Loenermark is a beautiful place. I love the Dutch heath and it is magical, especially in autumn. Yesterday evening the sun came out again after the clouds had hidden their play all day. I was too late! When I arrived at the marker, it had already disappeared behind the horizon and new clouds in the form of fog were rising from below. Fascinated and with John Carpenter’s “The Fog” theme in my head the whole time, I lost track of time. The walk back through the dark forest, without light, was “exciting”. Lazy as I am, I shot these pictures with my iPhone, only to be disappointed when I looked at them on the big screen. I should put my landscape lens back in!
Well, sometimes you have to be lucky, although many professional photographers say that there is no luck when you doing pictures for a living. I think they are partly right: The more you use your camera and get to know the techniques, the better you get. It is the same with everything you learn. So you are probably more prepared and know to set the scene – hence know where you have to stand, what has to be in the picture and where composition-wise and so on… in short: know your trade! …. and than you can capture a shot that might look like you were lucky. Right, so! But do think that there is a rest of luck to be found in a good shot, as you can’t predict the weather or any circumstances outside. Lucky us, this is up to the god(s) above and so I feel lucky and happy that I won this tiny contest from my hometown Offenbach. As you might know, it is home to the Deutsche Wetterdienst (Germany weather service) that produces the national weather forecasts. We do have a so called weather park (Wetterpark), where all the aspects of weather are explained in great detail and with models. The blue hour are actually two times of the day; at sunrise and at sunset where the light turns everything I a cool blue. Here we go for sunrise in autumn, when I did my first trip to my cardio doctor. I guess the luck came in form of this mist and I ended up first place. 😀 This was shot with my iPhone, as I am not a professional photographer and as much as I try to carry around the big heavy equipment there are times when it doesn’t make sense…. or would it have made in this case. Dilemma here!
We fell in love, right the first time we went to the Netherlands about 20 years ago. The people unpretentious and just great, the landscape is nordic flat though changeable and along all those white sandy beaches on the southern part… I guess we will have to get there when we retire. For autumn of 2021 we did not go to the beach, but to Everstoot with its absolutely stunning natural park Mariapeel nearby. The wind beaten rustic trees, tall grass and spectacular weather… Mariapeel is a pearl and I will have to come back. Those images were all shot with my than new iPhone 12 and a little processed in Lightroom and now scaled up with Topaz Gigapixel, although apple does something right with its settings. Pictures out of the camera look really good. At this time I was tired of carrying my big DSLR and also did not post much on my blog. But now they are here…Â
Â
From time to time I just have to shoot the moon. As much as I love the song by Mando Diao I do love the moon itself. Still unbelievable that humans have already been there. Fun fact: According to the Lunar Society I do own a claim up there, about the size of two soccer fields. Well… unlikely that I will be up there any time soon. Till than the pictures will have to last.
Three weeks are over – one more to go. Bad Nauheim is a really neat place. The the vast park(s) and the hills around are all beautiefull and are photogenic, but most impressive features around here are the Gradierbauten. Salty mineral water is pumped from the fountain to the top of those structures and runs down over the stacked up blackthorn branches. Healthy for you lungs and in the early days salt was harvested this way. Here are a view shots from my iPhone.
I promissed Marie to take her to the beach later in the evening, alone, without Joshua, so that we both can enjoy the nature and so we went for a longer walk at Hilgenriedersiel. We were lucky as it was one of the most beautiful sun downs that holliday. Far away at the horizon you can see Nordernay and its lighhouse.
The atmosphere was pure magic and I shot a ton of pictures….
On our way back from a daytrip to the next Island, Schiermonnikoog, which has one of the biggest sandy beaches of whole Europe, the weather changed. The wind picked up and some dark, heavy rainclouds appeared. A few minutes later the sun ripped thorugh that big rainbringers and sent down some heavenly light that left us in awe.
