a photographer's view to the world – a traveler's blog
Help to protect our planet. Recently, world leaders made a global commitment to protect 30% of our blue planet by 2030 (30×30).
To create a healthy ocean with abundant wildlife and to stabilize the climate, it’s critical that a substantial part of our planet’s lands, waters, and oceans are protected.
Your support will help meet the 30×30 goal!
More information on: https://worldoceanday.org/
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Since my first visit of Iceland, I’m following the Icelandic news online (the English version of course 😁). Earlier this week, I read a news initially published by ruv.is about the Atlantic puffin.
These cute birds only come to land for breeding and Iceland is the breeding home for about 40% of the worldwide population. Two years ago, I already published a similar post focussing on the enormous decrease of the puffin population. Now they state, the population decided by 70% since 1995!😳😩😡
According to the news, the vanishing of their food is the primary reason for the decline. I already wrote about it. Thus, I simply ask you to follow this link and read the second and third paragraphs.
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Building a castle or a chateau in the clouds is an idiom in German for working on an obviously unrealistic dream. I’m quite sure, that idiom has its origin in distinct clouds and cloudscapes.
A few years ago, I was sitting on the balcony of our hotel room looking out at the sea and saw this castle, illuminated by the setting sun, floating up in our direction.
I was waiting there for the blue hour to photograph the castle. As I’m unable to read clouds, I wasn’t aware a thunderstorm was coming closer. Fortunately, it passed without starting to rain or throwing more bolts of lightning than this single one.
I experienced this dramatic sky when I was in Iceland. After more than a week of more or less constant rain, finally some light.
The most beautiful cloudscapes can be found at the sea.
But, clouds are also nice when they lay to your feet like a carpet.
Sometimes it’s hard to distinguish between the sky and the sea.
As usual, click on the images to enlarge them.
Thanks, Amy for this wonderful challenge this week.
Maybe, I inspired you to dig in your archive and find some images, you can publish your images on your blog and set a link to Amy’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with LENS-ARTIST, so we can find it.
Each year in spring I see images on Instagram with this small bird. It’s quite rare here although they are common in Europe (except Great Britain and Scandinavia) and Asia. You can even find them in Africa. The European part of the population is migratory. They fly south over winter because they can’t find insects to feed themselves during winter. In Germany, you can find them only in certain areas.
For a long, I had them on my bucket list and I’m really happy to finally met one of them.
We, humans, try to get rid of vermins by spraying poisons over the fields. But, poison has side effects: the fruits take in portions of the poison and beneficial insects are also harmed. With the death of insects, insect-eating animals like these beautiful birds are also affected.
Make your garden attractive to insect-eating animals. They help to protect your harvest.
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Today, I challenge you with a song from Münchner Freiheit published in 1987 (together with the London Symphonic Orchestra): Solang′ Man Träume Noch Leben Kann. Münchner Freiheit is also the name of a famous square in Munich and translates to “liberty/freedom of/in Munich”. They were very successful at that time and published many top-10 hits. This is one of those top hits. In Germany, this was their second most successful song.
A year has passed quickly
when the rain falls
A sea of questions.
I face you
Remembering days gone by.
…
Versuchen wir es wieder,
So lang’ man Träume noch leben kann.
Let us try it again
as long as we can live our dreams.
I translated the first verse and the last two lines of the chorus for you line by line to keep as much as possible of the meaning. This song came to my mind when I started preparing today’s post. For 9 years I have published weekly a monochrome image here on my blog. Initially, this was my participation in Leanne Cole’s Monochrome Madness (Thank you so much, Leanne). When she stopped it a couple of years ago, I continued it on my own. (I’m happy, she restarted it recently). I love monochrome images. I love photography. I love capturing nature in all its glory. Often, I take images with the intention to process them in monochrome. Sometimes, I feel while processing an image, it would look great in monochrome.
You know, back in the 1980s, I run my own lab and monochrome films were more often in my camera than color (slide) films. I still love the gameplay between Lights and Darks.
The song “Solang′ Man Träume Noch Leben Kann” (as long as we can live our dreams) brings a couple of aspects together:
Today, I’m reviewing the monochrome images published here during the last 12 months and republish those of them, I like most. Maybe, you enjoy seeing them again, too.
In a background tab, you could have Münchner Freiheit sing Solang′ Man Träume Noch Leben Kann for you by clicking on the link. In case you’re interested in the full lyrics, they are also available in the usual suspects. Google Translate can help you translate them into your language or at least into English.
Btw. in 1988 they also published a version in English: Keeping the Dream Alive by Freiheit (they staged with this shortened name internationally), which was re-published i.e. by Kim Wild in 2013. Follow the link to Youtube to listen to that version, too. Although the English lyrics are nice, they differ from the German original. So, maybe it’s worth checking both versions. 😁
So, I’m starting today the 10th year of Monochrome Monday / Monochrome Madness. Stay tuned and
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Today, John challenges us for The Lens-Artists Photo Challenge this week with “Art in the park (and other public places)”.
I start with re-posting an image from my last week’s collection:
I told the story behind this monument in the past. You can find it in this blog most easily when clicking this link.
What do you think, could this be a proper piece of art for your garden?
How to illustrate “Kafkaesque”?
Last summer, I stumbled upon this art exhibition. Sculptors from Zimbabwe presented their amazing pieces of art.
Even light is (or at least can be) art. You can read the full story when clicking on this link.
I intentionally left out architecture and old buildings i.e. created by Antonio Gaudi. They are quite often richly decorated and wonderful pieces of art.
