Category: spring

photo-of-the-day, photography, spring, world

Travel Tuesday: awaiting a new day

solaner

OK, guys. It seems the polling part worked and you voted for some more UK: Northern Wales.

This tree grows near or in the lake, depending on the water level. As you can see, approximately half a meter of water was missing to make the tree an island.

We were based near the lake during our stay. Thus I got up early to be there for sunrise and left the house at about 6:00 in the morning. I was only about 1 kilometer to walk. As the weather seemed to become perfect for such a morning, I planned to go here right at the first morning. You know, weather is able to change fast and not taking an opportunity can lead to waste a chance. Thus I went out before the planned breakfast to be back at right before the time aligned for breakfast. 

Side note: I wasn’t the first one out. When leaving the house for the lake, I met another photographer. But, he was outside to smoke instead of taking photos. Even when I told him about my plan, he didn’t want to come with me. Later he regretted to not having joined me for the little walk.

The silence, calmness, and serenity of this scene gives so much of power. A perfect start in such a week.

Take care!

photo-of-the-day, photography, spring, world

Travel Tuesday: infinity

solaner

 

 

On our last night on the Isle of Skye, we were sitting together in the living room of the vacation home and chatting about many different topics i.e. reviewing the just past week when suddenly the topic Astro Photography popped up.

When I started with photography back in the 1980s, I got a magazine in my hands having an image in it showing how the earth spun under the Northern Star, Polaris. I was fascinated at the first moment. I thought carefully, about how the photographer could have created that image, because there was no further information in the magazine. 

Needed equipment:

  1. camera, able to keep the shutter open for a long time
  2. tripod to keep the camera in the exact position
  3. film – what kind and which ISO?
  4. cable shutter release with a screw to keep the shutter open (had to be bought at once)

So, that was the easier part. I opted for a slide file with ISO 400 and kept the shutter open for an hour. No problem at that time.

Surprise, surprise – the settings were guessed right and the spinning stars were on my slide as planned. Unfortunately, the lab decided to cut that slide because they assumed having an underexposed image in that place. Thus, I was still without such an image.

I took that image in a rural area, quite far away from my home. So, there was no option to retake it. Over time, I forgot it. But, on that night on the Isle of Skye, all these memories came back. I had everything with me. The only difference is the approach how to capture the starts. Back in film days, it was no problem to keep the shutter open for so long. Nowadays, you have to make sure, your sensor does not overheat. Therefore, you take many, many images of each 30 seconds or so and stack them in postprocessing. We were in a quite dark place on the Isle of Skye and had a clear sky. So, I set up my tripod, put my widest lens on my camera, and dialed in a timer to automatically do a series of 30-second long exposures for a total of about 15 minutes.

The image above is not perfectly aligned with Polaris, but I like it anyway.

 

Next week, I going to start a new series. You have the opportunity to choose:

a) Northern Wales  – 70%
b) Iceland 
c) Norway – 10%
d) Graubünden (a Kanton in Switzerland) – 20%

Simply type your wish in the comments. I don’t trust the polling tool below very much.

Update: the poll tool seem to have worked. I put the results behind the options-

Take care!

abstract, art, flowers, nature, photo-of-the-day, photography, plants, spring

Throwback Thursday: during a short rain break

solaner

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.

Take care!

 

monochrome, nature, photography, spring

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #243: It’s Tricky

solaner

It’s Tricky to find a proper answer to this week’s topic at The Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, Donna is asking for.

Today, it’s first of April. This means, some guys feel, they can fool everyone. Some of these fools are really funny while others are mean. I don’t like this approach at all. Despite, when a fool is easy to recognise and clear for everyone. A synonym for fooling someone could be to play tricks to someone and I assume, that’s what Donna had in her mind when picking this topic. But, I choose to take it literally. Thus, I had to dig a bit in my archive and I hope, you like, what I found there. Enjoy!

  1. photographing a match in the moment it catches fire

 

2. photographing smoke

 

3. photographing an insect in flight in the nature

bee fly (Bombyliidae) / Wollschweber at 750mm focal length (35mm film)

A guy, I’m following on Vero, posted an image of this insect a few days ago and reminded me to search for mine, I was lucky enough to capture more than a decade ago. For very long, I haven’t seen one in real live anymore.

 

4. photographing fast birds in flight

southern carmine bee-eater (Merops nubicoides) / Karminspint oder Karmin-Bienenfresser

These guys hunt flying insects. To capturer them, they can either sit on twigs and wait for them or they can actively fly after them. They are quite successful with both strategies. It’s the same way European bee-eaters get their food. In Namibia, I was able to see a third strategy: they pick up insects from the water surface and quite often they go even down into the water because of the steep hint angle. I even have a few images when a bird just emerges from the water. But, I chose this one, because the whole scene is visible.

5. photographing a hummingbird moth north of the Alpes

When following this link, you can learn a bit why it is so tricky to photograph them.

 

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 Donna’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with LENS-ARTIST, so we can find it.

Take care!

architecture, photo-of-the-day, photography, spring, travel, urban, world

Travel Tuesday: lawn mowers

solaner

This was another mystery for me while walking on seemingly abandoned cemeteries in Scotland: why is the grass seemingly cut? Many of the cemeteries were not even. There were usually no buildings other than the abandoned chapels. It didn’t look like someone had used an electric power-driven lawn mower (how can one have done this without a power supply) or tracks of a fuel-driven lawn mower. On the other hand, the uneven ground would have made it extremely hard to use such a device. But, you can definitely see, the grass is very short.

Maybe we can see the reason in the back of this image: sheep! they are running around everywhere freely and you have to drive carefully because they don’t obey human rules on how to behave correctly in the streets and they don’t interact with the car drivers.

Take care! 

 

monochrome, nature, photography, spring

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #241: spring

solaner

As usual on weekends, I’m participating in the Lens-Artist’s Photo Challenge. It’s hosted by Sohpia this week. She challenges us this week with “spring”. It seems to be a perfect fit for me because next week we have the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere.

First of all, I think of lambs when thinking of spring. Second, the awakening of nature and popping up of spring flowers. Some of the spring flowers, like i.e. bluebells and wood anemones, have to hurry to complete their full circle of fertilization before the surrounding trees close the roof with their leaves.

 

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 Sophia’s inspiration post. Don’t forget to tag it with LENS-ARTIST, so we can find it.

Take care!

architecture, photo-of-the-day, photography, spring, travel, urban, world

Travel Tuesday: Ol’ MacDonald’s graveyard

solaner

This is another question I have. We saw a lot of nice cemeteries when we were crossing the Isle of Skye. But, all of them had only a chapel ruin, and none of them was equipped with an intact building, although the cemeteries were apparently still in use for new burials. 

Take care!