A moon eclipse and a blood red moon are not quite common and so I set my alarm clock and tried to capture it, without much luck. I was to lazy to go downstairs, dress up, risking waking up Marie and my wife, so I went out on the balcony in shorts and T-Shirt, which was a little cold at 4°C. But it wasn’t only me that was shaking… the moon, while being red, not being quite as bright as usual, made me dial down the F-stops and crank up the ISO. The result is far from being crisp, but you get the impression.
Catching lightning strikes is a game of chance, when you do not have a facny hardware at hand, that triggers your shot. I actually build a photoduino for those kind of stuff, but somehow lost it somewhere, without even the chance to test it.
This thunderstorm was heavy and had lots of lightning. As usual, when you got people around you, while setting up your gear, you get the feeling that you missed the best ones… “Did you see this one! Boaahh!”, while you still fiddle with the settings. Nailed this one, though.
On our typical hiking day, we had exceptional good weather. Sun was up, sky was blue, temperature was almost too high, but the site was so beautifull… just look.
Every 5 years, I meet up with some friends from highschool and usually we rent a old shed in Isny/Allgäu to spent a long weekend together. This year we were too slow and undecisive and the Hammerschmiede (that’ s the name of the old house) was already occupied. We ended up with a new stay nearby which was, in contrast to the old one, atop of a vast meadow, with tons of birds around and plain view. This night I sneaked away from the daily booze and chat and setup my camera. No real startrails, but nice, non the less. Looking forward for the next meet-up in five years.
Well, what can you say, when you wake up and this is the view from your chalet’s balcony. Not much more that you would need, right. Right!
At the formost outer spot of St. Ives lies the Chapel of St. Nicholas. It was restored a couple of times and houses a littel museum.
Today our second week of our Cronwall trip started. We had to move from Newquy to Phillack, where we rented a littel chalet in a park. There are no busses that go up here and so we had to walk the 1.4 miles from Hayle to here. Once again a rough ride along sections of the south-west coast path with all our luggage, push chair and backpacks. The first casualty was my new Dakine rollcase, that got shredded on the rough underground… big torture for Marie. More than three hours on the bus and then in the push chair, all the way up here. Now that we are here, in absolutely the beatifulst chalet in the whole park, we can enjoy our view through the big windows straigt over to Porthkidney Beach and the peninsula of St. Ives in the back. Wind is very hefty and so the clouds are in constant movement and the sight changes from second to dsecond casting one perfect picture after anohter. Love it!
[exif id=”670″]
We finally reached the steps. This time we took the bus and the weather was still not good, but who needs sunshine, when you can stroll around a landsacpe like this. I exspected some dinosaurs to show up any minute.
On the other side – southward – is the river Gannel. At low tide there is not much water left, and everybody and his dog shows up for a walk in this great landscape. We were fascinated and came back more times.
A small trip to the Grünen Seen (green lakes) last weeked to catch some fresh air. The sun had dissapeared for… well I don’t know excatly, but it felt like forever…. and now it was out the first day. Till we reached the lake, it already was about to vanish again, but none the less, I caught some swans going after their business in the partly frozen lake. Like the composition and texture of of this, so I share it with you.
Well not quite the right zenith, but a dead-center composition non the less. Can you feel the warmth? Now I strangely feel like having a beer… cheers.
Catching flashes with my camera is always a big adventure. By viewing this shot it is obvious what I really need to improve… my own position. Spectacular as these shot may look, it lacks composition that is somehting that I can’t fix without retake. The big problem when shooting flashes is that a thunderstrom is right with you, most likely carrying tons of rain and so I need to get something to store the camera away safely. The roof of above the balcony at the Judohaus has served me quite well, but I was bound to stay there. Next year… probably.
It was my second time that I went up that hill to attend the 2012 Shaolin Mountain Retreat and although I had been there almost eveery year since 2003 it is something different with the Kung-Fu brothers and sisters. The energy is there and this sundown, at the first evening, mirrored the nice days to come.
