Tag: Austria

A walk with my phone

Backlit mountain forest captured on a walk with my phone

Yesterday afternoon, The Significant Other and I went for a walk up the mountain behind the house we’re staying. Sure enough an opportunity to capture some of the surrounding beauty on a sensor. As “real” camera I brought the Nikon Zf plus some primes. And then there are the two iPhone cameras in my office phone (iPhone 16 Pro Max) and my personal device (iPhone 14 Pro). The camera I grabbed for our walk was the technically “weakest”, the iPhone 14 Pro.

Photography literally means “drawing with light”. There is no reference about technology in this. While having a capable device to capture light on a sensor (or film) certainly is a prerequisite, it is not the key component for taking good photographs. In fact, some of the world’s greatest images have been captured with technology that was far inferior to what we can use today. Photography is more about the eye, the creativity in our minds than technology. Taking landscape images, it is about light, contrast, color, shapes, textures and composition. And this for me is the fun when out and about, doing my “visual push ups”. So come along for a walk with my phone…..

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Lungau Landscapes with the Fuji

Sonnenuntergang an den Niederen Tauern
1/210 sec | f/5.6 | ISO 200 | 18mm

With the skiing slopes much too crowded, The Significant Other and I are doing a bit of winter hiking through Austria’s Lungau region between Mauterndorf and Mariapfarr. Along came the Fuji X-T2 with the Fujinon XF18-135mm F3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR travel zoom. The color photographs in this post are all jpgs out of the camera with the Fuji Velvia film simulation, the monochrome jpgs were shot with the Acros B&W analogue simulation. To see more Lungau landscapes with the Fuji, click below…

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“Silent Night, Holy Night”

Joseph Mohr - Stille Nacht - Silent Night
Joseph Mohr | Mariapfarr | 2024

“Silent Night Holy Night”. I’m fully aware that we are already a few days after the silent and holy night where Christ was born. And no, I’m not the die-hard Christmas fan who drags out the festive season as long as possible. Still, there was a good reason to write a blog post about the world’s arguably most famous Christmas carol. Because today, The Significant Other and I visited the place where it all started with the song that for all of us is the epitome of Christmas: “Silent Night, Holy Night”. To find out more, continue after the jump….

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Castle on the Hill

Mauterndorf Castle
Castle on the Hill | Mauterndorf | 2022

I really don’t know why Ed Sheeran’s “Castle on the Hill” came into my mind when passing below medieval Mauterndorf Castle during a little afternoon stroll earlier today. But somehow it got stuck in my brain, so I keep singing it silently….

“I’m on my way
Driving at 90 down those country lanes
Singing to Tiny Dancer
And I miss the way you make me feel, and it’s real
When we watched the sunset over the castle on the hill”

Actually the 11th century castle is on hill above the old mountain town of Mauterndorf in the Austrian Alps, but you realize it only when looking at it from down below (see image after the jump). But I liked the black and white version (doesn’t the iPhone take awesome monochrome photographs?) better for the title image of the post 😉

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Goodbye 2021

Lonka Valley
1/500 sec | f/9.5 | ISO 200 | 50mm

The last day of the year is upon us. Goodbye 2021! The Significant Other, Big Girl, two dear friends and myself spent the day hiking in the Austrian Alps in the Weißpriach Valley along the Lonka River. Enjoying a marvelous day. Walking along the mountain river has something cleansing to it. Washing 2021 away, looking forward to a brighter new year.

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Path to Happiness

Motion blurred photograph of a path leading out of the woods
Leica M | 1/8 sec | f/16 | ISO 200 | 90mm

Things are really improving. With the number of COVID cases steadily decreasing, Germany is slowly opening up. The Significant Other and I are having our first week of travel in nearly a year, with a week long trip to Austria, just South of the Bavarian/Austrian border. It’s so awesome to finally being on the road again. A true change of perspective. Today I’m passing the two week mark since my second COVID vaccination, which basically means I’m cleared to return to a normal life. A good feeling after 15 months of restrictions. If this isn’t a path to happiness…

Image taken with my Leica M (Type 240) and the Elmarit 90mm F/2.8. Image specs 1/8 sec @ f/16 and ISO 200. Despite being in dense woods on a cloudy day, I had to stop down o f/16 and dial in the lowest ISO of 200 to achieve the low shutter speed of 1/8 sec to create this effect using the ICM (intentional camera movement) technique by slightly moving the camera vertically while pressing the shutter.

Wish you a great Thursday and stay safe!