As usual, click on the images to enlarge them.
Maybe, I inspired you to dig in your archive and find some images, you can publish your images on your blog and set a link to John’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with LENS-ARTIST, so we can find it.
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It’s mid of May. So, we’re in the middle of spring. To be honest, usually, spring starts in March over here outdoors, sometimes even in late February. First trees getting their leaves, spring flowers are blooming, temperatures are rising, and blue skies replace the grey blanket above our heads.
This year, we have spring flowers, but quite late and the trees are getting their leaves, but the temperature won’t rise. We still have temperatures between 10°C and zero. The sky is merely still grey without any structure and it’s drizzling very often. Not much rain, but enough to annoy us, while nature does not benefit because the amount is too small.
In German, we have a weather rule “Der April weiß nicht, was er will” (April does not know what he wants). This describes the overall fast-changing weather conditions we experience in April. Even snow and ice are still possible and could possibly remain for a few hours. But, the overall statistics say, April 2023 was colder and wetter in comparison with the average since the beginning of weather recording more the 100 years ago.
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I took this image 14 years ago and I still love it.
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Today, Sofia challenges us for The Lens-Artists Photo Challenge this week with “mood”.
Fortunately, this topic was announced ahead, so I was able to prepare this post ahead of knowing exactly, what Sophia had in her mind. But, otherwise, I had to pause this week.
I like working this way on the weekly challenges because I have to and I have to deal with the respective topic myself without having gotten a predefined direction of thinking. So, I decided to not stick to moody scenes around sunrise or sunset but also include other moods.
In general, we tend to consider a scene moody when having certain light conditions. This can be the warm light around sunset or sunrise flooding a scene, artificial lights at a party, or ambient light for a romantic situation. In nature, foggy scenes are also often considered moody, or when there are very distinct light conditions with hard contrasts. But, in my opinion, there is much more. Getting into a certain mood is usually triggered by an impulse from the outside. This can be a certain light condition, an incident, a situation, a location, or even a piece of information.
As usual, click on the images to enlarge them.
Maybe, I was able to inspire you to dig in your archive and find some images, you can publish your images on your blog and set a link to Sofia’sSofia’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with LENS-ARTIST, so we can find it.
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That day was a bad one. Heavy winds pushed low-standing clouds over the sea towards the coast. Clouds, full of water and ready to pour it over the scene. So, we had to secure the doors when getting out of the cars. A mixture of rain, hail, and snow welcomed us. No hard rain, but enough to keep some of us inside the cars. To make it even worst, the ground was covered merely with ice and rain poodles on top of them. Very careful movements were an absolute necessity. These were not the conditions we came for. What a difference to 2016, when I was there for the first time.
This time we needed the shortest shutter speeds, even when using wide-angle lenses. While setting up a tripod was possible in those conditions, it was impossible to use it. The wind not only pushed the tripod and made longer exposures impossible, but the guts were also even so strong to make the tripod tumble down. So, I opted for another way to get a long exposure of the waves: I put my beanbag on top of the concrete wall securing the parking ground from the cliff, and pressed the camera in the bag. That way, everything was stable enough for a 20-second exposure at 97mm.
For a long, I was hoping for such a location and the right conditions. You see, you have to be open-minded when arriving at a location. Don’t stick to the idea of recreating the images you have seen online, in books, or have on your bucket list. Look around and discover what the scene and the conditions have to offer. Benefit from what you have in front of you. In German, we have a saying: better the sparrow in the hand than the pigeon on the roof (Besser den Spatz in der Hand also die Taube auf dem Dach.).
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In German, we have the word See for the sea. But, it can have two different meanings, depending if one uses the male (der) or the female (die) article.
Der See is a body of water enclosed by land and translates to “lake” in English.
Die See is the same as “sea” in English, but also a poetic name for seas. In addition, we have the word “Meer”, which also translates to “sea”, but this is a more ‘technical’ and emotionless description of “sea”.
Btw. the word “ocean” also exists and is used in the same way as in English.
“Die See” is also referenced when saying “Ich fahre / er fährt zur See / Er is Seemann” (it’s used to describe, the I / he is sailing (the work) or a seaman/sailor).
I love standing or sitting near the sea and watching the waves come in. I love the distinct smell and the sound of the crashing waves. I love the feeling of having sand below my feet or at least below my shoes.
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Here, we have a saying when having such a sky in November or early December: the angels are baking.
In this case, it looks a bit more like the trolls or elves are having a huge fire behind that mountain.
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After a short pause because of Easter, I’m back today to participate in the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, hosted by Tina this week. Her topic for this week is “Environments”.
First of all, we have natural environments and urban environments.
Men created environments of concrete, stone, and glass to live in a well-organized and structured environment.
Nature is the opposite. Nature is chaotic, wild, and sometimes challenging for its inhabitants.
Such a huge body of water is also an environment. Its inhabitants are challenged to develop strategies to survive here. For others, water is a necessity like the air is for humans and other air-breathing creatures.
Some are used to survive even with extremely small amounts of water.
Others can survive while being faster than others.
Environments can be shaped very differently. We have flats, and water bodies, but also mountainous regions.
The air can also carry
And for some, their environment is extremely small. At the edge of her web, her world ends.
I’m ending here before I dig too deep into detail. There are so many more options. Tell us your view, too!
As usual, click on the images to enlarge them.
Maybe, I was able to inspire you to dig in your archive and find some images, you can publish your images on your blog and set a link to Tina’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with LENS-ARTIST, so we can find it.
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