Last evening on the island and the weather hat really been nice that day, invoking an instant sunbrun throughout the day. It also was the last night for the German football team at the WM and so the beach was empty, just us, water, wind and a few people in the distance. A nice last evening.
Completly overcast, when a suddenly a small slit openend up behind us and let the sun through, rendering Hörnung and parts of Keitum in this magic lighting. Hard to capture and I did mostly fail to ban the modd on the chip.
Not to give you a false impression of the trip: the cities are hard to stand and I coulnd’t bear any longer than a couple of hours, before I got fed up with all the noise and dirt. Looks like some bear in downtown of Bangalore didn’t make it on time and put an end to its existance.
Listed as one of the ten moste beautifull beaches of the world and we found it… by accident. One of the most relaxing stays of the whole trip an one of the finest places.
There was not much sun at this years mountain retreat in Eggberge, but non the less nature didn’t let me down. Turbulent weatherchanges, low clouds, strom and lots of rain. Here you can see peak Rophaien in the evening, reaching out of the clouds. I like the (g)loomy attitute of this.
Really… time is a missing factor these days and photography has taken a beackseat, or at least the post has to wait. This one is from last years visit to La Palma. On top the Roque de los Muchachos we had plain sun, slight clouds and than this halo appeared. Now I know when people talk about having visions… this occurrence is by no means only visible on the picture. You can witness it right at spot. Amen!
Together with a bunch of friends, we spent Sylvester in the Netherlands. Although our house at Lemleveld was about an hour away from the next coast, we were all atracted to the sea and so we visited the small town Urk at the coast of Ijsselmeer. Water has something to it that makes people want more, even in winter, when like at this time the dark clouds swalloed the sun.
Stormy night in Karlsminde, where we spent one week. The clouds where chased along by the wind and the moon showed up every time it found a hole to peak through.
I was tinkering with this one for quite some time. First I wanted to show the smog that and haze that was clearly to be seen on this beuatiful day and cut off all the woods in the foreground. Now that I made the 5th version of it, I think it is even clearer with the trees in sight. Damn big cities… no good for everyone.
Last day of our 4 day trip to Bergen ann Zee / Netherland and one day after Oranie lost the WM. Some little girl had dropped their stuff on the caffees porch and I couln’t resist. This stillife was too good to be true. I would have granted the title to the Netherlands… next time.
I failed when trying to cling to my attitude towards the “bad” weather outside. I tried it, but I can’t help to say that I am really fed up with this cold, dark, rainy something out there. Winter won’t go this year and so here’s another winter shot from our trip to Oostmahorn.
Happy New Year! Sylvester was set to be in Netherland this year. Together with a couple of friends we headed north to spent four days in Landalpark Oostmahorn. Sunday was our last day and we took a walk in the nature resort Lauwersmeer. We made out a little languet on the map that we longed to reach and when the sun was about to vanish, we finnaly got there. Frozen bogland below, fog right above and a red flaming sun that shed some warm light over the cool blue blue snow.
Hiking the Caldera de Taburiente is one of the greatest things one can do on La Palma. Half way back to our starting point, we found the “Cascadas de colores”, colorful waterfall with its yellow water that trails through the whole baranco.
At times you will find some hot spots on the south side of La Palma. St. Antonio and Teneguia are the last volcanoes. The letter erupted in the 1970s and shaped the southern shoreline, adding new land and buried old parts.
Every evening we were swept away by unbelievable sundowns. The blue hour was the time when La Palma showed its magic.
It is kind of funny: You can try to hide and not move in order to get close to animals and you get very far. The next time you are loud, noisy don’t care about any means of camouflage and you get even closer. I was about to shoot some pictures of a falcon on a nearby tree when a flock of goats passed. The falcon hadn’t noticed me, but those three saw me instantly. When I turned around and shot this picture the falcon went off. I didn’t mind. I had some decent picture of it already.
We hit the mark with our choice to go rent the Casa Bueanavista apartment. Las Tricias/La Palma is by far the best place to stay. This is the sundown captured right from our terrace. Every evening when the sun was about to vanish, the mighty clouds dropped down the hills and came in very low, rendering jawdropping views like this. Enjoy!
