Cette photo a été prise en 2008, en juillet sur le Mont Lozère, une randonnée magnifique, depuis Les Bondons jusqu'à Saint-Enimie.

Que de bons souvenirs. On pense à toi Vincent

Already six months... and still thinking about you. Recently,  all over my facebook wall, I saw this beautiful picture (by Dan Birchall from Subaru) of the magestic lasers of Mauna Kea pointing to the galactic center. Yours is on the left. Even if it seems fainter on this image, it is still the most awesome of all, with its five beams in one. You still live in this beam of light, everytime it is pointed to the sky. And it makes dam cool pictures!

Thanks V2 

Vincent made me feel welcome in Chile right from the start, It was great to have someone to hang out with and keep me company at the mountain top and in La Serena. Vincent was a ggod friend all the time; from cold mornings at the summit to warm dinners at the coast. I will always remember our time there.

Vincent with Nick and Jared, part of the LMCT team that helped with the Gemini laser system. We had a great time getting the laser installed and running, Vincent was part of the team.

I wanted to write this in the tribute section, but it is not possible to illustrate with a picture, so I am posting it here.
I love origami. I think paper is one of the best material we have, and folding it is a great way to enhence it. I felt very powerless when Vincent had his car accident, so I wanted to do something meaningful to remember him. So I folded this phoenix for him.
I met Vincent in 2008 in Hawaii, and he was one of the people that made my 6 months there one of the most amazing experience of my life. He was a great guy, very generous with his friends and people who didn't have the same chance as him. He also had a great sense of humor, with a hint of male chauvinism that was faked, because he always had respect for everyone. Coming from a beautiful part of the French country side, he was living his dream, working in amazing places like Hawaii, Colorado and Chile. He was an excellent photographer, and did beautiful picture of landscapes and wildlife. He was always concerned with the disappearance of endangered species and indigenous people, especially in South America, and gave his time and talent to make people aware of those issues. I encourage you to read the (too few) messages and look at the beautiful pictures of his blog: http://humboldt-nature.com/. I was lucky to see him twice this year (more than usual…), first in Florence, Italy, one of the nicest city in the world, and in Santa Cruz, California. We spent a day together talking, eating, drinking, and enjoying this nice town, before he headed back to Chile. I am so grateful to have this last memory with him. My deepest sympathies go to his girlfriend, his family, his Gemini family, and all the astronomical community, who lost a great, great guy.
For this phoenix, I chose the Origamido paper, because first it’s the best paper in the world, and because it is hand-made with mineral pigments, so its color, as my memories of the good times I spent with Vincent, will last forever.
I miss you my friend…

Benoit, Francois, and Vincent and I were staying in the "French" house on Tololo and I decided to make breakfast burritos. All of a sudden, the fire alarm went off! We quickly dismantled the device near the ceiling in the middle of the picture...it was the room deodorizer!! We finally found the electrical box and the switch to turn off the alarm...but it only lasted for 60 seconds before we had to push it again. So we kept pushing it until the fire truck and firemen all showed up. Needless to say, I was not allowed to cook anymore! But it was one of the funniest moments during that run.

Traduction pour la famille et les amis:


Vincent,

en representation des collegues a Gemini, je voudrais vous raconter et parler de Vincent, 'Oui Oui' pour ses amis.

Je ne peux que vous dire le grand ami, l'excellente personne et le bon collegue que Vincent  etait. Simple et desinteresse, si il y avait quelque chose qui ne lui importait pas c'etait la possession economique. Preocupe des choses simples de la vie, comme photographier les oiseaux, de maniere esquive comme un puma, essayer de sauver la planete en economisant l'energie, eteindre les lumieres des bureaux etait une de ses constantes preocupations. La simplicite le characterisait, il ne parlait jamais de ses vetements, de ses biens ou de ses accessoires photographiques.

Il revait de pouvoir vivre en Patagonie apres la debacle economique mondiale, pouvoir vivre de son effort, de ce que la terre lui donnerait, pouvoir s'integrer a cette Terre qui l'a vu naitre.

On se souviendra de toi comme on t'a connu: joyeux, simple, intelligent et desinteresse. Amant de la nature, de son amie et de sa famille.

Si tu nous as laisse un heritage, c'est bien celui la: la simplicite de l'etre, l'ecologie, tes photos, l'affection pour ton amie et ta famille.

A sa famille et Fiorella: je voudrais vous dire que l'on partage la tristesse, et vous dire que vous devez vous sentir orgueilleux de Vincent, votre fils, votre frere, votre beau frere et ton compagnon. Si nous pouvons resumer en un mot ce que Vincent etait, ce serait simplement 'une belle personne', avec un heritage profond en chacun d'entre nous.

Tes amis et tes collegues.

-------

"Vincent:

En representación de los compañeros de Gemini, contarles y hablarles un poco de Vincent, gui gui para los amigos.

Demás esta decirles el gran amigo, excelente persona y buen compañero que era. Sencillo y desinteresado, si había algo no le importaba era la posesión económica.  Preocupado de las cosas simples de la vida, fotografiar a los pájaros, al esquivo puma. Tratar de salvar al planeta ahorrando energía, el apagar las luces de las oficinas fue una sus constantes preocupaciones.
La sencillez lo caracterizaba, nunca ostento de sus ropas, posesiones o sus artículos fotográficos.
Añoraba poder vivir en la Patagonia después de la debacle económica mundial, poder vivir de su esfuerzo, de lo que la tierra le diera, poder integrarse a la Tierra que lo vio nacer.

