April in south Black Forest

Short trip to Swarzwald. Interesting photo points, trekking routes, main highlights, which can be done in three days.

Of course some of them must have been left for later. We had to choose so that three days were varied and did not consist only of waterfalls or gorges. There were routes of a panorama, a mountain top (phot. the peak of Belchen -Most beautiful panoramic mountain in the Black Forest), a gorge and a waterfall.

Old watermills like this one near Elzach. Lots of small local breweries or the bigger and famous like Rothaus in Grafenhausen near Schluchsee, that is an attraction itself...

The real highlight is a Triberg Waterfall. Picturesque path prepared also for strollers. The Triberg Waterfalls are among Germany's highest waterfalls, with a drop of 163m and seven steps. You can visit them till 10 PM. The waterfalls are illuminated and you can enjoy a very special atmosphere.Parking situation is a little bit thight so it is worthy to be not so late.

 

 

For our gorge path we choose the short atraction in Ravenna Schlucht. We went there late afternoon and it was really empty. In comparison to Triberger nothing was like going on there.

 

At the entrance to Ravenna Gorge you can stop at the Ravenna creek. There is a nicely located small house, that you can consider as an interesting photo point for starters :). In the background there is a rail viaduct from end of XIX century.

For photographers a must-see or must-photograph point is for sure the curve just next to Ravenna Gorge. The well known piece of road is called Kreuzfelsenkurveand it is probably the most spectacular curve in the Black Forest. 

What I chose for myself for some sunrise photo shooting was the picturesque countryside around the village St. Märgen with the Ohmen Chapel.

The easy to reach view point with the panorama view over the lanndscape near St. Märgen with the Ohmen Chapel

 

Of course if you are already in St. Märgen it's worthy to get closer to the chapel. the chapel itself is an attractive object for some photos, especially from a drone.

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Rothenburg ob der Tauber

The New Year trip, or a few day later... Rothenburg off-season

The city is already so famous, thanks to social media, that even in January you have to be patient to get your frame. Around the famous road crossing das Plönlein there are light crowds moving around. Cars, selfie funs, tourists, walkers, someone is passing by all the time in front of your camera. I just put my big stopper to get the long exposure really long to make the frame de-crowded ;). I don't even dare to imagine what is going on there on summer evenings.

 

Afterwards I decided myself to make a quick look at the walls, or rather from the walls, because you can walk around the old town on the walls, and under the roof. Perfect in the rain. What was our experience next day.

 

But first I got to my another planned photo spot, Gerlachschmiede. I thought I'd run into a similar crowd there. Because Gerlachschiede is another landmark of Rothenburg. After couple of minutes the christmas tree lit and it became like in a fairy tale.

 

Next morning the weather was not such in a photography-mode. Rain and one has to be careful not to get the lens so rain-dotted. What was the advantage, the lack of people and for a composition the wet cobblestone and still illuminated city.

 

 

 

After some breakfast we made our sightseeing tour.

Rothenburg offers a lot of old town atmosphere. The highlight for sure is the around 4 km walk on the city walls.

You can get down through the city park down to the river Tauber and to the Topplerschlösschen. The house high on a stone platform. It was the summer residence of one of the former mayors. Going along river you can admire a city view. Go on the double-bridge and get back to the old heart of Rothenburg

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Autumn Vibes

It's been a long time again since my last post. It is actually already a winter time but for a snow I assume we have to wait.

So I drop you back into the autumn with its beautiful colouring and moody foggy mornings.

I had a couple of possibilities to catch some autumnal atmosphere this year and last year...

 

 

Very interesting for top down catch is the area of the Eibsee, with the small hut island and whale-tail-like bay. Some things occur to you when you see them from above. Even google maps doesn't give that impression. But this is one of my main tools to look for any interesitng spots. Another example is the perfect horseshoe street near Kochel.

 

 

What I like about autumn are the colourful reflextions of course with some epic landscape around. There are some places I can recommend for such reflections-hunt. Like for example the Riessersee, just a neighbour of Garmisch Partenkirchen.

What is always on my agenda in the autumn photography is the landscape with fog. Which sa typical for cold mornings and mostly with the clear sky. To check, just to be sure, that some more or less picturesque fogs are going to appear I use weather forecast. And first of all one parameter which is Relative humidity, often expressed as a percentage.

You can check this for example on wetterzentrale.de

 

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Cherry Blossom

 

Spring is such an enchanted time of year when we are suddenly surrounded by the magic of colour and fragrance. This year I did a little hunt for cherry trees in bloom.

A well-known point on the cherry blossom map is Olympiapark in Munich. But you have to be aware of the crowds there since the place has become an Instagram hotspot. This is undoubtedly one of the most interesting places to photograph sakura. You can easly achive there a nice composition of the Olympic tower, park paths. It is also one of the first cherry trees that bloom in the city.

