Saint Coloman Festival

On our way out of Schwangau on Sunday we ran into a detour.  We didn’t think much of it until we were in sight of St. Coloman church and had a fireman basically put us into a farm field turned parking lot.  Well, it turns out that we ran into the festival day of St. Coloman church, with a Catholic Bishop and all.  There was a cool parade of Lederhosen and Dirndl wearing Bavarian’s on horseback set among the scenic background of the Allgäu mountains.  I left the spectators and spent some time walking and photographing among the horses.  Pretty cool sight to ‘accidentally’ come across.

Germany Travel photography: October 12, 2008 Saint Coloman Festival, Schwangau, Bavaria, Germany

Germany Travel photography: October 12, 2008 Saint Coloman Festival, Schwangau, Bavaria, Germany

Germany Travel photography: October 12, 2008 Saint Coloman Festival, Schwangau, Bavaria, Germany

Germany Travel photography: October 12, 2008 Saint Coloman Festival, Schwangau, Bavaria, Germany

Germany Travel photography: October 12, 2008 Saint Coloman Festival, Schwangau, Bavaria, Germany

Germany Travel photography: October 12, 2008 Saint Coloman Festival, Schwangau, Bavaria, Germany

Germany Travel photography: October 12, 2008 Catholic Bishop speaks at Saint Coloman Festival, Schwangau, Bavaria, Germany

Germany Travel photography: October 12, 2008 Saint Coloman Festival, Schwangau, Bavaria, Germany

Germany Travel photography: October 12, 2008 Saint Coloman Festival, Schwangau, Bavaria, Germany

The Moment that Wouldn’t Be

Everything was perfect: Cool fog, sunny blue sky, some cool clouds, nice autumn colors on the trees. One problem: Scaffolding!

Maybe next year…

October 2008 Neuschwanstein castle with Scaffolding for repair work, Germany

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

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

Kilmory chapel

I’m a sucker for cool old ruins! Give me old castles, churches, standing stones, walls, brochs, anything, and I’ll be entertained. Old cemeteries also tend to be pretty interesting, especially if they have a bunch of old 13th and 14th century burial slabs like at Kilmory, a small village on the west coast of the Knapdale region. Perhaps I’d be a bit bummed though if I was some cool warrior and paid a bunch on money for a carved grave slab, then someone comes along and takes it so a bunch of tourists can see it. I guess it will happen to us in a few hundred years as well…

Burial slap at kilmory knap chapel. Cody Duncan photography

Burial slap at kilmory knap chapel. Cody Duncan photography

Burial slap at kilmory knap chapel. Cody Duncan photography

Burial slap at kilmory knap chapel. Cody Duncan photography

Burial slap at kilmory knap chapel. Cody Duncan photography

Ludwigshöhle

Cool little cave. If I were some cave-dude back in the day, this wouldn’t have been too bad of a place for a pad.

A bit tricky photo wise. 3 shots total: 1st for outside cave and silhouettes, next two for exposures inside cave. A bit of layer masking in Photoshop and here you go. Hardest part was from the people who kept standing in the background, wondering what I was doing or if there was something really cool they must be missing; as that could be the only reason there’s some guy in a cave with a really big camera on a tripod…

Cody Duncan Stock travel photography: Maximilianshöhle limestone cave, Franconia, Germany. © Cody Duncan photography

Allgäu in Winter

Made a short little road trip down to the Allgäu region over the weekend, or in other words, to the mountains. The trip was also to test out ‘the van,’ which we are going to take on a 3 week trip to Scotland next month. Weather was hit and miss, but managed a few photos between the snow and rain…

Cody Duncan Stock Photography: Neuschwanstein castle with winter snow, Fuessen, Bavaria, Germany. © Cody Duncan Photography

Cody Duncan Stock Photography: Row boat of wooden dock at Hopfensee, Bavaria, Germany. © Cody Duncan Photography

Cody Duncan Stock Photography: Woman running in snow, Bavaria, Germany. © Cody Duncan Photography

Cody Duncan Stock Photography: Panoramic of St. Coloman Church, Schwangau, Bavaria, Germany. © Cody Duncan Photography

Cody Duncan Stock Photography: Panoramic landscape photo of Snow covered mountain and clearing clouds. © Cody Duncan Photography

Regensburg and Walhalla, again

Saturday…

Cody Duncan travel photo: stone bridge across Danube river, Regensburg, Germany. © 2008 Cody Duncan photography

Cody Duncan travel photo: Danube river near Regensburg, Germany. © 2008 Cody Duncan photography

Cody Duncan travel photo: Walhalla temple near Regensburg, Germany. © 2008 Cody Duncan photography

Cody Duncan travel photo: Walhalla temple near Regensburg, Germany. © 2008 Cody Duncan photography

Nürnberger Frühlingsfest

Nice day on Sunday, so what better way to spend part of the day at a German Volksfest.

Cody Duncan travel photography: Nürnberger Frühlingsfest volksfest 2008. © Cody Duncan photography

Cody Duncan travel photography: Nürnberger Frühlingsfest volksfest 2008. © Cody Duncan photography

Historic note: The large building in the background is the old Nazi congress hall. The largest building remaining from that era and is part of the larger complex of the Reichsparteitagsgelände (nazi party rally grounds)

Cody Duncan travel photography: Nürnberger Frühlingsfest volksfest 2008. © Cody Duncan photography