Green Fields of Summer

Auerbach on a particularly fine day a few weeks ago. I had gone riding in the forest searching for blueberries, but alas, I was a bit too late and only small ones remained. I was only going to take pictures anyhow, as I’ve been warned not to eat them because the foxes carry a nasty little stomach worm that can’t be cured.

The sun sets earlier and earlier these days, another summer come and soon to be gone in a few weeks. Some of the trees are already showing some colored leaves, a bit too early I would think, but then again, I’m here in the north, so far from home. Though I must say, I’m looking forward to the colors of the fall. Hopefully I can manage a trip down to the Allgäu for some pics, but Franconia here seems a promising location for autumn color. A dream would be to head up to the arctic, then travel south with the progressing autumn over the course of a month or so. Maybe next year, if I’m lucky. Just a dream.

I remember the coming of autumn while back in New Zealand, so beautiful. Each morning I would wake up from my campsite near lake Wanaka and the snow on the mountains would be a little bit lower and it would take a little bit longer for the rock to warm up before we could go climbing. Then one day, a few weeks later, the big snow arrived and the world was white. That was in May.

I remember waiting for the snow in the autumn of 2006. Everyday I kept thinking, “It will come soon, it will come soon…” Traveling south through October and November: Scotland, Wales, England, Germany, cold, but still no snow. Finally, it came in mid December at 2000 meters in the Swiss Alps. Two days of storms and the world was white. That was the start of my first winter in Europe.

Auerbach, Oberpflaz, Bavaria, Germany. Cody Duncan photgraphy

Boulder: A Light in the Darkness

Last night we returned to the boulder on the hill for a a few more photos.

rock Climbing Germany Photo: Panoramic picture of climber bouldering at sunset. Cody Duncan photography

rock Climbing Germany Photo: Rock climber bouldering at night. Cody Duncan photography

rock Climbing Germany Photo: Rock climber bouldering at night. Cody Duncan photography

rock Climbing Germany Photo: Rock climber bouldering at night. Cody Duncan photography

Boulder: Working with Light

Yesterday afternoon brought some cool clouds and got me thinking about a photo. This is the cool looking boulder that I was checking out last week, with the intentions of coming back in the early morning when its north-east face (pictured below) might catch some morning light. The dark clouds in the sky got me thinking about a more dramatic shot and a couple of SB-800’s for the key light. So up the hill we went with a couple flashes, lightstands, and umbrellas in tow.

In my mind, I had the idea of a climber on the rock, lit by the flashes, with a dark dramatic sky in the background. I had to keep my flashes at a fair distance to keep them from appearing in the shot (at 12mm), but at this distance, the 2 SB-800’s weren’t able to give enough light on the boulder so I could sufficiently stop down and darken the sky. Even moving the flashes a bit closer, and into the shot, still didn’t give me enough light.

Lesson learned: Come back later in the evening with a darker sky and try again. I’m also already thinking how cool this shot could like in winter with everything covered in snow!

Shot 1: exposed for boulder/climber

Shot 2: exposed for sky (no flash)

Shot 3: flash moved closer

We next tried a shot on the right side of the boulder.  Here, I was able to get the flashes close enough for something closer to what I was intending with the other shot.  But this angle doesn’t show the cool mushroom-like shape of the rock, so I’m looking forward to going back at getting things right.

Cody Duncan photography: bouldering at Zogenreuth, Oberpfalz, Germany

Boulder

After one of the days climbing last week, I was shown this cool bouldering area on a hilltop near town. I had seen it in a bouldering dvd they had made and thought it looked pretty cool, so I wanted to scout the place out a bit for taking some pictures one of these days. The main boulder problem I was interested in shooting was already in the shade by the time we got there in the late afternoon, but a few other rocks were still in the sun…

Cody Duncan Stock Photo: panorama photo of bouldering in Frankenjura region, Germany

I also have some cool ideas about making time-lapse climbing ‘movies’ with my camera, so I thought I’d do a quick experiment. Came out pretty cool for a quick little test. Click here for a direct link if it doesn’t load.

Black Magic

Frankenjura rock climbing.

Location: Schwarze Wand

Route: Schwarze Magie: UIAA 8+ – YDS 5.12a

Frankenjura Climbing Schwarze Wand

Frankenjura Klettern Schwarze Wand

Frankenjura Klettern Schwarze Wand

Frankenjura rock climbing

Stayed in a Cave Last Night

Yes, really.

Cody Duncan Photography

Cody Duncan Photography

Cody Duncan Photography

Frankenjura Climbing – Leupoldsteiner Wand

Got out of the house and had some fun shooting climbing during the last week.  These guys are way good!

