Look Up!

This was a great winter day, I walked up a seldom visited side valley near Hinterstoder. There I reach the Dietl Alm, in spring it's a beautiful alpine pasture. Now in winter all is covered in thick snow and its very quiet and tranquil.

After walking to the end of the valley, right before the mountains' walls, I stopped and enjoyed the scenery. There was total silence, not even a bird was flying or singing. Lookup I noticed that gorgeous blue sky peeking through the white branches. It was amazing!

The image got really well, the bright contrast between the snow and the sky is perfect. I also managed to have all trees point to the middle.

If you ever need a break from everydays hustle I recommend a walk in the forest. Best you can do for your soul.

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Drama

Just recently I meant I seldom photograph clouds - now I have done it again ;-)

But it was a lazy day, swimming, relaxing, daydreaming. And a thunderstorm passed by, we had luck and no rain came our way. But some clouds drifted in our direction and while I lied in the grass my eyes followed the spectacle high above.

Using the tele lens I took a series of images and tried to capture an interesting crop and some rays of light. Granted, most of the photos turned out boring, but that's a problem of - clouds. They are so common its hard to find an interesting motif.

But I think this is good, tweaking a bit with the contrast on the PC I got this "dramatic" cloudscape. The dark-to-white clouds and the light rays work very well. I also like the crop with the fluffy clouds framing the rays. And still there's enough blue sky visible.

I hope you like it, too. So I can try to get another cloudscape image - resting, being lazy, watching the sky and waiting for the motif... that's a good job ;-)

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Mystery

I don't take pictures of clouds that often. Most of the time they are nothing spectacular and look plain boring. But this one caught my eye.

It was a bright sunny day last weekend. We hiked in the Alps and while walking we watched clouds coming our way from the horizon. It's been said that rain and thunderstorms will approach til the evening. So initially we were not happy to see clouds above us at noon.

Then I turned back and looked up to see this gem of a cloud. It's shape was changing by the minute because of the strong wind. First it reminded me of some U.F.O, then streaks and lots of details became visible. Fascinating to watch! It looked so vivid, light and fluffy.

I took some shots, all with a polarizing filter to get a strong blue/white contrast. The final image is very nice, I think of making a print of it and hanging it above our bed. Will look nice, I guess ;-)

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Fluid

Water abstracts are an all-time favourite of mine. They always have a mysterious feel to it, something hidden, vague, dreamlike. I could look forever on the soft wobbling surface of a lake or some other body of water.

So this is one of my many water abstract photographs. It was taken at Lake Weissensee (again ;-) back in 2005 with my old film camera Canon EOS 300 and a Fuji Sensia film. After scanning almost no postprocessing was done. The blue color is natural as are the shadows and waves.

Here the waves different tones and the shadows of some reed mix up to an intersting combination of details. I also like the darker upper part. I hope you like it too. It really looks great printed in A4 size and hanging at our wall :-)

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At the beach

Fraser Island is a wonderful place. The island, completely made of sand, has lots of vegetation, forests, fresh water lakes and gorgeous beaches. The photo shows a scene at 90-mile beach, a well visited place among tourists. We've been on Fraser Island on our Australia trip in 2007 and spent some days there. Exploring the island (with a guided tour) was both interesting and fun. We enjoyed the scenery a lot.

If you do a tour on that island you will definitely drive to 90-mile beach. The tour buses and jeeps all drive right on the sand besides the surf. You will see the famous Maheno shipwreck (I post an image some day) and walk up a fresh water river that runs out of the forests into the sea.

I took the photo while we walked around the beach when we did a short stop. The colors and light were amazing. I took some shots of the beach but this image is the best I think. I always prefer the portrait format for landscape shots, this gives an additional contrast. Especially here you have the shades of blue and the layers of sky, water and beach that assemble to a fine result. I like this image, it just looks so "holiday"-like. It always brings back good memories.

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Reach Out

The days before taking this picture I was snowshoeing and I sprained my ankle. So, despite it was a beautiful, sunny day, I had to restrain myself and just walk a bit instead of longer hikes. So while Sylvia was skiing I hobbled through the alpine village of Gosau. Luckily for me the night and morning had been really cold. The trees were all white with hoarfrost and ice. And as the sun finally came over the mountains at about 10am the trees startet to glow!

First I thought it would be easy to get good pictures, but guess what: in a village there are houses and other not-so-interesting things. And they always tend to show up in the background! So at a point I concentrated to look up and find a good motif. Which was not easy again, because either the branches just look boring or you end up shooting straight into the sun.

Finally I managed some shots, this was one of them. I really like the abstract feel of it. The color contrast is good and the details are fine, too. These are the winter images I'm after but don't get to often.

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Tiny

Another favourite from Santorini, taken in June 2005. It was on our first day on the island and we walked to dinner. I spotted that sailing ship that looked so tiny in contrast to the sea. I took the photo and after developing the slides at home I noticed how beautfiul the water was. The blue tones are all natural. The light this evening was magical and I was lucky to have this ship sailing our way. In the background you'll see the small islands which lie within the Caldera of Santorini.

I love not only the blues but the small ripples, too. Together with the waves from the ship they make a perfect texure of the water. It's a great image, also as print, and it always reminds me how beautiful our stay at Santorini was. If you have a chance, go there :-)

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Winter Blues

Sometimes a turn can offer complete unexpected views. While snowshoeing in the quiet Längental valley, Tyrol, I turned my head because of the chilly wind. I saw the slope and bright blue sky and I knew, this will make a great abstract.

I like the gentle curve of the slope and the crossing with the mountains. The little white peaks in the middle are a perfect eyecatcher and the white is a good contrast to the blue.

Walking for about 3 hours to this spot with cold winds and through deep fresh fallen snow was worth it. But I almost always end up with some good images on any hike. Nature has so much to offer.

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