Marcus

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Instant Inspiration (33) – ICM in the woods

Castle Ghosts

Instant Inspiration (16) – Dusk at the Ocean

Instant Inspiration (15) – Long Exposure Waterscapes

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Magic afternoon in the mountains

Rainbow Mountain
1/800 sec | f/11 | ISO 200 | 47mm

Good things come to those who dare – like on this magic afternoon in the mountains. The Significant Other and I decided to do a late afternoon hike up the Riedingtal, a valley in the Austrian Alps, despite the overcast and showery weather. And yes, while almost up on the valley floor, it started pouring, and we barely escaped into a serviced alpine hut for some cake and coffee. And then the magic happened….

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The Long and Winding Road

1/400 sec | f/10 | ISO 200 | 29mm

Once in a while I like to name a post after a song title. Like in this case: “The Long and Winding Road” by the Beatles. If you don’t know it, check it out, a truly magic song. I was inspired by watching the movie “Yesterday” the other night, the story of a successless songwriter who, after a global power outage”, discovers he is the only person left on earth who remembers the Beatles and now makes a career of playing their songs as his own. And I happened to take a fitting image during one of recent mountain hikes.

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Happy Life

Monochrome alpine milk cow
1/180sec | f/11 | ISO 200 | 35mm

We’ve been living a happy life these past two weeks, as The Significant Other and I had managed to escape into the Austrian Mountains for a dearly needed break from our daily routine and Covid-19.

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You’ve got a Friend

You've got a Friend
You’ve got a friend | Gosausee | 2018 | 1/125 sec @ f/5.6 and ISO 200

“You’ve got a friend” is a great song by Carol King. If you don’t know it, look it up on Youtube. Big Girl got a new friend while hiking on Lake Gosau in the Austrian Alps this afternoon. The butterfly initially was attracted by Grandma’s shoes, then hopped over onto the legs of The Significant Other. Then he transferred himself onto the fingers of Big Girl. He sat on her hands for a good 15 minutes. The amazing close-up shot you can find after the jump…. Continue reading “You’ve got a Friend” →

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Good Friday

Mystic Mountain
Mystic Mountain | Lungau | 2018

The Friday preceding Easter Sunday is Good Friday,  a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, and Black Friday. 

We are spending Easter at a very good friend’s house in the Lungau region in the Austrian Alps. Not really the place for Street Photography, but the opportunity to capture some monochrome landscapes.

The weather was not all that great, rather fitting for the subdued mood of Good Friday. While the kids took to the slopes, the Significant Other and I hiked up the Weißpriachtal along the Longa River. Readers of this blog might remember my post about High Contrast Landscape Photography, where I took some Ansel Adams like images on a sunny December day in the very same valley during an earlier visit.

Today there were only low hanging clouds, nothing spectacular to photograph, so we just enjoyed the hike. Only when returning, I took my Olympus OM-D E-M1 with the 12-100mm F/4 Pro Zoom out of my backpack and shot a few detail shots of what nature gave me. Kind of zen-like. Probably nothing anyone apart from me would look at, but really satisfying me as a visual artist. I will share these images tomorrow.

My photo of the day was that of the mountain above us, in a brief moment when the clouds opened up and gave us a vista of a moody mountainscape. Perfect for a Good Friday.

Image specs are 1/640 sec @ f/7.1 and ISO 200, focal length 100mm (equals 200mm full frame equivalent).

Wish you all a great start into a hopefully splendid Easter weekend!

Marcus

Related Posts:

High Contrast Landscape Photography

Fogged In

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Abandoned or Alone

Some thoughts on monochrome shooting

Where the river meets the ocean

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A Winter Dream

Winter Dream
Winter Dream | Austria | 2017

We are five days into the new year and I haven’t seen as much as a ray of the sun. It’s been mostly rainy here in Nuremberg and we have been busy moving the big girl out of the house into her own apartment in downtown Nuremberg. A huge step for her as well as for us, even though we just live 10 miles (16km) apart. Have I mentioned that I’m considering turning her vacated room into a photo studio 😉 ?

Yesterday I have stumbled across a video documentary about and with famous Japanese street photographer Daido Moriyama (here the link to it on youtube). It is a priceless film with 84 minutes duration with English subtitles. I will do a separate post about it and about Daido Moriyama in the next days. But definitely worth watching on the weekend, if you have some time and are interested in the work of this iconic photographer.

The photo of the cabin in the mountains I have taken last week in Austria with my Olympus PEN-F with the 14-150mm F/4-5.6 travel zoom. Image specs are 1/250 sec @ f/9, ISO 200 and 47mm focal length.

Have a great weekend!

Marcus

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Gear & Camera Settings for Street Photography

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Learning Center

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