Early in October 2007 I went on an Ocean Capture Adventures Photographic Safari, lead by Pro Photographer, Jonathan Chritchley. This is an account of the five days we spent in South West France with him. I'd be really pleased to hear from you if you'd like to let me know what you think.

Jonathan and I shooting birds at Cap Ferret. Picture by Jana Bilek.


Jonathan Chritchley is a professional photographer living in the Les Landes region in South West France. At the beginning of 2007, Jonathan started Ocean Capture Adventures - photography holidays and workshops in his beloved Aquitaine region of France. The courses are aimed at people with a love of photographing the shoreline, forests and lakes, in perfect light and with space to breathe. As a big fan of Jonathan’s I jumped at the chance of being able to take pictures with him, and booked myself onto an October photographic safari.

Direct flights to Biarritz are available from Stansted Airport and Jonathan was awaiting our arrival at our destination.

Jonathan drove us from the airport to our accommodation at Vieux Boucau, which was to be our base for the next six nights. Vieux-Boucau-Les-Bains, is a large village with all the amenities you would expect to find. (banks, cashpoints, restaurants, bars, doctors, chemists etc). The Hotel De La Pomme de Pin was spacious, friendly, comfortable, medium size (30 rooms) with good facilities including a covered swimming pool. It was situated next to the beach, close to the lake, and only 600 metres from the village centre. All the rooms had en suite facilities, TV, telephone and mini bar.

The following morning Jonathan picked us up at 8.00am, just as the sun was rising. We jumped into the Toyota and headed off to a nearby lake. The Toyota Landcruiser used by Jonathan is an ideal choice. Spacious and comfortable it offers passengers an elevated position from which to view the surrounding countryside.

Our first stop was the peaceful Azur Lake. A wooden jetty was the main point of interest at this location and as we photographed it, the sun just caught the clouds making the sky look very pretty.

Next we headed off to the beach at Vieux Boucau. The early morning mist had lifted and it was really warm, with just enough breeze to get the waves up.

Previously my coastal shots were pretty poor, so it was great to have Jonathan on hand to give us advice on how to compose wave and beach images, giving examples of vanishing and focal points. I even managed to find a nice bit of driftwood to create some foreground interest.

It was very therapeutic walking along the sand, and we continued up the beach as far as the Ecole De Surf.



With the excitement of our Dune Safari fresh in our minds, we headed off to Jonathan’s Digital Darkroom. The darkroom facilities were really good. Up-to-date computers with flat screen calibrated monitors and the latest editions of Photoshop and Lightroom. Lightroom, was a fairly new software package I had not used before. Jonathan demonstrated how to use the image improvement tools and suggested the best pictures where the presets could be utilised. I also learned more about Photoshop. This was also my first introduction to a ‘huey’, which is clearly a ‘must have’ tool for any photographer using a PC.

We spent the next couple of hours downloading our images before heading back to the hotel for lunch.

The afternoon was free time and fellow Safari-goer, Jana and I walked over the sand dunes and onto the huge beach. Sea and sand all the way to the horizon. Other than a few people collecting sea shells and a couple of surf dudes, we had the place to ourselves.

The next day, we journeyed South to Biarritz. It took about 45 minutes to get from Vieux Boucau to the sea front at with all it’s wonderful hotels.

Jonathan took us down to the harbour where the locals were more than happy for us to take pictures of their workshops and houses. It was very pretty, with a wealth of potential subjects and vistas. About an hour later we walked up the steep cliff path to the top where we stopped to admire the view and took a few more pictures. Our second stop in Biarritz was just around the headland in a bay where the sea was full of surfers. There was plenty of time to take pictures here too and the view across the bay to the North Spanish Coast was quite spectacular.

The town of St Jean de Luz is one of my favourite towns in the area. Brightly-coloured fishing boats were moored in the harbour and Basque houses made a picutesque backdrop. We wandered around the streets of St Jean De Luz soaking up the atmosphere, and listening to Jonathan talk about a shoot he had done with a group which had been caught in the rain.

Back in Vieux Boucau, the weather was glorious and I headed off for the beach whilst Jana went to write post cards. It felt lovely to walk barefoot on the sand and I lay in the sunshine for a good couple of hours, before racing back to the hotel to get ready for a photo session in the pine forests.



There are hundreds of miles of pine trees in the Les Landes region which is protected national forest. At this time of year clumps of heather adorn the forest floor providing a stunning carpet of colour and this together with the bright yellow gorse bushes provided us with some really colourful picture opportunities against a vivid blue sky. Again Jonathan was able to give us the benefit of his experience.

When we started the return journey, back to the hotel, Jonathan requested, that if we saw a photo opportunity we wanted to try, we should ask him to stop.

Before supper, Jana and I went onto the beach where there was a violet-coloured sea mist on the shoreline. I wanted to practice some ‘silky water’ shots and stopped my lens down as low as I could and attached my ND filter to get the desired effect.

