What a funny Spring

Hi everybody, and what a funny old Spring we are having with the weather. One moment it's sunny and feels like the middle of the summer, the next it's back chilly again. Shall we blame global warming? Or accept that the season of Spring just ebbs and flows all over the place. The end of the ski season finished in a bit of a blur to be honest. I had such a fun time again this winter teaching, and fingers crossed you all had a great ski as well. So what did this Meribel ski instructor do after finishing work?

After a couple of days' rest and recovery, it was time to get stuck into some wildlife photography again. There is an area in the Vanoise National Park that's only about an hour's drive away that I love visiting. It's close to the Espace Killy area (Tignes and Val d'Isere), the Paradiski area (La Plagne and Les Arcs), and of course Les Trois Vallées. And yet it is so quiet and peaceful. The thin curvy strips of snow on the valley floor are the remnants of cross country ski tracks.

This area is renowned, but far from guaranteed, for sightings of the glorious Bouquetins. If you are a regular reader of this blog page then you might recall me mentioning these splendid beasts before. During the Spring months, some males will drop down to below their normal habitat of 2,500 to 3,300 metres altitude. This means that a pooped ski instructor doesn't have to walk too high up the mountain to try and get a glimpse.

They are fascinating creatures to watch, perhaps because we in the UK have very few mountain goats other than in Snowdonia and Scotland. Do they like us humans? On the whole not particularly, their personal space is considerably larger than ours. You can get lucky and find some tolerant individuals though.

There are just so majestic. Without sounding too nerdy, I tried to time my visits to coincide with the best light conditions, ie either end of the day. But the problem with mountains, and in particular this valley, is that they are rather steep and block out the sun before you know it. However, one day I won the lottery. I'd been watching this particular bouquetin for a while, keeping my distance, and tried to keep him backlit. Right on cue he stood on a rock, and turned to look at me in the dying seconds of direct sunshine. He then turned away and walked off as the sun set behind the mountain ridge. Priceless.

Think I'll get that one printed and framed. And then the weather turned. Three days before I left Méribel to come back to the UK, the temps dropped significantly and it snowed for a couple of days. It was Spring after all you know! This changed my visits a little, by the way walking boots are rubbish when trying to walk up and down mountains when snowy!

How amazing it was to experience being with them before heading home to England. A real treat, and I can't wait to go back again another time. The wedding season has started for me already, with a few pre-wedding shoots in the bag. And I'll be photographing my first wedding of the year this weekend with two more weddings next week, can't wait. The aim is to continue to post an article here every couple of months or so over the summer, so do occasionally come back. Have a fab summer everybody. Live with passion. Martin.