 

Another interesting place to admire sakura is the Westpark in Munich. The trees bloom at the same time as at the Olympia. There are much less people but also the area of the Japanese park there is very small.

Sometimes the inspiring frames are being created just unexpectedly. This are really places that you are lucky to discover just for you. Like this tree and car for example                                                                                                

But there are also other more or less hidden, known and unknown places that come into color in spring...

I know one small avenue with the white cherry but this is out of the city so I have to like guess or rather estimate when is it so far that trees are white

This year I was there too early. The flowers had bundles of color barely but I was lucky with some fog that really made a november feeling entirely with the below zero temperatures.

I've almost forgotten to mention another place with a late sakura. That appears one month or even later than cherry in Olimpia. This is a garden of the Dachau Palace near Munich.

You can consider this as a hidden gem. Not so crowded and last but not least the charming location of the Dachau Hofgarten on a ridge offers a magnificent panoramic view all the way to the mountain range of the Alps.

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Winter in the mountains

 Winter is slowly passing by. There are still a few places where the landscape will be still white for a while. Unfortunately, the sunrise hours are so early now that it is really hard for me to take a longer trip out of the city after entire working week. That makes me rather switch to a spring photography in the area nearby.

But I managed to drive twice in the mountains this year. And on the chosen days the winter weather were perfect.

I visited the area around Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Mittenwald. The second time temperatures were like really low. It was -20 degrees at 7 o’clock in the morning.

First trip I wanted to get the view towards Alp- and  Zugspitze from a new place for me. After some googling I found the spot, which I have had in my had like for some time already but I wasn't sure where exactly should I head. And this place is really easy to reach by car. The village Schlattan, near GAP, with the parking lot by the Pfeiffer Alm restaurant. So easy but if you don't know it takes a lot of time to look for.  And the other photographers don't help. Only a few share such secrets nowadays. I am not very surprised... because this what is happening now around Eibsee or Gerold during the golden hour, this is really a competition to get your tripod there as a first one....
So that's it. Mountain View, January 7th

And second trip. Buckelwiesen in February.  I remember that place from last year.

There was no winter at all. And I didn't have my
zoom lens that time.

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Zugspitze View

 

It has been already some time since I posted recently. 

But to stay in chronological order of my trips I have to go back in time.                                                                           I would like to get back to Dezember. Frosty time without snow but with a very clear view towards the Alps. And nice light

My to trips were focusing on closing up Zugspitze, the highest German peak.

 

 

 

 

Firstly I had a nice sunset and foehn wind, which makes an air around the mountains really clear..

...shot from Breitbrunn at the Ammersee.

Second time I decided myself for a view point on the easy to reach Hoher Peißenberg 988 m. You can get to your shoting point with a car and park on a big parking lot.

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Corsica South, couple of highlights

 This summer, despite of a global situation, we managed to carry out our holiday.

Once cancelled, we reserved our apartment twice actually. And so in the end of August we got to the area around Porto Vecchio, Corsica. We chose the region, tempted with the photos of the 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Palombaggia and Santa Giulia beaches.

Palombiaggia is known for its red rocks peeking out of the white sand. Early morning light accentuates these colours. Together with white sand and blue water is nice to shoot from a land and from above

 

 

To the main photo spots and tourist attractions you can count for sure the city of Bonifacio. Take a parking behind the city towards Pertusato. You can just pay for a parking place or book a boat tour in the bay of Bonifacio. Both options are ok, because the parkings in the city are full quickly and expensive.

Another attraction in this area is the beach around Pertusato. Be ready for around 20 minutes walk form the small parking area. Or the hiking tour to another side of a bay to the Phare de la Madonetta. Not complicated walk, around one hour.

If you want to change a view a little and hike a little bit in the interior. I can recommend the nice trip to the Cucuruzzu. The nice walk in a very interesting forest that looks just so different from ours, that we know here in the north of Europe. This is a megalith small castle with beautiful view on the Col the Bavella.

Another point of interest and some mountains wandering is a Waterfall Pisca di di Ghjaddu. Easy trip. Big parking lot. But in our low pandemic season was almost full around 11. Just last couple of meters to the waterfall are for adults that have a good grip, let’s say so.

Another hike that we chose from a vast options was a wander to the Trou de la Bombe. A big hole in the rocks. Not a hard walk. Just last meters to the hole can make you really dizzy.

 

And the very highlight is a river hike. We chose easier option to get. The Fiumicelli. We were first on the small parking. Normally it is already around 9 a.m. full. The entire walk in this river trial is something extraoridinary. And a huge fun with clamber through the stony river, jumping in the deep water. Remember about non-slip shoes and some waterproof bag for your car keys.

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