My photographic journey 2022

Dome of the Rocks
Dome of the Rocks | Jerusalem | 2022

The last day of 2022 is upon us. With all that happened, it was a difficult year for the world. And for sure it was a busy and special year for us as a family. But as every year, new years eve is the time to look back and reflect on my photographic journey 2022. Did I grow as a photographer? No, not really. It felt like „more of the same“. Due to various reasons, photography (as well as this blog) took the back seat of life in the past 12 months. My own perception was that I didn’t even made half as many images as usual. But as I looked at my Lightroom archive of 2022, I discovered that I took just as many photographs this year as I did in 2021. Noteworthy was the shift of the used tools, from mirrorless camera to my iPhone. I just didn’t have as much time to venture out with my camera as in the years before. But seemingly I compensated with many snapshots I took with my ever present iPhone 12 Pro Max and its truly good camera. Contributing to this shift was also the fact that during our only real vacation this year, our trip to Israel, my then new Leica SL2-S broke on the second day, so I had to shoot the whole trip on my iPhone.

So it was, photographically, a difficult year. But going through this years archives, I still found 15 photographs that triggered remembrances about places, moments and emotions that made my 2022. And that I’m truly happy about. Spoiler: My photograph of the year isn’t among them. For my „POTY“ and the story behind check back on January 2nd ;-). My second favorite image of 2022 is the one above of the Dome of the Rocks in Jerusalem. For me, this is as close as I probably will ever get to emulating a shot of Steve McCurry, one of my photographic heroes. For the rest of the gallery, 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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Israel Explored – Bethlehem

Entrance to Church of Nativity, Bethlehem
Entrance to the Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem

Darkness and light – on the same day. After visiting the Holocaust museum of Yad Vashem in der morning (see yesterday’s post), we continued on to Bethlehem to visit the site of Jesus’ birth inside the Church of Nativity. Read about it in this episode of “Israel Explored – Bethlehem”….

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Camera? iPhone!

Jumping Dog

The days of our trip to Israel are filled with sightseeing, stressful things like lying on the beach and evening activities like dining and a enjoying some after dinner drinks with our friends we’re travelling with. At least I find time to dump the days images onto the computer, but not enough time to edit and post process. So I’m seriously behind creating new episodes of “Isreal Explored”. But no worries, they will be published eventually 😉

When my Leica failed me on day 3 of our trip, I basically turned exclusively to my iPhone 12 Pro Max to capture the sights and sounds of this beautiful country. When looking at some of my street photography shots from today, I seriously ask myself why I need a camera…these images are a mix of action shots, closeups, wide angle images, photos in bright daylight, at sunset, after sunset and at night. Shooting into the sun and with it…the iPhone handled them all pretty well, I would say. Camera? iPhone! But see for yourself…..there are more images after the jump….

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Israel Explored – From Galilee to the Dead Sea

River Jordan - Baptism Site
River Jordan – Baptism Site

The latest episode of Israel Explored talks about our transfer day from Northern Galilee to Jerusalem took us along the Jordan river towards the Dead Sea. Highlights of the day were visits to Jesus’ baptism site, iconic mountain palace Masada, the discovery site of the Qumran Scriptures and finally a bath in the Dead Sea. For the images and a bit of history continue after the jump.

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Israel Explored – Sea of Galilee

Boatride on the Sea of Galilee

The first day of our trip to Israel took us to the holy sites at North Shore of the Sea of Galilee. A first opportunity to take out the Leica and capture some vacation memories. Classic travel photography, so to speak. Being part of a tour group, the day and the evening are fully packed. So I decided to just dump the memory card onto the Macbook and share some out-of-camera jpgs captured with the Leica’s high-contrast monochrome program for a first episode of Israel explored – Sea of Galilee….

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Travel Day (18)

Little Mr Traveler

I can’t believe I’m posting about travel again….at least air travel, that is. My last time on a plane was November 2019 on a business trip to India. After that, and thanks to Covid, my travelling live (for the job that pays the bills) came to a crushing stop.

But this morning, after some crazy months back home, The Significant Other and I took to the skies to fly to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport for two weeks of vacation in Israel. And for sure, this was the perfect opportunity to revive my Travel Day series of posts with episode 18. Continue after the link for some impromptu iPhone 12 travel shots from my first air trip in 30 months….

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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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Greece explored – Mycenae

Lions Gate | Mycenae | 2021

I probably never mentioned that I have lived in Greece as a boy for three years. That said, I have grown up with the ancient sagas telling the stories and adventures of the heroes of Greek mythology. One of the greatest was Agamemnon, the king of Mycenae and victor of the Trojan war. “Greece explored – Mycenae” takes you on a trip through his legendary castle on Argolian hills of the Peloponnese.

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Classic Beauty

monochrome portrait of a classic beauty
Classic Beauty | Corinth | 2021

I’m much too busy taking photographs and vacationing (as in being down at our private beach) than downloading and editing what I already captured on the SD cards during our stay in Greece. Or writing blog articles. But when I saw this one of The Significant Other I couldn’t hesitate throwing out a quick Sunday post after all. Classic Beauty is all that comes to my mind, as she stands in front of the ancient temple of Apollo in Corinth. Can anyone understand why this beautiful woman always gets a panic attack when I point a camera at her?

Taken with the Leica M and the Summicron 35mm F/2. I was really pushing the settings here, did already consider putting an ND filter on the camera to block out some of the light. But with a fast 1/4000 shutter speed and slightly stopping down to f/4 I still got the shot in the bright afternoon light with shallow enough depth of field to blur the background, but still have the 2500 year old temple clearly recognizable.

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Have a great Sunday

Marcus

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