tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72635834180047961232024-02-20T10:05:27.686+01:00Chasing the LightNature, landscape, and bird photography from Sweden, Iceland, Scandinavia and USAAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02850486744113894420noreply@blogger.comBlogger79125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7263583418004796123.post-62584516403943555972017-01-04T17:05:00.000+01:002017-01-04T17:05:10.632+01:00Commuter Photography; Making the Most of Short Nordic Winter Days...I am fortunate to work in the beautiful Swedish city of Malmö, Sweden and to avoid the morning rush hour I generally try to get to the office by 7:15. During the fall and winter this means it's still dark, but this has the advantage of letting me do night time, blue hour and sunrise photography. And afternoons are quite similar, just 400 meters from the office we have the boardwalk and a fabulous view of the Öresund Bridge which makes a great subject in the setting sun.<br />
I have to admit I'm not a huge fan of the cold and dark winters in Sweden, but this year they became a lot more enjoyable by taking advantage of the many photo-opps.<br />
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The morning commute, the Malmö Harbor Lighthouse at sunrise<br />
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A 400 meter dash from the office to the boardwalk to catch the setting sun on a windy winter's day...<br />
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An unusually calm morning made for a nice blue hour shot of the old ship-building harbor.<br />
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A small detour on another calm morning to catch the reflection of Malmöhus castle in its moat.<br />
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The evening commute, the full moon rising behind Turning Torso, a stone's throw from where I work.<br />
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Early morning blue hour photography of one of Malmö's most visited buildings "Turning Torso"<br />
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Morning commute street art, for much of December a miniature restaurant and accessories brought smiles to children and parents alike on their way to daycare, school or work.<br />
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Sunset on the boardwalk in Malmö's Västra Hamnen.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02850486744113894420noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7263583418004796123.post-71397869403924793502016-11-15T22:42:00.002+01:002016-11-16T18:08:02.675+01:00Super Moon November 2016I love photographing the moon. I always keep track of full moons, just in case there is a photo opp, but in southern Sweden cloudy weather is the norm for most of the year, so I don't get too many memorable moon-shots. But this week was an exception to the rule. With all the hype from the newspapers, CNN, Facebook, I think the whole world knew there was a super moon in the making and as luck would have it a high pressure system was parked over southern Sweden promising us a week of clear skies and freezing weather.<br />
D-Day for the super moon was Monday the 14th, but with the beautiful clear skies I got started earlier in the week. The full moon has its charm, but since the entire face of the moon is illuminated there are no shadows to add any detail, so a few days before a full moon provides a better chance to see the craters on the moon's surface.<br />
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On Wednesday Nov 9th, D-5 I was just warming up with my Canon 7D and 800mm lens...<br />
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And then on Friday Nov 11, D-3, while waiting in line at the Saluhallen market in Lund I had about 30 numbers ahead of me, so I stepped outside to catch the moon as it was just rising over the Krognoshus. I had to stand in the middle of the street and dodge a couple of city buses, but it was worth it. Taken with my Canon 6D and 100-400L.<br />
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Saturday Nov 12, D-2, we were invited to afternoon fika at 15:00, which was really not a good time since the moonrise was at 15:37 and I had other plans... So I discretely excused myself at 15:30 to step outside, force my way through 10 meters of trees, shrubs and undergrowth before landing on a farmers field to capture the moonrise, which would have been a little boring if a paraglider hadn't flown into my picture. Sometimes you get lucky... Taken with my Canon 6D + Canon 300/2.8+ 1.4 extender.<br />
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Sunday Nov. 13, D-1. I had long been imagining getting the moonrise behind Dalby Holy Cross Church since it sits atop a hill, but there were some clouds visible, so I had my doubts it was going to work, but again, luck was on my side. The moon rose and 5 minutes later disappeared into the clouds. Taken with my Canon 300/2.8 + 2X extender, I should have used a longer lens.<br />
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Monday Nov. 14, D-Day, and the weather outlook called for clear skies in the morning so I decided to shoot the moonset. Up at 5:00AM, no breakfast and a 30 minute drive to the Öresunds Bridge where I waited for the moon to get into position. A little too early, the bridge was still too dark, it would have been better tomorrow, but rain was in the forecast, so this was the only option. Shot at 800mm at 1/30th with the Canon 6D at iso 6400.<br />
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A good week as far as photography goes, the two last pictures were even published by <a href="https://www.sydsvenskan.se/2016-11-13/bildextra-se-lasarnas-bilder-pa-supermanen" target="_blank">Sydsvenskan</a>, the local newspaper, and then a <a href="https://www.sydsvenskan.se/2016-11-16/astronom-avfardar-fuskanklagelser-mot-supermanbilder" target="_blank">follow-up article</a> the next day.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02850486744113894420noreply@blogger.com2Lund, Sweden55.7046601 13.19100730000002455.633088099999995 13.029645800000024 55.7762321 13.352368800000024tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7263583418004796123.post-47521588435577326972016-08-28T01:32:00.002+02:002016-08-28T09:00:48.128+02:00For LoisPsalm 139<br />
