It seems the liquid is a kind of glue, but it’s water. The wasp started so fast, that she pulled some water out of the surface. In addition, I like the reflection below the wasp.
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Tag: summer
Throwback Thursday: Walk with your own pace
When hiking with a photographer, the non-photographers in your hiking group have to wait every now and then. That’s especially true when hiking in such a fantastic and panoramic region like the Swiss Alpes.
But, later they are happy for benefiting from your images :😊
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Throwback Thursday: starry, starry night
Middle Europe is a mess when you want to take photos of the night sky or of the stars. In the past, I have already complained about it a couple of times. Light pollution everywhere. Recently I was in an area flagged as being an area offering the best conditions for gathering the stars. Fortunately, even the clouds were merciful enough to allow a clear sight. Located at the coast and embedded in an agricultural region, this location proposed quite good preconditions. Even the light pollution map rated that region green. So, I gave it a try for getting an image of the center of the Milkyway. Now, near the end of the summer (and especially near the sea) the humidity is not as high as it is here in my region. So, I expected sight conditions similar to a cold winter’s day. You know, the Milkyway isn’t visible the whole year. It’s only visible from late March (in the early morning hours before sunrise) to the end of August (in the early night hours, right after sunset). So, my window was quite short: Sunset at 20:30h, Moonset at 21:50h, end of twilight at 22:00h (more realistic: 23:00h), Milkyway set at 23:24h.
During twilight, I prepared my equipment and pointed the camera in the right direction. But, when it became darker, I noticed a huge (industrial) area spilling the sky with light. Impossible to get the image I was waiting for. Nevertheless, I tried everything as planned to see, if I can rescue the image in postproduction. Long story short: no! But, while waiting, I noticed crisp clear stars right above me. After finishing the planned shots, I recomposed and directed my camera straight to the sky above me and in the image above, you can see my result. I’m quite happy with that one, although it’s still not the center of the Milkyway!
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Throwback Thursday: while-tailed eagle
Never before, I was able to capture one of these guys so close. They are at home around the Baltic Sea, along the North Sea, along the Norwegian coast, and in Iceland. You can also find some of them at some lakes here in Germany. While I was on Usedom for our vacation, I got the opportunity to go to a nature protection area near by. Despite that fact, I needed a really long lens. Unfortunately the sky was very cloudy that day.
White-tailed eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla) are bigger than the American bald eagle, but smaller than the Steller’s sea eagle (Haliaeetus pelagicus), also known as Pacific sea eagle or white-shouldered eagle. The White-tailed eagle has a wingspan of up to 250cm. There’s a saying, when you have the impressing, there’s a room door flying above you, it’s a White-tailed eagle. They are really impressive.
Fortunately, the population is slowly growing again. During the 1970s DDT created huge problems for them. While eating dead animals poisoned by DDT or wit ha huge level or DDT in their bodies, the poison also in the eagles’ bodies enriched which caused a severe problem: the egg-shell became too thin, so the the eagles destroyed their own eggs while breeding them. During the 1980s, DDT got banned and the number of eagles raised again. Slowly, but steadily.
It’s so fascinating watching them passing by. Because of their size, it seems, they were quite slow. Most of the time, they are gliding. But, a a single flap of their wings speeds them massively up. Same is true, when they start using thermal up-streams. You can’t change your lens fast enough to capture them neither in the “elevator” nor on the “highway”.
For hours, 2 of them were sitting on high trees with no activity, but too far away for an image. Even with 800mm attached to my APS-C body (resulting in 1200mm f5.6) would only give me a few dark dots somewhere in the trees.
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Throwback Thursday: starting clean for the weekend
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Throwback Thursday: I’m back ….
Last week I was on a short family vacation at the Northsea: me, my wife, and our grandson (5 3/4).
We were gifted with fantastic weather. Nicely warm and sunny days at the beach and on the many playgrounds the town set up over the years. We visited that town not for the first time. So, we were able to see the development. Especially my wife was there quite often when our kids were smaller. She went with only one at a time, while the others stayed home with me. Now, all of them are adults and traveling with their partners.