Germany rock climbing: Frankenjura - Leupoldsteiner Wand. © Cody Duncan Photography

Germany rock climbing: Frankenjura - Leupoldsteiner Wand. © Cody Duncan Photography

Germany rock climbing: Frankenjura - Leupoldsteiner Wand. © Cody Duncan Photography

Germany rock climbing: Frankenjura - Leupoldsteiner Wand. © Cody Duncan Photography

Germany rock climbing: Frankenjura - Leupoldsteiner Wand. © Cody Duncan Photography

A couple pics of bouldering sometime later. Forest was a bit dark so camera was at ISO 2000, but I kind of like the grainy texture. Reminds me of shooting Kodak Tri-X back in the day, well, not that far back.

Germany rock climbing: Frankenjura - bouldering. © Cody Duncan Photography

Germany rock climbing: Frankenjura - bouldering. © Cody Duncan Photography

Eilean Donan

It was late October 2003 and I was leaving the Isle of Skye after spending nearly three weeks (of a two month trip) in Portree.  The week prior had been one of brilliant weather, but the last had night brought fresh snow to the Cuillins, so it was on a cold and misty afternoon that my friend Kylie and I said goodbye to the girls at the hostel (where we had been working) a hopped on an Intercity bus headed towards the magnificent Glen Coe.  The sun was getting low in the sky as I looked out the window as we passed Eilean Donan castle and the surrounding mountains with a light dusting of fresh snow. I thought to myself that I’ll have to come back and take a photo one of these days.  I passed the castle again in the autumn of 2006, but the day was ugly and gray, not the moment I was looking for…

So finally, back in May and after nearly five years, I managed to get pretty close to the image I’ve had in my head all this time.  Now I just need to come back when there is a bit of snow around and all will be perfect.   Hopefully I wont have to wait another five years…

Scotland Stock Photo: Eilean Donan castle at dusk panoramic. © Cody Duncan photography

Front Page

This photo from last April, on a cold snowy day near Neuschwanstein castle, has made an appearance on the front page for best new images at my stock photo agency Photoshelter.  Cool.

PSC photoshelter collection front page image by Cody Duncan

Burg Rabenstein

Burg Rabenstein is one of the cooler castles in the area, so it was no hard choice to head over to the medieval market on Sunday. Such medieval festivals seem pretty popular here in Germany and this is the 4th that I’ve been to in the last couple months. Weather was dark and stormy most of the morning, but the day was spared any rain, luckily.

Germany Travel Photo: Mead horns for sale at Medieval market and festival at Burg Rabenstein castle, Franconia, Germany. © Cody Duncan photography

Germany Travel Photo: Tents at Medieval market and festival at Burg Rabenstein castle, Franconia, Germany. © Cody Duncan photography

Lots of good food to buy. I’m especially fond of the roasted almonds. There are also people selling various ‘specialty’ wines, usually some sort of berry-wine with a cool name, but I prefer Mead and have picked up a bottle or two.

Germany Travel Photo: Medieval market and festival at Burg Rabenstein castle, Franconia, Germany. © Cody Duncan photography

Germany Travel Photo: Roasted Almonds at Medieval market and festival at Burg Rabenstein castle, Franconia, Germany. © Cody Duncan photography

Germany Travel Photo: Bottles of berrywine at Medieval market and festival at Burg Rabenstein castle, Franconia, Germany. © Cody Duncan photography

Germany Travel Photo: Medieval market and festival at Burg Rabenstein castle, Franconia, Germany. © Cody Duncan photography

Germany Travel Photo: Medieval market and festival at Burg Rabenstein castle, Franconia, Germany. © Cody Duncan photography

Germany Travel Photo: Medieval market and festival at Burg Rabenstein castle, Franconia, Germany. © Cody Duncan photography

Germany Travel Photo: Medieval market and festival at Burg Rabenstein castle, Franconia, Germany. © Cody Duncan photography

Germany Travel Photo: Medieval market and festival at Burg Rabenstein castle, Franconia, Germany. © Cody Duncan photography

We sat down for lunch just as the band was starting to play some cool medieval music. I always like bagpipes anyhow.

Germany Travel Photo: Band at Medieval market and festival at Burg Rabenstein castle, Franconia, Germany. © Cody Duncan photography

Germany Travel Photo: Band at Medieval market and festival at Burg Rabenstein castle, Franconia, Germany. © Cody Duncan photography

Germany Travel Photo: Band atMedieval market and festival at Burg Rabenstein castle, Franconia, Germany. © Cody Duncan photography

Old photo of Burg Rabenstein castle from back in the spring
Germany Travel Photo: Burg Rabenstein castle, Franconia, Germany. © Cody Duncan photography