The future in blue

Haute Provence was kind enough to show me for four periods, the colors suited exactly to each season: the mountain in late summer wrapped in an indescribable clarity integrating a mysterious blue; a sudden change, and the oak forest in winter illuminated by a shimmering golden light; in early summer, in fields where the green color has resurfaced, lavender flowers of pale mauve shyly beginning to perk up their noses; and finally, the mid summer violet brilliantly dying a landscape of fields and mountains. Was I able to show all these transformations in my pictures?
In selecting the photographs, I wrote texts describing experiences linked to each of the compositions - process that took time. I read and reread it countless times. However, at each reading, I felt I was not able to convey something very important. I took a map and retraced on paper the path I traveled: a path here, a village there. The faces of all the people I met at that time were present in my mind.
Everyone was so kind and the atmosphere was wrapped in a warmth and welcoming generosity that I was not expecting. It was like an extension of everyday life, coming to sooth me with discretion. One after another, the voices are back, ringing in my ears and smiling faces began to float beneath my eyelids. Yet, from where does such unmasked magnanimity come?

In contrast to the magnificent ever-changing colors, the natural environment in which these people live is far from being gentle. On the contrary, it is violent: the merciless light of day and freezing cold of night: drought brought by the wind, the poor soil, steep trails, and the mountain roads. Against all this, there is no point in fighting.
All these people have endured with the greatest patience, they let nature take its course and they lived it together. In these harsh conditions, they have cultivated plants as if they were raising capricious children. Perhaps the coexistence with such a difficult nature enabled them to acquire this attitude where attention and care are implanted, something that cares neither about time nor form.
These people call the lavender they have grown "the small blue flowers of Haute Provence.” If this is so, the last decisive argument for defining the color of this region is, of course, blue.

Without doubt they will continue to protect these little blue flowers for their own future, and it is also likely that they will continue to seduce their visitors and all those who love nature. I will forever pray from my heart for their future happiness.