Being at the coast means having a good portion of wind around you all the time. During low tide, the beaches grow. When low tide is in the evening, you can have much space for flying a kite. We’ve chosen that way for the kite instead of going to the kiting ground because there are more pro-kiters and a small kid does not have the room he needs for his little kite.
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Throwback Thursday: A sign of hope!?
Saturday before last, I was in our state capitol to see one of the results of the long-lasting drought, we’re suffering this year. The fourth year in a row. Many smaller rivers and creeks don’t haven’t water anymore. Lakes and ponds dry out or at least overheat and endangering the fishes that way.
That river is one of the big streams here in Europe and it’s used as a road for large barges. When I walked down the riverbank and came closer to one of the spur dikes (they are built to slow down the water) when I noticed this single sunflower, blooming on a part of the riverbed, although the image seems to show something different, because you can’t the exact location.
I’m taking this sunflower as a sign of hope. Hope for water will come back to this level. Hope, because there is still some water in the ground.
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Throwback Thursday: A day at the sea
12 years ago, my wife spent a week with our youngest at the north sea. Thanks to a very proposing weather forecast, I came up with the idea, to surprise them by making a day trip to visit them. So, I told the other two kids to prepare some breakfast suitable to be eaten on the road and get up that early to be able to be on the road at 6 a.m. What a surprise, when we arrived at noon. At that time, the motorway ended early and the remaining nearly 100 km had to be covered on regular country roads. Nowadays the highway reaches much closer to the coast and shortens the distance to only a little more than 3 hours.
After having dinner together, we headed back home and arrived at about 1:30 a.m. What a day!
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Throwback Thursday: Street Art Festival (pt. 2)
As proposed last week, I’m continuing with a few images taken in the schoolyard, which we stumbled upon accidentally.
I’m glad, we followed the sign leading us in the narrow street. Fortunately, the painting from the first image in the gallery below was visible from the place where we found the sign. So we went for having at least a brief look. At the end of the street, we found the schoolyard. Full of people (painters and their company), a DJ, lifting platforms, compressors, and a lot of ladders were here. The artists were working on their paintings or talk shopping. Some of them were already done while others even have not yet started.
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Throwback Thursday: Street Art Festival
Last Saturday, we finally met again: monthly photographers roundtable. After nearly one year without a common trip. The past 2,5 years were hard and now it has to become routine again. But, I won’t complain. Despite the overall situation, I was out quite often. And, to be honest, there were a few meetings without a camera, simply for having a talk or celebrating a birthday. But, I missed the regular common photography trips. They are often challenging because you have to leave your comfort zone and face unknown places as well as unknown photography topics. So, this time street photography and art photography from a nature and wildlife photographers perspective. Once started, you have to find your flow first and work on the perspective. Consider, what you want to show. Are you keen enough to photograph strangers? And don’t forget the legal regulation!
Although only 3 of us met in Geldern, a small town near the Dutch border. Each year (with interruptions – sic) on the last weekend of the state’s summer holiday they organize a Street Art festival. This year it was held for the 42nd time. I got notice last year from our newspaper but wasn’t aware of being a regular festival. Unfortunately, it was canceled on very short notice. So, I was very happy one of the other photographers had it on her list and was planning to go (even alone). So, my destination was also found and we would either have a meeting of 2 in Geldern and another one elsewhere with the others. but, it came out that only 4 of us were available that day because of vacations and one had to cancel with short notice. So, there were three of us in Geldern.
All of the painters created their pieces of art with colored chalk. In between, some street musicians presented their skills; fortunately, only very few booths offered drinks or food. I was quite surprised to see so many female artists painting. I guess, 80% of the painters were female as well as many of the solo musicians.
The festival starts on Saturday morning and lasts until Sunday noon. So, the species of art are not supposed to be ready on Saturday evening and you can view them creating their paintings. It’s really fascinating.
The only downside was, that some musicians were too close to each other while playing, although there was plenty of room. So, their music overlapped and it was not nice listening to that noise carpet.
