Pics from my trip to Hossegor in southwest France (near Dax...)

Hossegor is a small town, famous for its surfing conditions. To get an idea of just exactly where it is, have a look here.

Here are some pics of a few things German tourists and campers left behind when they decided Hossegor would be a nice place to visit in the early 1940s. These days, they leave behind much smaller pieces of trash. Click on the picture to see the full-size version. Note the flatbed Unimog in the second photo.

Several pictures of waves beaking on the beach at sunset.

My friends and I were able to take this trip because of the generosity of our colleague Taos and his family. We stayed in a house his father built by hand some time ago, in the woods near a village called Saubrigues. It was very good to get out of Paris for a while, away from the tourists, the bars, and work.

The shower. We had fresh pears from the pear tree in the right side of the photo.

We made a fairly large fire each night. This shot was taken in two second exposure mode. You can see a few glowing cinders that left a trail across the image.

Jean-Christophe playing his tenor sax by candlelight, Slick Willie style. Ask him about cubism sometime.

A young French girl (whose name I unfortunately can't remeber) doing a popular comedy sketch she memorized for school.

Same shot as above, with a different white balance setting. Note her face is more visible, but the twinkle in her eye is gone. I prefer the first one...

These pictures were taken with a Canon Powershot S20 and retouched with The GIMP.