starry night
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.
Phillack morning
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!
Chapel of St. Nicholas
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.
Gull
St.Ives is very touristic and around the harbour you find a lot of food shops, cafes and bars, where you can sit and eat or take away your favs. Also you will find many seagulls that team up in gangs. One or two start pulling the attention towards them and a third fleis by and steals your meal. We withnessed it a couple of times, while sitting in a restaurant…. under the sunroof, off course.
Porthkidney Beach
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!
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Bedruthan Steps #2
I was really happy that the weather was not so good. What would that picture look like with no clouds in the sky? Not like much… 😉
Bedruthan Steps
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.
starling posing
There are so many different bird species but when it comes to food, you can devide them up into two categories. The ones that vanish as soon as you appear and those that approach you when you have something to eat. Starlings belong to the latter kind.
River Gannel
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.
Have you ever seen the rain
We went for a walk… for a long walk actually. Our goal was to hike from Newquay to the Bedruthan Steps. According to some obscure webiste it should have been about only 5.5 miles. First mistake was the tiny difference between miles and kilometers, and the second that we did not looked for another website. Half way towards Mawgan Porth the rain came after us, and got us. Bakholiday was the third mistake, as the busses home won’t go on that day, but that’s another story.
Headland Hotel
First day in the new world… or better the old world. This is Headland Hotel, which opened around 1900 and as we found out later, seemed not have changed that much during all those years. Impressive building at and impressive spot. The brits know how to do it….
Grey heron
Meet my new friend! This really big grey heron can be seen in the Vogelpark in Niendorf. He has one crippled claw and his nostrils was jammed with dirt. Obviously his ability to fly away had been disabled by cutting his feathers on the left wing. Sitting in a rather dull spot at the farest end of the park he reminded me of an old captain, stranded, with no water and chance to ever get away. He seemed to have some story to tell and was absolutely not shy, which is usually the case with herons. Whenever they see you with a lens pointing at them with no cover at all they fly away. I spent a few minutes with him, waiting at the fence that kept him from getting away by feet. We stared at each other and than he made a step towards my position, picked up a tiny branch and tried to move it my direction. I try to think that this was some kind of inviational gift and this gesture really touched me. I will post another picture of him right away as he is actually a good looking bird, at least from the side.
Here he is with the tiny branch that he tried to throw in my direction. I really felt sorry that he got caught, but his behavior, his broken claw and him not beeing shy of people at all made me believe that he actually was lucky stranding here. Who knows: perhaps he was found with his claw crippeled and got a second chance to live on thanks to the people in the park.
lynx
Majestic lynx patrolling along his compound. I really do dig this big and elegant cats. Shot in the “Alte Fasanerie” near Hanau.
moose
I really feel kind of lucky to have natrure around me, and even parks that are nearby and are build very well. Together with Claus and Michael I went to the “Alte Fasanerie”, an ancient park near Hanau. It was a bright day and all the animals seem to enjoy it even more than we did. Here’s a youg moose posing in the bright midday sun.
swanlake
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.
common buzzard
Around the Grüne See (green lake) there are alway alot of birds of prey. Usually they are far, up in the sky and if you are lucky and find one on a tree it mostly spots you first and flies off. Not this time. This one turned out to be a very very patient object to shoot. The sund had alrea
zenith
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.
big wader
…or “großer Brachvogel” as this one is called. Shot at the Zuiderzeewerke/Ijselmeer/Netherlands. A great day, with great animals. Enjoy!
duck studies #1
Happy new year everyone. We spent our new years eve in Makkum/Netherlands which is kind of surrounded by nature parks with lots of birds. Ducks used to be quite common in my hometown, too. Lately the egyptian goose has concoured their resorts and ducks had to move. I was quite happy to see them again, even though far from home.
brute force
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.
promissed land
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 night at the sea
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.
morsum burning red
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.
tiger moth baby
Yes… this caterpillar is actually a moth baby and was about 10cm long. We found it the meadows between Munkmarsch and Kaitum, along with many others. Brauner Bär (brown bear) is the German name and I think it fits quite well.