On our way back to the cars, we discovered another interesting site by following a sign in the streets: a schoolyard was decorated by talented graffiti artists. But, I leave that for next week.
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Throwback Thursday: last year in Namibia
I met this handsome predator a few times. They prowl alone through the land, always looking for prey.
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Throwback Thursday: last year in Namibia
I met this bird in November in Namibia, in a dried-out river bed (canyon) slightly northeast of Windhoek.
In case, anyone knows this species, please drop me a note in the comment section below!
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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge 208: “Summer Vibes”
A few weeks ago, I got asked to be a guest host for the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. What an honor!
It’s mid-summer in the northern hemisphere, and most schools are closed. Many people are enjoying their summer vacation. This is the time, most people are longing for. But, when it comes to the style of spending this most valuable time of the year, wishes differ following their personal preferences.
Show us your favorite activity (yes, chilling is also accepted as an activity in this context) in summer. In my gallery below, I have some of them as inspiration: biking, mountain climbing, hiking, swimming, diving, sailing, surfing, kite-surfing, beach sailing, chilling, bbq-ing, beach partying, traveling, sightseeing, reading, dreaming, loving, dancing, and I’m sure, you’re finding lots more like i.e. Midsommar in the Scandinavian countries or the White Nights
So, I’m curious to see your interpretation of summer vibes. Make us envy and wish to be with you while you’re enjoying your summer and your favorite summer activities! Whether you are in the Northern or the Southern Hemisphere and having your summer now or in 6 months. Tell us about your summer vibes and share some images about them.
An additional hint for you when selecting or taking your images for the challenge: pay attention to the composition and avoid having distracting spots in your image like waste, bins, or parts of things. Also, a balanced horizon is usually important for a great image. You can correct it easily, if necessary, in post-production. But, sometimes, even an unbalanced horizon works well, as you can see in my wind-surfing image where the unbalanced horizon highlights the speed of the surfer. Fill your frame like I did i.e. in the bbq image or accept negative space like I did in the cycling image above. Both concepts are right. It depends on the messages you want to tell, and which one supports the message best. These small things divide a great image from a bad or an ok-image. In the past, we had a couple of themes focusing on composition. I assembled a shortlist and put it at the end of this post for your convenience. Check them out, when you’re not familiar with them. They can help you get great images.
I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with and I hope you enjoy joining this Lens-Artists Challenge. As always, use the Lens-Artists tag and link to this post so we can easily find you.
Thank you, Jez, for last week’s challenge “Seeing Double”. Next week Tracy from Reflections of an Untidy Mind will host LAPC #209. So make sure to have a look at her site.
If you would like to participate weekly in our Lens-Artists Challenge, just click this link and join us: click here, where you can also find some more information.
A new challenge prompt is posted each Saturday at noon EST.
As always, please link to this post either as a comment or as a pingback and use the Lens-Artists tag.
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P.S.
In the past, we had a couple of themes focusing on a composition like leading lines, rule of thirds, change your point of view, focussing on the detail, cropping,lights-and-shadows, bokeh, and moving closer. Also, you can incorporate opposite colors, like red-green, yellow-blue, black-white, or complementing colors like blue-green.
Monochrome Monday 8-43
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Monochrome Monday 8-42
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Wordless Wednesday: mirrored
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Wordless Wednesday: moth-to-be
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Wordless Wednesday: moth-to-be
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Monochrome Monday 7-34
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Monochrome Monday 7-33
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Monochrome Monday 7-32
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Monochrome Monday 7-31
Sometimes you have to think out of the box. Until recently, I won’t have gotten the idea of showing an insect in monochrome. But, I stumbled upon an image a friend of mine posted on FB: a dragonfly. I liked that image very much and tried it with one of my own images.
So, what do you think? I’m curious about getting your opinion. What do you think?
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Monochrome Monday 7-29
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Throwback Thursday: 10 years ago ….
Throwback Thursday: foggy morning
Another result of the workshop, I held a month ago. It’s not the first time, I had photographed this group of birches. I really love how they stand out of the heathland especially when there is morning fog.
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