Sometimes photography just happens. The Significant Other and I are vacationing in Grisons in Switzerland. Unwinding, relaxing, mainly hiking around the beautiful mountain landscape. Today we had an off-day. In the afternoon we drove to close by Flims, the principal Ski Resort in the area. Now, in summer, it basically is deserted, apart from mountain bikers, a few tourists and the local folks. Shopping for some groceries, we entered recently built, futuristic looking shopping center that is mainly built underground. I took out my iPhone 14 Pro and started snapping pictures of the shiny modern architecture, already thinking monochrome. Then the man appeared on the top of the escalator, with the rest of the scene totally deserted. Like the last man in one of those end of civilization movies. I had my street photograph and a story.
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….
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 😉
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”….
Visiting the world’s central Holocaust Memorial in Yad Vashem was one of driving goals for me to visit Israel. For some photographs and a bit of history enjoy this episode of “Israel Explored – Yad Vashem”
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….
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.
Day 2 of our Israel Trip started with a visit to Safed. Then wir continued to the source of the River Jordan in the Tel Dan Nature Reserve and onto the ancient Israelite city of Dan. For more photographs and history continue after the jump…
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….
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….
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.
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.
