Back to alpine hiking...

While I'm still working on the photos I made travelling California (coming up next: Joshua Tree NP day 2 - then Salton See and Torrey Pines beach), the autumn weather was nice for the past two weeks... but it has turned into a muddy and rainy grey in the past few days. :-/

Last Saturday I made the hike to the peak of the Sonntagshorn once more, as usual beginning my ascend in Heutal at about 1000m (3300ft), stopping by at the Hochalm for a healthy lunch & coffee and then continuing to the peak, 1967m (6400ft). Here is a photo made at the peak - it's almost a classic in my photos, I don't know how many times I've been there... :-)


Reiffelberg & Vorderlahnerkopf (FinePix S5Pro, 1/80s @ ISO 100; f/11, 12 mm DX)

Available as print from ImageKind, MyGall and seen.by

My original plan was to wait for sunset at the peak (hoping to get great colors on the rocky walls of the Loferer Steinberge as last year in November from a different location), but it was getting pretty cold at that altitude, and I was running low on food (erm, chocolate...) and water, especially for Toni who was really hungry and thirsty - the one well near the Hochalm where she usually drinks and I fill up my water bottle is dry in autumn (was the same last year)...

The above photo (I uploaded it to flickr, too) was made around 5pm, while sunset was about 6.30pm... bad planning! I was there way too early, and the wait of 1.5 hours for sunset was just too long because of the temperature. I called it a day, made the descend to my car and returned home for a nice warm dinner and a shower. :-)

The edit is based on a preset from the X=Image Kit by Brandon Oelling.

As the sun kissed the horizon

As I process the sheer mass of photos that I made while visiting southern California I sometimes lose the grip of the feelings and emotions that I associate with photos. Arriving at the photos of the first day in Joshua Tree National Park, I feel that I have to make this diary-like blogpost because a lot of memories come back with the photos.


As the sun kissed the horizon (FinePix S5Pro, 1/35s @ ISO 100; f/16, 24 mm DX)

We got up at 4am (holy shute...) in Palm Springs, took a shower and had breakfast at Denny's (you can say anything you want, but it's just great that these 24h restaurants are almost everywhere!) to start the 1-hour drive to (one of) the North entrance(s) to Joshua Tree National Park. We were almost a bit late for the sunrise, and we didn't know the area, so we stopped somewhere near the entrance where rocky hills line up both sides of the road.

The air was cold and fresh and we needed jackets to keep us warm. There was a great silence as the sun rose. I felt like an intruder, stranger, an observer of something bigger, larger... it's hard to describe, but wandering the area virtually in Google Earth, realizing just how BIG it is will maybe give you an idea. It's the same sensation that makes me go into the mountains for hiking: it puts things into perspective.

And I remember how there was a sudden warm breeze moving through the chill air, like a friendly ghost wandering the desert...

I was looking at the hills opposite of the scene above, as their peaks were touched by the first rays of sun and turned around, as if that warm breeze would say "hey, turn around"... and I was looking at the Joshua Tree in the photo above. I quickly placed my tripod in a position where the tree would cover the direct sun and made this photo.

I prefer this one over the color version in my web album (which was taken only 1 minute later) because the silhouette of the tree outlined by the light is stronger, but I don't think that the photo is anywhere close to the entire sensation, the magic of that moment...

Capturing water in motion - a PS...

After visiting California and making photos of the ocean, especially during sunset, I noticed that there is an additional component of capturing water in motion that I did not cover in my previous post - and that is: "where IS the water?!?" :-)

Rivers, brooks, waterfalls... they are somewhat static. You just place the camera there, make sure you have an adequate exposure time, and release the shutter. The water just moves along, hey presto.

Its not that easy with the ocean. When the surf washes over a sandy beach or crashes onto some rocks it is important to capture the right moment:


Mussel Farm (FinePix S5Pro, 6s @ ISO 100; f/16, 24 mm DX)

If you get the wrong moment, not much of those large amounts of mussels on the rocks of that tidepool will be visible (and not much of that beautiful little tide pool either):


The wrong moment (FinePix S5Pro, 6s @ ISO 100; f/16, 24 mm DX)

More photos from that session at Laguna Beach are available in my web album. Thanks to Ping for picking the spot!