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For the choir director. A Psalm of David.<br />
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1 O LORD, You have searched me and known me. 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. 3 You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O LORD, You know it all.<br />
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5 You have enclosed me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me.<br />
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6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is too high, I cannot attain to it.<br />
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7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there;<br />
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If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.<br />
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9 If I take the wings of the dawn,<br />
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if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,<br />
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10Even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me.<br />
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11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night,” 12Even the darkness is not dark to You, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.<br />
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13 For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb.<br />
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14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;<br />
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16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.<br />
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17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You...<br />
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...23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; 24 and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02850486744113894420noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7263583418004796123.post-56275434780275023302016-08-21T22:24:00.000+02:002016-08-21T22:28:02.741+02:00The Week in Sunsets...This was one of those unusual weeks where every evening had an absolutely gorgeous sunset, (which was a small consolation for the miserable weather). Most of my colleagues at work were complaining about the cold and cloudy weather, but I mostly kept quiet, since I am a sucker for a sunset.<br />
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Unfortunately we don't live in a convenient location for shooting sunsets, and with the dismal weather my expectations were low. By the time I realized the sky is glowing red and orange it is too late to get anywhere for a shot. But on Wednesday I was prepared, sort of... Wednesdays we have interclub bicycle races and this weeks race (time-trial) was at the seashore in Barsebäck, and the race ends early enough to be able to catch the sunset (after we have had some fika)<br />
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But I almost missed it by drinking coffee and socializing. I final had to race off to find a decent subject for the sunset and as luck would have the ponies on the nearby meadow were perfectly set up and I grabbed my Canon 100-400 lens and tried a few different settings and exposures, here 1/200 at iso800 f/8:<br />
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Thursday I was ready, I had my camera in the car and the clouds looked promising, and although I had to pick up daughter Kristina returning home from a few days in Spain, she was easily bribed to join me for the sunset with a meal from McDonalds. Again a quick trip to a nearby shore with my 100-400 and waited for the sun to break through the clouds.<br />
A couple on a dock made for a nice foreground in this first shot...<br />
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And likewise the sailboat was the perfect foreground a few minutes later.<br />
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I was off my game on both Friday and Saturday, even though I saw that the sunsets were fantastic. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.<br />
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But Sunday I was determined to make up for it with the Öresunds Bridge as the subject, this time armed with my Sigma 150mm f/2.8 macro lens; 1/500 at f/5.6 iso200<br />
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The weatherman has promised summer weather this coming week, and while I appreciate the warmth, it sounds like there won't be the necessary clouds for a nice sunset. But we'll see, the weatherman has been wrong before...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02850486744113894420noreply@blogger.com0Skåne County, Sweden55.559709235631949 12.9061889648437555.416067735631948 12.58346546484375 55.70335073563195 13.22891246484375tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7263583418004796123.post-55687536701275596062016-06-27T23:00:00.000+02:002016-08-16T21:42:28.985+02:00Wait for the Midnight Hour...As interesting as the ghost town of Bodie is during the day, it has an even more spectacular attraction after dark. Situated in the Sierra Nevada mountain range at an elevation of 8379 feet (2554 m), it's one of the few areas in California where you have little or no light pollution and thanks to the high elevation there is also no atmospheric distortion. The main event of the evening is the Milky Way, and the best time to photograph it in panorama is around 11:00pm, so we started by testing and fine-tuning our night photography skills on other buildings and celestial bodies...<br />
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This type of night time photography is best done with a full-frame sensor with as little noise as possible since we were frequently shooting at iso3200-6400 with 30 sec exposures at f/2.8. There are a couple of nights per summer where visitors are allowed to remain in the park until 10:00PM or so, but to stay even later you need a permit, and when all is said and done, the easiest way to get that permit is to join one of <a href="http://www.jeffsullivanphotography.com/" target="_blank">Jeff Sullivan's</a> photo workshops.<br />
