Hut

I love old barns, farms and mountain huts. The weathered wood, the oldfashioned windows and doors, the overall look of "age". Lucky me that there are plenty of those rural buildings in Austria :-)

This hut and its lovely window is located at the Gosau lakes, two small alpine lakes which we can reach after a two-hour drive. So we are often there, in winter for skiing and in summer for hiking or just a great day out.

I walked there in Spring 2007 and there was lots of snow still around. I had seen the hut from a distance and then I had to trudge through thick layers of snow to reach it. But it was worth it, as I arrived the sun came through and it was well lit for my photo. I like the way the trunks and the rock lie there beneath the window. It lookes like arranged but I found it that way. Makes for a perfectly balanced still life. And the white hearts on the windows are a bonus ;-)

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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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