A bit different from what I usually shoot, but pointing the camera towards the sky these days isn’t all that inspiring due to the weather (‘German gray’ – my new term for the low gray and hazy clouds the cloak the landscape seemingly every day, and most especially at the weekends), so I’ve started to look towards my feet a little more than normal.
A couple panoramics from my wanderings to Walberla on Friday. I had hoped there would have been a bit more snow, but I seemed to forget that its the last hill before the ‘low’ areas around Forcheim, Erlangen and Nuremberg so it stays a bit warmer than here in the hills of the Oberpfalz. I also realized on Saturday, while heading to Sachsen for the weekend, that I could get to the mountains (big hills) of the Fichtelgebirge area as quickly as I can get to Walberla, so I’ll try and head there on my next little excursion.
First photo is that same tree from from back in October. Unfortunately, someone walked in the snow at the base of the tree (really, why would anyone walk there? Must of had a dog that wanted to take a piss or something) so I’ll have to go back again to get a better version. With more snow too! Second pic is Saint Walpurga’s chapel (Walpurgiskapelle).
This afternoon: typical scene of ‘Franconian switzerland’ after a bit of snow.
The moon was peeking through the clouds on the way back from Nuremberg Friday night so I thought maybe this tree would make a nice photo. It’s at a place called Fishstein, just a few km down the road.
The photo I really want to take is when there is a good layer of snow and a clear night with at least a quarter moon. Might look cool.
A nearly perfectly boring photo of nothing, well, of a cold nothing. But for some reason I find it sort interesting.
Yesterday I was looking for a cool isolated tree in a winter field and somehow managed (well, it wasn’t very difficult) to find some small little road that had not been cleared of snow. Within about 30 seconds I realized that I had probably passed the point of no return and it was either keep going and possibly end up stuck or try to turn around and definitely end up stuck – wouldn’t be my first time getting stuck in the snow. Never found any cool trees, but I thought these power lines would be an OK substitute. I managed a pretty good face plant (without camera) when I was sort of ‘hopping’ across the snow and found the waste deep drainage ditch on the side of the road, which was filled with snow and looked flat. Second photo is of the same ponds as yesterday.
One of the cool things about the north is how quickly the weather comes and goes. One April morning after a night of snow I woke up to nice sunny weather. First thought of mine was to head up Steinetind (the mountain in the center of the first pic) and take in the view. Around the half way point, while I was climbing a smaller middle peak the winds picked up as some clouds blew over and brought about 20 minutes of snow. I huddled down among some rocks and waited for it to pass. And soon enough, as quickly as it arrived, it was over and I was looking at nice blue skies again and a gently breeze. now back on my way up the mountain…
(April 2007)
One stormy spring evening I headed out of the warmth of the Stamsund Vandrehjem to take some photos of the coastline. I stood watching the waves crashing among the rocks for a few minutes until I was confident of a certain rock that would provide a close location to the sea but keep me and my camera dry. The first photo is from that location.
The second photo is of that location, about in the center of the picture, completely covered by a large incoming wave about 3 minutes after I had moved for a different angle. Would have been a quick ‘hop, skip and a jump,’ and still probably a wet Cody had I remained there…
And yes, in the Lofoten, the color can be that different just by turning 90 degrees.
