Hello!
A couple of weeks ago, I bought a mini-van.
It was in my mind for years and, as life is too short, I broke my piggy bank and I made it!
This is a L2-length one, so that I can sleep in it (I'm 5'11). I made nothing in it atm so it is raw as hell but I love it.
For Labor Day, I decided to move south and see on the road what's coming.
I made a stop at this very nice location I wanted to visit for a while : Le Chaos de Piquet.
Close to the city of La Roche-sur-Yon, this is the most beautiful site on the Yon river. Starting from the 19th century, a lot of watermills were built on the river. In this specific location was settled a spinning mill that was built to produce wool for sheets.Production ended near 1870.
Le Chaos de Piquet is the origin of many legends : Gargantua, Rabelais' hero, and Lucifer are said to have faced each other in a game of quoits. "Chaos" and the Devil's cauldrons are said to be the stigmata. La Pierre Nauline, la Pierre aux fées, give pride of place to legendary stories populated by elves and leprechauns. But halfway between history and legends, Saint Yon, a 3rd century priest, also left his mark on the historic valley: the cave of Saint Yon, near the place called Le Furet, really does exist!
I arrived here at noon. I took time to discover the location and I took a couple of IR pictures during my walk.
Location is rocky and seometimes dangerous so I had to be cautious. Here's a couple of pictures I took during that night :
This one is a self-portrait using the "lightman" technique. As I do sometimes with models, I put an abstract light calligraphy in my own hand :
Lightpainting created in real time, captured to the camera in one single photographic frame. SOOC
No layers /no Photoshop / no editing except minor adjustments and addition of my logo.
Gear :
Canon EOS 6D body
Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L IS II USM lens
Canon RC-E6 IR remote
Zomei carbon tripod
May 2025
Lightpainting is a photographic technique in which exposures are made by moving a hand-held light source while taking a long exposure photograph, either to illuminate a subject or to shine a point of light directly at the camera, or by moving the camera itself during exposure. Nothing is added or removed in post processing.
/nolayer /notricks /nophotoshop
NOTICE : I AM THE OWNER OF ALL THE PHOTOGRAPHIC WORKS I SHOW ON THIS POST AND I HAVE ALL RIGHTS ON IT. I'M ALSO THE ORIGINAL WRITER OF THE PREVIOUS TEXT. BEFORE REPORTING FALSE ACCUSATIONS OF FRAUD/PLAGIARISM/MILKING/EXPLOITATION OF THE HIVE POOL/WHATEVER, PLEASE SAY IT STRAIGHT TO MY FACE AND GIVE VALID PROOF OF WHAT YOU SAY.
Great shots @dawnoner and congratulations on becoming part of the global van lifers!
I too joined the gray nomad van lifers over here a few months ago after buying myself a second hand toyota Hiace and sort of...decking it out, but not really, just a bunk bed in it, but I took the bottom bed off, leaving the frame, lowering the top bed so its high enough to stow away 2 layers of flat plastic storage tubs, but low enough to sleep on without hitting the roof and then the very back of it is reserved for my Mum's Real Vintage https://www.ebay.com.au/usr/chocolatescorpi stuff and I have been traveling around to markets trying to sell it and my friend Cat and I are also professionally house sitting too, so we drive in tandem, her in her little van and me in mine and away we go and loving it!
So happy that you finally bit the bullet and bought yourself, a home a car, a lifestyle all in one!
And you are so lucky to have such a stunningly beautiful and historic country to travel in too!
I can't wait to see where you get to and all of the other amazing light paintings that you're going to do!
Have fun and stay awesome!
Wow, thanks for this very nice comment @chocolatescorpi 😎
This is why I commit myself in this community : I found understanding, sharing, support, new faces...
I have cool feedbacks about my photographic work here on the blockchain and it's really cool. I feel grateful to Hive for that.
Having a van was a longtime project and I had few bucks to spend so it was just obvious for me to do that. I have nothing in it but a brand new one-person mattress my mom gave me but it's all I need for now. I'll try to do the insulation job during fall so that I'll be able to move anytime.
Of course, France is an incredible country to visit. But my plans are also to do trips to Belgium (aka the urbex paradise), Spain, Portugal, Swiss, Greece, Italy, Germany... When you live in Europe, you can drive anywhere you want.