Te recordaremos como te conocimos, alegre, sencillo, inteligente y desinteresado. Amante de la naturaleza, de su polola y de su familia.

Si un legado nos dejaste fue ese: lo sencillo del ser, la ecología, tus fotos, el aprecio a su pareja y tu familia.

A su familia y Fiorella, decirles que compartimos con ustedes la tristeza, y decirles que deben sentirse orgullosos del hijo, hermano, cuñado y pareja que era Vincent. Si podemos resumir en una sola palabra lo que era Vincent, el fue una buena persona, con un legado profundo en todos nosotros.

.... Tus amigos y compañeros"

A beautiful weekend with Vincent in the Elqui Valley. Meat, wine, and grilled onions. Happy times indeed!

We played football every week, we didn't have official teams so we just grouped according to the colours of our tshirts, Vincent usually had his French tshirt (blue) and most of us had our Chilean tshirts (red of course), so normally we played against Vincent's team.  

Nobody liked to play against him cause he was a good player and a tough one, actually one of the players, a known Red tshirt supporter,  started to bring the alternative Blue(ish) tshirt of his team, just to play with Vincent.

Since we knew him, all of us played with shin pads (canilleras) but still ended up with bruises everywhere, he liked to play fast and rough, not sure why cause he was an absolute fan of Messi and that's not his style, but anyway it didn't take you more than 5 minutes in to the game to receive a glorious kick from Vincent directly to your knees, but almost instantly, he also gave you a smile and a "estas bien?".  You couldnt be angry to a guy like that  :)

Im sure your new football mates, Garrincha, Puskas, George Best, etc will enjoy playing with you as much as we did. 

Tomislav, Vincent and Maxime had been thinking for a few years about that sister mountain of Mauna Kea, the one that is almost the same elevation and nevertheless looks like a hill from Hilo. The one that is actually the most massive single volcano in the world as taken from ocean floor. Then, we had the opportunity to go. 

We drove to the Mauna Loa Observatory at about 3400m. The place is famous for providing the world the largest continuous measurement of atmospheric CO2, one of the evidence of human contribution to global warming.
We walked about 6h to the top at about 4200m, where the scenery is absolutely magical, the size of the caldera is just phenomenal. Vincent would be a great observer of nature, pointing to things he would see and we would not (this reminds me about a day we were driving down from Cerro Pachon in Chile and he showed me an owl ('lechuza' in Chile) standing on a post near the airport. He said they were there frequently. I had never seen them in so many years...).

Of course Vincent had taken his photographic equipment and enjoyed tremendously the beautiful day to capture memorable shots. 
It was a unique hike. He was a unique person, someone to spend memorable time with as he enjoyed every single moment.. 

Un pequeño mensaje para las personas con quienes Vincent Fesquet se cruzo en su camino. Nuestro paso por la Tierra es solo temporal. Los seres humanos no somos los dueños de este planeta. Sin embargo, tenemos un enorme impacto sobre el. Es nuestro deber cuidarlo y darle a nuestros hijos y nietos la posibilidad de maravillarse con los paisajes que lo conforman y las criaturas que lo habitan.

Tomemos conciencia de nuestro vivir y realicemos simples acciones que contribuyan a la preservacion de la Tierra. Compra cosas que de verdad necesites, compra productos locales y sin embalaje, deja el auto en casa, apaga las luces, come menos carne, pescados y mariscos. No malgastes el agua -el dinero no se bebe, el agua si- no la desperdicies!

Manifiestate. Nunca calles antes una injusticia. Expresa lo que sientes, se franco, pero respetuoso. No permitas que la vida se te pase sin vivirla. Haz las cosas que amas hacer. Preguntate a diario si eres feliz. Si la respuesta es 'no', entonces cambia.
Sueña y trabaja para alcanzar esos sueños, no importa cuan grandes o pequeños estos sean.

A beautiful sunny day in La Serena, December 23rd, 2011. We had gone shopping for some drum sticks for Vincent. He was a talented left handed Rock and Jazz drummer and played music with myself and other musician friends. Shopping can be thristy, so we decided to quench our thirst with a lovely Austral Chilean beer. Rock on my friend wherever you are :-)

For a week 'select staff' ended up on the other side of the island to attend training at a beach resort.

Since the waves were turbulent most of the week, other activities were needed to fight the boredom.

Naturally, beach soccer was a perfect remedy!

For whatever reason, the Chileans decided to form their own team against everyone else. Luckily, Vincent took the role of team captain and joined together the French speakers. The Chileans didn't want me, so I ended up with the 'B' squad.

Ferocious and gifted as they were, Vincent didn't relent against the Chileans. His quick decision making, determination, and intelligence kept us in the game! He made sure to turn it up when the game morphed from friendly to ultra-competitive.

In fact after the first out of bounds, as goalie I picked the ball up and gave it a toss. Unbeknownst to me, this was a violation of game rules to the Chileans. They protested heavily and were upset. Vincent quickly jogged over and told me to keep on doing it! 

Towards the last half of the match, I started to fade. It isn't easy to run around in the sand you know! 

Vincent noticed this, gave me a quick pep talk and kept me in the game.

Of course we lost, the Chileans are really great!. But I can't forget the comraderie we shared that day.

 A hui hou.