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The town church...<br />
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And the old store...<br />
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Even an abandoned truck looks amazing under the Milky Way!<br />
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Downtown Bodie...<br />
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The Old Mill...<br />
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An finally a 180 degree view of the Milky Way over the old mill. 10 shots stitched in Photoshop<br />
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It was close to 1:00AM as we headed back to the car, but we couldn't resist just one last shot of the church</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02850486744113894420noreply@blogger.com3Bodie, CA, USA38.214149 -119.0046009999999812.692114499999999 -160.31319499999998 63.736183499999996 -77.69600699999998tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7263583418004796123.post-89220077416724959372016-06-27T22:34:00.000+02:002016-07-07T22:48:04.008+02:00Bodie Ghost Town, waiting for nightfall<div style="text-align: left;">
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This years USA trip included a few days in and around Yosemite. Since we have already visited Yosemite a few times, we were looking for something new on this trip, and as luck would have it we found an after dark photo workshop in Bodie ghost town, focusing on the Milky Way over Bodie. In the middle of summer this meant waiting until after 10PM to begin the nighttime photography, so between our arrival at 6:30PM and then we had several hours to explore Bodie on our own and shoot in the setting sun...</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pews filled with ghosts...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Siding made out of tin cans...</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02850486744113894420noreply@blogger.com3Bodie, CA, USA38.214149 -119.0046009999999812.692114499999999 -160.31319499999998 63.736183499999996 -77.69600699999998tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7263583418004796123.post-89760697486639254502016-02-21T22:03:00.000+01:002016-07-07T22:06:44.135+02:00Sunrise Otters...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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High water and an abundance of bait fish provided fantastic photo opps of a female otter and her pups at Kristianstad Naturum Nature Center. For several weeks this winter the family returned several times a day to catch dozens of small fish before a crowd of spectators and photographers...</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02850486744113894420noreply@blogger.com0Kristianstad, Sweden56.0293936 14.15667780000001155.958406599999996 13.995316300000011 56.1003806 14.318039300000011tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7263583418004796123.post-52147180356567047672016-01-31T12:00:00.000+01:002016-02-03T08:08:48.850+01:00A Pilgrimage to Fulltofta...<br />
My son is practicing his driving skills so on weekends we try to find a destination we can aim for. After weeks of mixed winter weather; wet and cold, or snowing and cloudy, we finally got a break in the weather and headed for the nearby town of Hörby where the old church has a resident peregrine falcon during the winter. The word peregrine is French for "Pilgrim" because of the hood I believe, and what more fitting place for a pilgrim than on a church.<br />
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I assumed a small town like Hörby with a population of 7,000 couldn't have such a large church, so I expected close-up shots of one of my favorite birds. But it seems the height of Swedish church towers has nothing to do with local population, and our friend the peregrine sat atop a 20 meter tower, making this a job for the big guns...<br />
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No sooner had we arrived then the peregrine took off at full speed. I expected her to target a duck from the flock on the river right beside the church, but instead she disappeared out of sight several hundred yards away, and then a few moments later was back on top of the tower with an adult blackbird in her talons.<br />
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While the peregrine made short work of her midmorning snack we set up the tripod about 50 meters away to get a reasonable angle and mounted the Canon 7D + 800/5.6 + 1.4 extender. As we dialed in the settings we filmed and photographed. Unfortunately I forgot my remote control, so it was nearly impossible to press the shutter release without shaking the camera. But we had enough time to test and retest and about the time we were ready Mrs. Peregrine was finished with her snack and launched herself from the roof of the church and I managed to get a couple of decent shots. Here at 1120mm f/11, 1/1000 sec, ISO1600.<br />
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I tried for a repeat visit two weeks later, hoping our peregrine living atop a bell tower kept regular mealtimes. But she was simply not home and after an hour of waiting and while doing some googling on Hörby I learned that the nearby church in Fulltofta from the 1100's was supposed to have fabulous ceiling paintings from the 1400's. It was a Sunday and I expected the church to be locked for the weekend if there wasn't a service going on, but it was worth a shot. And as luck would have it the church was open and the ceiling was a truly a work of art. I even had the place to myself long enough to set up my tripod and with my Canon 6D and Samyang 14mm take a series of photographs that capture some of the beauty...<br />
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Here using 20 images assembled into a panorama in Photoshop. One thing I have learned about photography inside old churches is that it's best done when the wheather is miserable. The darker the better so that the windows don't get too over-exposed, and the lighting is relatively even. Today's weather was almost bad enough.<br />
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There's no good way to capture the entire ceiling in a normal way, so this 180 degree shot will have to do.<br />
