Blog

Hiking in the Adelaide Hills

Blog

DSC_6572-HDR

Day 3 in “Down Under” – still Adelaide, though slowly but steadily my time here draws to a close. It was an early start, the sun stood sky high, you got to make the most of that. The plan was to hike in the Adelaide Hills.

Eventually I ended up in the Cleland Conservation Park, roughly 20km outside of the city – a IUCN protected area – so quite an important piece of nature. Several excellently marked trails lead through the 11.25 square kilometre big park.

While I have seen more spectacular mountains (though these are called ‘hills’ anyway) it was nonetheless a great day out in the nature the whole day and well worth a long hike to be eventually rewarded with a stunning view of the city itself – as the image above shows.

Conditions were not ideal to shoot I have to admit. I didn’t have time to wait for the sunset so the sun was still quite high shining harshly into the valley where the city lies. The view was not totally clear and my Nikon D7100 had clearly issues to capture a balanced scene.

So I tried to bracket my shots and see what could be done in post combining the files. I’m happy enough with the output. The image was taken with the new Tamron 70-200mm G2 lens.

On my way back, already near the end of my trail, I suddenly heard some strange noises coming from the bushes near me…. and there they were, two kangaroos! Just finding themselves a spot to rest.

DSC_6611

DSC_6401

Adelaide Oval Panorama

Blog

DSC_6352-HDR-Pano

Got to be open for surprises. This was not on the agenda for today – day two in Adelaide – but if you get the chance… the gates were open so I walked through right into the magnificent Adelaide Oval this afternoon.

Why? I don’t know. I only walked past the Oval because it was on the way to the St. Peter’s Cathedral and I thought maybe I get a nice shot from the outside from across the bridge.

Turned out some company was holding a conference inside the ground on the second level hence nobody cared for the little fella that I was strolling around like a kid in a candy shop.

I took the full advantage, the complete tour all the way round and got a lovely panorama I would have not dared to dream to ever get a couple of days ago.

This stadium is a thing of a beauty. Breathtaking architecture – let’s hope atmosphere holds up…. gonna find out on Thursday when Port Adelaide Football Club plays in front of a 53.500 capacity crowd!

………

Shot taken: ISO 100, f/11, five horizontal frames, bracketed exposure – Nikon D7100, Simga 17-50mm

Sky on Fire

Blog

DSC_6258

ISO 100, 8s, 17mm, f/11 – Nikon D7100, Sigma 17-50mm

First day in Australia – Adelaide in the south, to be specific. The first port of call for my three weeks long trip through “Aussieland”. A dream its been for a long time. Finally the chance to make it real. Although – and I didn’t quite know what it would mean when I booked the rather lowly priced flight tickets – it’s winter in “Down Under”.

Winter in Australia? Can’t be that bad, can it? Well, turns out it isn’t but then it kind of is – Says I didn’t have unrealistic expectations like roasting on the beach and surfing the waves in the ocean. Just one thing: no rain – PLEASE!

Dublin’s farewell gift on Saturday was a wet storm that soaked you only from sprinting as fast as you can the five meters from the taxi to the entrance of terminal two – desperate stuff!

24 hours later I come to realise the weather-god (Neptune is it, right?) and I we never make friends in this life – he sent the wet storm round the globe all the way down to Adelaide. Thanks mate!

First day in South Australia. 13 degrees, the Air BnB freezing, heaters are overvalued in a city where it’s nearly always hot. Those three or four weeks were it isn’t? Tough luck.

Now, while this type of weather isn’t good for the tan, it certainly is good for producing a stunning sky. That’s exactly what I was hoping for when I went down to Seacliff Beach in the afternoon.

Boy oh boy it didn’t disappoint! The constant play between sun and rain created the most amazing sky. There were those thick layers of dark, rain filled clouds that tried to drown the sun and its warm rays – an epic fight!

To capture the emotions and create maximum drama of the scene my idea was to get some long exposures. The first image at the top is my favourite from today. A final piece of sea grass clinging on to dear life, lying still, all his friends already washed away, while rain and sun fight it out in the background. A fitting tribute to the day it was!

In the end the rain won and the sea captured the beach. The tide is merciless.

DSC_6271

ISO 100, 4s, 17mm, f/11 – Nikon D7100, Sigma 17-50mm

Good night Dublin

Blog

DSC_6002.jpg

Dublin, view toward Samuel Beckett Bridge – 30s, ISO100, f/22, 70mm

Grote Kerk of Breda

Blog

DSC_5212-Pano

Chasse Promenade

Blog

DSC_5138-Pano

Breda’s futuristic Chasse Prromenade with the historic Grote Kerk in the background as a reminder of the historic past.

Breda – Pearl of the South

Blog

DSC_5220-Pano

Breda, this city close to Eindhoven in the south of the Netherlands – I stumbled across by accident. The “pearl of the south” locals keep telling me, so I used the chance to explore this place for myself.

Roughly 170.000 citizens does the city count its own – admittedly it feels smaller. It feels compact, cosy, very much like a place you can walk around and explore in one day easily.

So I did today, on my “free” day. Sadly it was an overcast day, not particularly exciting for photography. A bit chilly too, a cool wind ensuring that there were no spring feelings in the air.

I was already home at half past five in the afternoon, putting the feet up after a day on the go, with a hot coffee in my hands, when suddenly this strange yellow thing squeezed through the thick layers of greyish clouds…. a signal!

So I got my cam and went out again, back to places I saw and shot throughout the day, but when checking the outcome on my laptop I had to admit the photos looked flat and dull, mainly because there was just no light.

In my head I always had this idea of shooting a stereotypical photo of the Netherlands. A canal, boats, cute little houses reflecting in the water…. here I got it, tonight, finally!

Though you can see dark clouds threatening on the right hand side of the sky. I’m happy that It got my arse up and went out again after a full day on the go, to get the one shot I REALLY wanted.

Published in The Observer…

Blog

20170131_135623.jpg

Nice little surprise – in their recent Sunday edition the Guardian Observer published my photo of the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto! The image was taken during my trip through China and Japan in December 2016.

A fine reward for the effort it took to actually get the shot in first place. The Kinkaku-ji was rammed with people this particular afternoon, most likely because it was a mild, sunny and calm winters day.

There is is this one vantage point from where you get to see the whole beauty of the pavilion and the reflections of the entire scene in the calm waters – and on this day hundreds and hundreds of people where  there to witness one of the most iconic pictures of Japan with their own eyes.

But here it’s an advantage to be small – at least once in life! You can squeeze your way through the crowds easily, and so I made my way to the front and was able to fend of the masses for a couple of minutes to take this photo – which is one of my favourites of the entire trip – yet it doesn’t do the place justice. It’s SO beautiful.

In Focus

Blog

dsc_2101

Shanghai, December 2016

Power Nap Anyone?

Blog

20161216_125637

TOKYO – a strange place. A modern place. A busy place. Guess it can be a little bit overwhelming at times. Well, it was certainly for me, that’s for sure.

A busy place, with busy people and busy lives – little wonder that people can be overwhelmed… overwhelmed by tiredness that is!