LE BOURAILLAIS
An early morning rise in hopes of seeing baby turtles but no such luck. A beautiful, clear sky though gave me the opportunity to tryout and test my LEE Filters. One of the subjects was this guy, le Bonhomme, a well known Bouraillais. This post is a follow up of my last one where I spoke about Turtle Bay, located just behind this rock formation.
Le Bonhomme de Bourail (the Man of Bourail) is a famous monolithe of quartz shaped by the waves at high tide and under threat of collapsing by those same waves eroding it’s base. It is said to resemble the profile of a man’s head wearing a hat and with the water hole next to it, it has spiritual importance in Kanak culture. Few have met their demise here, the powerful suction of the water hole dragging them under, trapping them in the caves below, disappearing forever.
The Bonhomme is located between the Roche Percée peninsula (Pierced Rock) and Baie des Tortues (Turtle Bay) near the village of Bourail. Only a couple of hours drive north from Noumea, it is a popular place for tourists and locals alike, and especially surfers as it is one of the only surf beaches in New Caledonia.
To achieve the 2 second exposure on this photo I had to use my Little Stopper from LEE Filters. A neutral density filter that cuts down 6 stops of light. I also used their ND0.9 soft graduated neutral density filter to cut down 3 stops of light in the sky, giving me a balanced exposure with the foreground still in shadows. Though I focused before putting the filters on, I must have touched ever so slightly the focus ring as the Bonhomme is not as sharp as I would like. A silly mistake but one nonetheless. I had converted this image to black & white but I prefer the contrast of the golden glow on the rock formation to the cooler water and sky. It’s more pleasant to the eye and the reason why I photographed it in the first place. Glad I captured a bit of reflection on the bottom of the image too as it helps to lead the viewer’s eye to the monolithe.
Anyway, that’s it for me my friends, hope to see you on the next post. À bientôt.