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.
I don’t know if i mix up somthing here, but see the crane I can imagine that those two little frogs, around the next corner, would make a good meal for him… or was it only the stork that’s after those little critters?
There many inhabitants in the Caldera de Taburiente. We were lucky too meet quite a few. I tried to take pictures of cranes around my hometown but they are very shy and just looking toward their direction often is enought to make them leave, so the only ones I got where those two from the Zoo in Frankfurt, that tend to show up when it is feeding time for the sea lions. Here we go… all natural, an all wild crane from the Caldera. EDIT: I am still learning and so errors are for sure to be made… this seems to be heron, not a crane.
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.
They are everywhere along the rocky shores of La Plama. Shy and fast are two of their characteristics that make them somehow hard to photograph. Gotcha!
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.
No, not the millenium falcon, but a real one. La Palma is the island of falcons. Around barancos around our house we hat quite a few of them, but it was this one that kept me going. Every evening it sat down on a nearby pine. I had a hard time getting close to it and even this time, it saw me first, staring right into the cameras eye. A nice shot anyway.
I am no big fan of dead center compositions but with this shot I had to break my rules. This little fellow was buzzing around the pool and kept constantly chasing off other dragonflies off its territory. It came back day after day and so I just hat to wait for it to appear. Shooting it with a 300mm lens was another stroy. Nailed it!
Whenever you set foot in Karins garden you can hear rustling from different places. Its those little lizzards running away from you. This one was living on our terrace and on second day he lost his shyness and almost fell asleep during the shooting.
Okay, it is not wearing a bandana and isn’t that cute like in the old kiddie flick Biene Maja, but beautyful in a way. Found it in Karins garden, not far from our veranda.
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
Winter is almost here. Not the best time to visit the Frankfurt Zoo, but I was keen on the new “Borgori Wald” – the all new ape residence. Looks like it is a full success. Compared to the previous narrow cages this is a real winner. A littel drawback for all photographing people: dirty, scratched glaswalls instead of ironbars. You have to find your spot, take some time and better use a polarising filter to get rid of the reflections… I had none and this chimp still got the blues, although living in a great resort now.
Today Dexter arrived – our new family member. Lutzi, our old Jack Russel Lady wasn’t taking it too easy, as she had been all alone and was always in the spotlight. Dexter is young and first contact had been made. We’ll have to make sure that Lutzi won’t feel second best and than everything will work out. At the moment the old lady sulks a bit…
