort to buy French products? Can France progress scientifically, technologically and culturally without relying on foreign influences and collaboration?
Some of the conclusions he drew from his nine-month stint as an “economic patriot” were bleak.
“I feel like in France, we don’t really reinvent ourselves,” Carle told weekly magazine L’Express. “The only products we still manufacture here are those that most characterise us as French…in terms of clothing, for example, it’s sweaters and Breton sailor jerseys [navy and white striped knitted shirts]. The rest, T-shirts and pants, are all designed abroad.”
That said, Carle told L’Express, typical French clothing is hardly out of fashion. “Wearing only French-manufactured clothing could actually become a hipster thing,” he said.
No condoms, but lots of ‘Happy Meals’
Aside from his favourite pair of jeans, other things Carle had to forgo were his cell phone, laptop and condoms, none of which, apparently, are manufactured in France. “But we do make lubricant!” he added in an interview with culture site La Trempe.
Inspired by a call from Socialist politician Arnaud Montebourg, France’s minister for economic renewal, Carle quickly realized that helping renew the economy also meant renewing his ties to his own culture.
In interviews with the press, the young man described how buying only regional French food products (“produits du terroir”, as the French call them) forced him to cook, and in turn inspired him to take his time savouring the meal – a French tradition.
He has also said that he was surprised by the places he was able to find meals that were made exclusively from French products. In Paris’s ethnically diverse Belleville neighbourhood, Carle noted that two spots were reliable in offering 100% French meals: a “banh mi” shop, which prepared the famous Vietnamese sandwiches using baguettes from the bakery next door, French-raised beef, French-grown carrots, and a homemade mayonnaise made from French eggs; and McDonald’s, where the meat and potatoes are all from France.”
Read more HERE
THROW ME A BONE HERE, PEOPLE!
What are ya thinkin’?
Sunshine On My 2014 French Photo Course Workshop?
Sunshine On My 2014 French Photo Course Workshop? – The short (and honest) answer is : “probably.” However as with everything in life beyond our control, we need to realize that , especially in this case, “you pays yer money and you takes yer chances.”
But if the last few weeks here in the land o‘ DA BG are any indication (and I would like to believe they are) – our photographic weather will be so bright that, yes, we WILL “have to wear shades.”
Spring is bursting out all over as the unseasonably mild (and even warm sometimes) days are sending the “time to bloom” signals to flowers and fruit trees. 18 – 23 degree (celsius) temperatures have been enveloping not just the South (as is usually the case) but the entire nine yards o’ la Belle France.
Marvy news for the folks who grow stuff. Because every little growin’ thing is two weeks ahead of schedule. Just compensation for last year, and earlier this one, when the weather was not just unfriendly to their crops, but devastating. (can you say: “terminator?”)
In spite of all this golden positivity (and it IS the best kind) ’tis well to remember that roughly 20 years ago, within the space of hours, in the dead of Spring, the South of France was knee deep in snow. (the first time in 30 plus years the stats say.) And because the official wisdom was: “it never snows here”, there was no sand at the ready. And so, for (maybe the last time?) Cannes (she of the film festival) and environs got to enjoy an extended period of “Winter Wonderland.”
What we will be enjoying(and i’m going out on a limb here….again) On the Bicycle Gourmet’s Photo Course Workshop for 2014 is picture postcard weather.
Just like in this here Video:
Anything else I can help with?
THROW ME A BONE HERE, PEOPLE!
What are ya thinkin’?