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Despite living in Southern Sweden for 27 years, no one has ever mentioned the beautiful church in Fulltofta and the fantastic ceiling. I have stood in line in other countries and paid too much for less interesting places. So do yourself a favour if you're in the neighborhood or have out of town visitors, make a pilgrimage to Fulltofta. Besides the church there is a fantastic nature area with hiking and beautiful landscapes along the Ringsjö lakes.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02850486744113894420noreply@blogger.com3242 94 Fulltofta, Sweden55.878534900000012 13.62078059999998930.356500400000012 -27.68781340000001 81.400569400000009 54.929374599999989tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7263583418004796123.post-26425819125383256662015-11-22T17:06:00.000+01:002015-11-22T17:08:45.257+01:00A Candle for ParisI started working on this blog entry on November 13; an attempt to catch up after too much work and too little time. But the tragic events of November 14th made it impossible to continue as intended. So I will simply share a few of my photos from our trip to Paris this summer, and offer my condolences and prayers to all those that have been touched by the violence...<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02850486744113894420noreply@blogger.com1Paris, France48.856614 2.352221900000017748.6894645 2.0294984000000178 49.0237635 2.6749454000000177tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7263583418004796123.post-57607077003947686412015-10-27T18:00:00.000+01:002016-02-03T08:15:44.509+01:00The Nightshift in StockholmA rare trip for client meetings in Stockholm in October had me booked morning till nightfall and left me few options if I wanted to take any pictures... A sturdy tripod, my Canon 6D and 17-40mm lens were included in my carryon bag. The weather in October has been either fantastic or windy and rainy, and as luck would have it I had a couple of fantastic evenings in Stockholm with almost no wind, making for some beautiful reflections along the waterfront. After a quick subway ride from Kista and a 10 minute walk I was on the shore of Malarstrand and began working my way towards Stadshuset (City Hall), then continuing on to Gamla Stan (the old town center) and finishing across from the sailing ship and youth hostel A F Chapman.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02850486744113894420noreply@blogger.com0Stockholm, Sweden59.329323499999987 18.06858080000006359.07010549999999 17.423133800000063 59.588541499999984 18.714027800000064tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7263583418004796123.post-39128248708457418762015-01-01T16:00:00.000+01:002015-01-23T22:22:17.610+01:00The Joys of Jet-LagI admit I am an early riser; even on weekends I typically get up at 6AM. But when we visit my parents in San Diego with a 9 hour timezone change, I'm really lucky if I can sleep until 4AM, or at least I toss and turn until 4AM. But every cloud has a silver lining, and being up early in San Diego where the weather is almost always fantastic means having plenty of time to photograph the sunset. <br />
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This year I decided to try some downtown skyline sunrises. So after 17 hours of travel and 5 hours of sleep I was good to go, but still managed to misjudge the best time to photograph the sunrise. With the official sunrise at 6:43 I assumed 6:00 would be plenty early, but no, with clear skies the sky was already too light and the skyline was only a silhoutte. But I figured out where I would set up and checked lenses and exposure times and made another visit the next morning after again waking at 4:30.<br />
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Thanks to cloudy skies and being a few minutes earlier the lighting was better and the sunrise more colorful, but the mirror-like reflection of San Diego Bay was disturbed by an early morning cruise ship, akthough the cruise ship did add a nice touch...<br />
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By 6:15 the waters were still again and the pink sunrise made a beautiful backdrop to the Coronado Bridge and Seaport Village.<br />
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The next morning at 5:50 I went looking for a different foreground and wound up at the sailboat anchorage closer to downtown, which was a nice change but without any clouds the sunrise wasn't very colorful.<br />
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A couple more days of less than spectacular sunrises and then on the 20th of December I was pleasantly surprised by the rising new moon on Dec at 5:44AM where the entire disc of the moon was visible thanks to the clear skies, photographed here with the Canon 300/2.8LIS<br />
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But the sun and moon move very quickly this far south so it was only a matter of minutes before the moon was too high to shot with a telephoto lens and I had to use 24-105 at 47mm, but now the sky was coloring up beautifully...<br />
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A week into our trip and our jet-lag was almost gone, and there plenty of other late trips and activities to keep us busy around Christmas, but I had to photograph the sunrise on New Year's Day and from some place new. So it was a quick trip to Coronado Island to photograph the sunrise from beneath the Coronado Bridge...<br />
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Happy New Year 2015!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02850486744113894420noreply@blogger.com1San Diego, CA, USA32.715738 -117.1610838000000331.861779000000002 -118.45197730000002 33.569697000000005 -115.87019030000003tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7263583418004796123.post-75005344184766246522014-12-23T20:52:00.000+01:002015-02-22T20:53:25.885+01:00In the Sanctuary of the Albatross<br />