R.I.P. grandpa
There is a saying within my family: When death comes around he will pick three of us. How right that saying is we all got to know when grandpa died last month, being number three after my cousins grandma and Lutzi. Ninetysix years is a big number and he made his peace with the circumstances, knowing that he won’t carry on – but the fact remains: Death just hurts for the rest of us, even if we could say good bye. I hope that you and granny are reunited and have a good time now. R.I.P. grandpa. Picture was taken one and half year ago, when he turned 95 and grandma was gone already. He was so brave and carried on as good as he could, not showing any laxity in his routine and always with humor… just carrying on as life came along. Big rolemodel…
R.I.P. Lutzi
She was always there – the whole 13 years. She was one of the best friends we had and she was a big part of our family. Today the cancer won and we had to go and see the doctor for a final visit. Now there is a huge emtpy spot on our sofa and in our hearts. We had to let go and we hope that our poor little friend is now in doggy heaven. We miss you Lutzi! I hope you are now at a better place, without pain…. peace!
kite fight
Our last stop of our trip was in Goa. Right the first day, when we arrived and stepped out of the airport I noticed flock of huge birds in the sky and they where everywhere else to be found as well but in Goa I finally had the time to sneak by and take some shots; not without fretting about leaving my big lens in Germany. Anyway here you can see two young black kites practicing some dogfight maneuvers.
Hoopoe
Our second day in Hampi we descided to shift back one gear and have a relaxing day by strolling around, visiting the places we missed the day before and stay longe in one spot. First animal of the day that we noticed was this hoopoe, passing us by couple of times at top of the virupaksha temple. Nice catch, isn’t it?
bangalore bear massacre
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.
New macaque
Here we got a tiny macaque, a new one, if you will, staring after his pears who where bussy breaking a jack fruit.
Toque macaque
The old world monkey, as it is calssified. Our first day in Kandy we went to the botanical garden and althoug quite impressive it was the monkeys that cought my eye. After one of the elders tried to ripp of our bananas from Nadines bag, we choose to follow them to their spot. After a couple of minutes they almost ingnored us and we could observe them quite well. This one reminds me somehow of Bob Marley…
Indian Woodpecker
You could find woodpeckers all over the world. There are about 200 known species and non the less, I was surprised to find it in the Indian jungle. The best part about it is that indian birds are not shy at all. So I could get quite close and som decent shots. Not that it uses its tail as tripod… a camera and we would probably be really good friends.
Smaragdspint
…or green p, as they are called by the natives. It is not very shy, rather curious and so you find it flying around you almost everywhere. Mostly they tend to seat on a low tree or cable and catching insects out of the air. Green-Bee-eater, so hi sofficial name in the rest of the world.
delawella beach
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.
Kingfisher
Despite beeing a very tasty beer of India (and an Airlines as well) they are to be found everywhere. Very, very shy, I had to improve my sneak up techniques. In the end I found this guy who was not so shy at all.
mudskippers
Half fish, half reptile they are somhow arkward creatures. They can breath through their skin as well ais their mouth, depending if they are in the water or on land. This cutaneous air breathing functions much like a skubadivers system. However their gills have to stay wet and so you mostly find them on the rocks along the shore. Flexing their body they can jump uo to 60cm in one leap. Be sure to stay calm and do not move when you want to observe them – their eyes are really good.
old varanus
On our second day in Hikkaduwa/ Sri Lanka, Santa took us to a nearby lagoon and the first animal we met, was this old, big varanus, about 2m long and really looking hazardous. They are known to be very clever and can count up to number six, which is quite big thing for animals from the times of dinosaurs. Now I am frightened.
