Plateau De Valensole
The Plateau de Valensole is the postcard image of Provence: rows of lavender running straight to the horizon over gentle rolling hills. It sits in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, about 100 km northeast of Aix-en-Provence in southern France. The whole point here is the lavender, and timing is everything. The fields bloom from late June, peak in the first two weeks of July, then get harvested, so aim for early July and you can't really go wrong. The classic shot uses the long rows as leading lines, often with a lone stone farmhouse or a line of trees anchoring the background. Plenty of fields back onto sunflowers in July, so you can stack purple and yellow in the same frame. Shoot at sunrise or just before sunset. The low warm light deepens the purple and the crowds thin right out. Summer sunsets here land around 9:20pm, so give yourself time to scout. You'll want a car, since the good fields are scattered across the plateau and the best ones are rarely the first you pass. Park clear of the road, keep to the edges, and don't pick anything. These are working farms. (Valensole, Provence, France)