Each morning Jonathan accesses a local weather report on a website before he sets out. If he finds it’s raining in one place, he will take you somewhere where the weather is better. However, on this particular morning there was rain everywhere. We drove the few miles to the stunningly beautiful Lac De Leon. It wasn’t long before the rain eased off and we were able to go to a part of the lake to photograph some colourful wooden rowing boats. Their bright colours contrasted very well with the colourless misty conditions on the lake. The low light levels required us to use the manual focus, and to use tripods as we needed to use slower shutter speeds.

Eventually rain stopped play. Jonathan thought it would be better to call it a day and we went back to the darkroom to download. We had a chance to have a quick look at some of Jonathan’s pictures in print. I found that the photographs were very inspiring, and really gave me a standard to strive for.

An afternoon stroll around the lake, an hour or so sitting on a bench admiring the view and generally relaxing and chatting was very welcome after the time in Biarritz this morning.

At 5.30pm Jonathan came back for us and took us to the beach at Moilets. This gave us the chance to photograph some old posts in the sand and the water. Moliets is another huge beach and a great location for pictures. The sunset was better than we anticipated casting a magenta glow on the scene.

Thursday – The weather in the Pyrenees was terrible, so Jonathan had said he would take us to Cap Ferret instead. Jonathan did a fashion shoot for clothing company, Seven Tenths there last year.

The forest was misty and beautiful all the way up to the basin of Arcachon. We arrived there at about 9.00am. The light was surreal and the shore was so photogenic. We waded around the oyster beds and through the shallows to take pictures of boats, a heron, other seabirds and a cormorant who sat for ages in the sun drying his feathers. We then went on to an area just up the coast where there were some working oystermen’s houses and huts. These provided some really good photo opportunities for detail shots. There were so many great textures. Peeling paint and weather-beaten wood.

We walked down the beach past some amazing waterside properties. We then went to the pier where we took pictures of the poles in the water. The next stop was L’herbe. Possibly my favourite location of the whole holiday.

Here oyster fishermen’s houses have been renovated and turned into cottages. Although these houses are tiny and must need constant repainting due to their close proximity to the sea the last one was sold for approx. £400,000 – Jonathan said that they came on the market very infrequently as they just tended to be passed down through families.



Painted in bright pastel colours, the alleyways between the houses are covered in sand, giving the whole village a real beach hut-feel. I could have stayed there for hours; there was so much to see. But by now it was time for lunch so we grabbed a table outside the beautiful little restaurant. The food was fantastic and the ambience so congenial, it would have been very easy to sit there all afternoon sipping wine and chatting. However, we needed to get back to Vieux Boucau.

We took an alternative route back so we could see the biggest sand dune in Europe. There were also pine forests as far as the eye could see and the smell was wonderful.

Friday – Our last day. Jonathan picked us up at 7.45am after breakfast. He took us back to the Lac De Leon where we were able to take some lakeside scenery shots. The sky was very dramatic in the background and for some of the time the foliage was lit by the amazing light, cast by the rising sun. However, we were again at the mercy of the weather and rain forced us back inside to download our pictures.

Included in the package offered by Jonathan, is an A3 print of your favourite shot. And now it was decision time. I narrowed it down to six, and then chose a seascape image, as ‘the one’.

On our last day Jonathan returned us to Biarritz Airport for our return journey back to the UK. l have to say, that leaving was quite a wrench.

Overall, the Ocean Capture Adventure PhotoSafari is to be highly recommended. At first I thought there was going to be too much free time, but I turned out to be wrong. Jonathan was mindful that as well as a photo safari, this was a holiday for us. The Ocean Capture Adventures experience was the perfect balance of free time and time spent with Jonathan.

Tuition and guidance is tailor-made to meet the needs of individuals on the course. Jonathan gave me the freedom to explore the photographic opportunities at the locations we visited, and capture the subjects and landscapes as I saw them. But he was always available to point out changes in the light, which should be captured to make the most of each shot. He also provided much-needed technical advice.

Les Landes is a region of stunning natural beauty. We had such a diverse choice of the magical forest, tranquil lakes, inspirational beach and beautiful towns to photograph. Whilst they were all spectacular, Cap Ferret stood out for me. It was a long drive for Jonathan to take us there, and I am very appreciative. L’herbe was particularly enchanting and definitely somewhere I will go back to.

Jonathan’s Digital Darkroom facilities are excellent. The office space was clean and tidy with computers and software which worked quickly and efficiently. There has a real coastal ambience, which provided a relaxed, creative environment.

I rediscovered my love of photography about eighteen months ago. I find Jonathan’s work inspirational. I had very high expectations of this course and even those were exceeded! Jonathan’s obvious enthusiasm and love for this region of France was contagious and the Photo safari was five days full of great scenery, Atlantic air, the smell of the pine forests, good food, excellent wine, and a lot of laughter. A huge thank you from me Jonathan. I would have absolutely no hesitation in recommending Jonathan Chritchley’s Ocean Capture Adventures and hope to return to do another soon.