Pont du Galetas,

The Pont du Galetas is the road bridge where the Verdon River spills out of its gorge into Lac de Sainte-Croix, and standing on it gives you the view you have seen on every Provence postcard. Look upstream from the middle of the bridge and the gorge narrows to a slot between huge pale limestone cliffs, with the water glowing an intense turquoise green below and a steady flotilla of kayaks, pedalos and little electric boats threading up into the canyon mouth. That colour is the whole draw here, and it comes from fine limestone particles and algae suspended in the water, so it really lights up when the sun is on it. The boats do a lot of the work for you too, giving scale and a sense of life as they disappear between the walls, so leave them in the frame rather than trying to wait them out. A wide to standard lens takes in the full sweep of cliffs and water, while a longer lens lets you compress the boats against the rock or isolate the turquoise channel vanishing into the gorge. A polarising filter helps cut the glare off the surface and deepen the colour. Early morning is calmest and quietest, but the deep gorge sits in shade and the colour is more muted then. Below the bridge there is a pebble beach and a row of rental outfits if you want to get out on the water yourself for a low angle looking up at the cliffs, keep an eye out for griffon vultures riding the thermals over the gorge, and shoot from the bridge rather than the air since drones are restricted across the regional park. Parking is in free lots either side of the bridge and it fills fast in summer, so come early to get a spot even if you plan to shoot later in the day. (Gorges du Verdon, Provence, France)