Up on the Roque de los Muchachos we passed several telescopes, sometimes hidden in the clouds. Take a close look on the horizon and you will probably see one.
A full rainbow is not often to be seen – on La Palma they seem to be quite common place. It was second day and our second trip our second rainbow and if you take a close look, you can see even another rainbow shimmering above the first. Two seemed to be the number for this holiday…
I know, I know, it looks like one of those cheesy posters, but hey… those posters are airbrushed and this is for real! Low clouds as typical for the Las Tricias evenings
An old saying goes: Red Sky at night, shepherds delight. Red sky in the morning, shepherds warning. In fact the red light is the result of particles in the higher regions of our atmosphere. When the sun sets low the photons hit the particles and mostly the blue part is held back resulting in such beauty. Shot at a one week stay in Bredene/Belgium.
“…We’ll suspend the storms and the clouds in sight. Of an endless summer. An endless summer. An endless summer to be home. Let me go, wasting time, let me go waste my time…” (Endless Summer – Zwan)
They do it again! NASA announced to get people back on the moon in 2020. I still look up to that big, fat rock and wonder if they really had been there in the first place. On TV they said that Apollo 11 left a mirror up there that can be focused with a laser on a certain time a day and will reflect the light directly to earth. Let’s face it: If China keeps up the pace of their economic growth and their ambitious space prgramm, the taiconauts wil be the first to find out and I bet they will not keep this as a secret. Mr. Moon…. ta ta ta taa…
“…Nobody on the road – Nobody on the beach – I feel it in the air – The summers out of reach – Empty lake, Empty streets – The sun goes down alone…” (Don Henley – Boys of Summer). To be honest, I had to take out tons of people… you acutally never be alone on the beach of Wenningstedt/Sylt. Mhhh.. shrinking down panoramashots to fit my blog is not the best idea. I guess this will be the last pano posted here… the effect of the original 11.000px wide image is completely lost.
… he won’t find any marlin along the shore of Sylt, but I guess he knew that. A feeling of loneliness and infinty the clouds where so low that you could only see a few meters ahead, blanking out the Wattenmeer and the vis-a-vis mainland.
Winter is comming and everybody is trying to stay at home. I was fed up with the warm, dry heat from the heating and wanted to get my head clear. Andi an me took a little walk in our bario. Here’s the Friedrichsweiher at night. Black and white rules big time.
We drove to vienna, to wittness the wedding of Petra, a friend of Nadine. On a vienyard high above Vienna, the ceremony took place. Weather was – according to other guests – suitable for the couple. Thunderstorm, flashes, wind…. well… Despite a great panorama, where I cought some flahes, I tried to capture the contrast between the thunderstorm and the warm and cosy mood inside, by shooting this warm light against the dark horizon and the wind jogged trees. Between the newly engaged couple is creative as well -> take a look
As I said before: this year we had all the weather spectacle you could imagine. When Alex said that we are not goning sit on the terrace that night, he was wrong. Equiped with an umbrella, two 2gb SD-Cards and the whole Budocan team in my back watching me. We actually stayed outside for about 3 hours in the heavy rain. I took pictures till both of my batteries were dead, leaving me with about 300 pictures. This is one of 5 that caught the act. And murphy was there as well: Whenever I was cleaning the lens, looking for a new angle or fiddling about the cam you can here comments like “Ahhh, that was great.” or “Did you see this”… off course not! Best flashes are not capturable… punktum!
It always takes some time, till I get used to a new surrounding and feel comfotabel and although attending Budosola now for over 4 years I still need some time till I can take a real nap there. Claus and me seemed to have the same problem and when everybody else went to bed we put on our heavy jackets, a palette of beer and talked the night through. I set the cam to bulb and shot a couple of pictures from the star sprankled sky, figuring that bulb only is 30 minutes but mostly the battery ran dry way before the time was over.