the krestel and the jay
This weekend was nice weahter. i had an appointment in Mainz, to pick up a new/old treassure for my computer collection – a sought after Commodore PET. Nadine joined me on the trip and the plan was to enjoy a walk in the sun, along the Rhein. The guy who sold me the PET was already waiting for us and I asked him if he knew some nice area to take a walk. He said we should go and try right behind some buildings nearby… so we did and found a nature reservoir, between the motorway and the city. A rounte went through the reservoir and due to the nice weather, a lot of joggers and other people were around… and birds. This amercian krestel was hunting together with an eurasian jay… I couldn’t believe it, but they really did. Evidence will come in the next pitcture.
neighbours
We really enjoyed the nature, the slow pulse of France everything and so did the animals as well. A stork visited the crane and… nothing happend. Looks like they seem to have enough food around to not go wild on each other.
who’s controlling who?
At the risk of getting you bored by all these dragonfly pictures that lately come up here… just one more. This couple was one of many at a river in Cromartin/France. Sadly the upper one shifted out of focus. Did I mention that I need to get macro? I could swear, I told you that before… 😉
Ghostly horse visit
My aunt invited the whole family to Chiddes, Saône-et-Loire, France, for her birthday party. My parents couldn’t come, though and as we just got married, they gave us the big house, they had rented. Our honeymoon, if you want. The first night at a new location is mostly not the one I’m gonna catch alot of sleep. At 3.a.m. I found the meaddow behind our house in dense mist and some sparkling stars from above shingin through. After I took a couple of pictures, I heard snuffle right beside me and when I turned around, that grey horse lady was right beside me, curious about what I was doing at this time. We became somewhat firends after that nightly encounter. Sorry for the unsharp image, but I broke my wireremote port and so I had to keep the button pressed by hand and count the seconds manually, but it puts everything in that fairy tale glare.
6818 ft
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.
Into the spiders nest
Spiders – hoooh! Scary creatures, but if you take a closer look, they are actually really instresting. They got eight eyes and up to eight legs! Found this tiny nest at my marquee on the balcony. The nest normaly keeps a certain temperature and amount of humidity inside. Lowering the marquee seems to have raptured the hull that gave me this insight. Hopefully they wil make it anyway and keep the mosquitos out of my way.
Grasshopper
I don’t know in how many countries “Biene Maja” is known, but as an essentially German story from Waldemar Bonsels from the 1920s, it is hard to surpass it, when growing up in Germany. I always liked the character of Flip the most. He was funny, had a chapeau and whenever something dangerous came around the corner, he was jumpign away with his infamous “Hü-hüpf!” cry. Well, in reality they have not battelcry and they definately don’t wear a hat, but they jump away at an remarkable pace and great distance.
Locust
In comparison to the grashopper on the previous image, this fellow was about double the size, rendering it a real monster in front of my lens; shy, non the less. I figured that they rather tend to jump away on slow movement, where as they stay when I jump near them and hold still for a second. For spectators this must have been a funny show: Me, with my big lens in my hand, jumping after a big grasshopper in the field. Turns out it was worth rendering me a complete jackass…. the picture is good and it even looks as if it is trying to fake a smile.
ESI for real
Good old times, do you remember? There was a time, when cameras were analog and there was a time where ESI ruled the planet of C64. Thanks Dan, Ladyhway, Mitch… and all the rest for making my C64 times worthwile. You definatley rocked the scene. I knew what I had to do with this picture, right when I shot it at the Fasanerie in Hanau. RIP Eagle Soft Incorporated.
Dragonfly
Summer seems to be early this year. It is the beginning of June and the thermometer already passed the 25° C mark. Afrer meeting with friends ind Frankfurt for lunch I took a small detour on my way back and wandered through the beatifull Bethmannpark. Besides the hughe coys in the pond, a couple of big dragonflies where doing their maneuvers. This particular one was taking a break in the late afternoon sun…. and yess, I still don’t have a macro lens, but Sigmas 135-500 does a fabulous job, don’t you think? 🙂
halo
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!