I'll try to keep up with the outdoor lightpainting sessions and I'm looking forward to see what's coming too.
Yes and that exactly why I always come back to hive after a few months/ a few weeks off, because every day that I'm not here, I miss everyone dearly!
You are so lucky to have Europe at your doorstep!
I'm in Australia so there's only so far you can go...
My friend Cat and I are off in a few weeks from NSW up to far north Queensland for another house sit for 2 months, so we will have 12 days to stay in our vans on the drive up and I'm sure you can see from the map that we will need the 12 days to drive up there as there are so many gorgeous places in between and friends to catch up with along the way. I can't wait, I LOVE sleeping in my van, I call her the coocoon on wheels adn I'm sure that you will feel the same way about yours too!
Have a great time and have fun lightpainting!
I've got some gear. but sadly haven't had a chance to do more since the first time I tried it in my living room...😥
On my side, I try to post multiple times a week.
I'd love to visit Australia, but it's far and expensive... One day 🤞
Damned, 25h drive 🙀 Take your time guys and enjoy the ride!
For me festival season is coming so I'll use my van to party and combine with lightpainting trips. I'm looking forward to add equipment and have a little touch of comfort in it.
If you have gear, you have to use it. I know a couple of cool lightpainters in Australia, maybe meeting them could give you the motivation to give it a go.
Yes I try to post often, but sometimes I'm far too busy working on other online projects- like this one I just posted about last night https://peakd.com/hive-122108/@chocolatescorpi/an-educational-deep-dive-to-the-deepest-depths-to-educate-enlighten-delight-and-empower and by the time I log off for the night, its 2am and no time for Hive....Sometimes when I do have time, my brain is too fried, so I just like to lurk in the background and curate rather than create to keep in the loop. I spend way too much time on the computer- literally all day and all night, trying to get my projects in action and be on Hive too, and that's great for my sanity and laying future foundations, but not so good for my physical health...
And that's why the p/t van life is good, because when I get to places, I am active, having adventures and in having those, collecting so much content for Hive...but not enough time to post it all...Yes I'm sure that you would love Australia, but yes it is def far and expensive and really why would you need to rush here when you've got he whole of Europe at your doorstep! I know that I am DYING to go to Europe!!! You've got sooooo much more over there than we do here, so MUCHMORE!
But when you do get over here, you will always have a place to stay with me and I would love to be your guide too!
Yes we will take about 12 days to get up there and see old friends on the way up too.
So great that you have festivals coming up! What an exciting and fun time of year for you! I'm sure you will love being in the van and being able to go any where and everywhere you want- meeting lots of other lightpainting lovers too!
I would love to meet some lightpainters over here so I can shadow them and learn properly as most of my (only 3) attempts, bar one, have been epic failures....
I have my gear with me in my van, always thinking to find space and time to have another go.
So yeah, if there's anyway, you could facilitate and intro or meeting that would be fantastic thank you!!
Anyway, it's been a longgg day today,so I will bid you adieu and speak to you again soon.
Take care and stay awesome!
XXX
I'll take time to look at your projects for sure @chocolatescorpi 😉 As a social worker, I'm sensitive to empowerment and education.
Have your ever tried to use the schedule posts option? It takes time to write posts in advance but I think it's a very convenient option when you cannot connect on Hive regulary.
I have a couple of friends in Australia who I met in Europe or in the US but it would be really cool to visit them. I can connect you to them if you want to meet them. If you have a IG account, you can send me a PM.
When I'll visit you country, get sure that we'll meet for sure and do lightpainting sessions together. The sooner the better 😁
Yes, there is so much power in the pen, and education is the key to that power and with the internet and phones, there is no excuse not to be educated.
Yes I do try to use the schedule posts- and have done in the past and was thinking today about how I should be using that feature again as I'm just about to start driving again, so I will try to get some posts up my sleeve before we leave.
Yes I would love to connect with your friends here, I will just onto insta tomorrow and pm you ( I don't use insta much at all these days) but I will to connect to you.
And yes, whoever gets to whose country first! 😂
Lets definitely catch up!
Awesome shots @dawnoner thanks for sharing with us, enjoy your sunday :)
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Thanks a lot @dimascastillo90 for the support and the appreciation :) :)
You're most welcome @dawnoner :)
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