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<span id="goog_2030528575"></span><span id="goog_2030528576">For our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary on Jan. 1 we wanted to go someplace special, and since we were visiting my parents during the holidays we had San Diego as our starting point. Since we have seen so much of the Southwest already it was time for something even more exotic, so I suggested Hawaii and didn't get any arguments from the rest of the family. And while this was intended as a family trip I couldn't help checking google for what kind of birds and wildlife we might find on the island of Hawaii. I have been to Hawaii a couple of times before and wasn't expecting anything new, but then I just happened to stumble upon information about an albatross sanctuary on Hawaii, and that their nesting begins in December. Apparently the population has been decimated in the past by wild dogs and off-road vehicles, but a few years ago the state put a fence across the peninsula of the albatross nesting site and since then their numbers have quickly increased. Access to the nesting grounds entailed a 4 kilometer hike across open terrain that can get very hot, but as luck would have it we managed to time our visit with a real cold spell and the threat of continued storms and rain, YEAH! (not)... The girls were more interested in the shopping malls and generously offered to stay in Honolulu...</span><br />
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Johan and I, still under the influence of jet-lag, left Honolulu around 5AM with coffee and breakfast from Starbucks and made the 90 minute drive to the parking area. The weather did not look promising and we were sure that we would be drenched by storms on the horizon, and although we felt a few drops we probably found the least rainy spot on the island. During our one hour hike we saw no sign of albatross over the ocean, so we weren't completely convinced that they we were going to see any...<br />
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Even as we reached the fenced area we did not see any albatross, until we begin walking along the trail, and then suddenly only a few meters away a lone albatross sat in the grass obviously on a nest. We were very careful to avoid making any noise but the bird did not seem particularly concerned about our presence. After taking a few telephoto close-ups we continued our hike further into albatross territory.<br />
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Due to the storms the winds were hard, but that didn't bother the albatross and we saw more and more in the air performing acrobatics, hanging in the winds and then diving just over the ground before landing in their courting and nesting areas.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YYhDma4-T5k/VOojl4v5yMI/AAAAAAAAEGg/QSaS7uovZPw/s1600/albatross7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YYhDma4-T5k/VOojl4v5yMI/AAAAAAAAEGg/QSaS7uovZPw/s1600/albatross7.jpg" height="436" width="640" /></a></div>
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When they landed we observed the typical greeting behaviour as they shake their beaks together and sound like a noise maker. <br />
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But this behaviour was not just reserved for couples, but even extended to the neighbors, and after greeting their spouse the newly landed bird would also wander over and greet the neighbors<br />
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After making the rounds the spouses traded places and the sitting birds waddled off to the launching pad and pointed their beaks against the wind and began their wild flapping and running to get airborn...<br />
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Once up in the air they made a few passes over the nesting area, maybe to see who else was at home, before heading out to sea to search for food.<br />
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After three hours the activity died down and there were almost no flying birds over the colony, and we decided that was a sign that it was time to make the 4km hike back to the car and head back to civilization. Next time we will have to time our visit so that the eggs have hatched, probably February...<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02850486744113894420noreply@blogger.com1Hawaiian Islands21.511493708331166 -158.17016601562521.038819208331166 -158.815613015625 21.984168208331166 -157.524719015625tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7263583418004796123.post-5018960698170896312014-07-13T16:42:00.000+02:002014-12-06T20:33:34.910+01:00From the Alps to the Volcanos of Clermont-FerandI keep thinking I need to finish this post but life got in the way. Now it's nearly Christmas and I haven't had much time to photograph due to the weather the last few weeks, so it's nice to reminisce about what a fantastic summer we had. <br />
After leaving Venosc and the Alps on the 6th of July we headed west to stay with our friends Aurélie and Aurelien in Clermont-Fernad. Aurelien suggested we stop in Lyon and visit the <span dir="auto">Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, and since I really love looking at old cathedrals it sounded like a good place for a break in our trip. Even though Aurelien said it was worth the visit, I try not to get my hopes up to avoid being diasappointed, but this was a real jewel...</span><br />
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<span dir="auto">And as a photographer the challenge is how to take it all in? No single shot can capture the how impressive this cathedral is, so panorama is the only option. First a 180 degree horizontal panorama</span><br />
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And then a 180 degree vertical panorama; I think the woman behind me was quite surprised with I continued my shots from front to back and wound up pointing straight at her.<br />
I am really happy with how this turned out considering it is handheld; it would have been much easier with a tripod...<br />
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After spending an hour in the cathedral it was time to continue to Clermont-Ferand, and area of France known for its past volcanic activity. Arriving at the home of A & A we were treating to an assortment of French cheeses; I had to take a picture of the beautiful presentation, and it tasted as good as it looked.<br />
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From their flat A&A have a fantastic view of the cathedral of Clermont-Ferand, but it's a bit of a challenge to photograph it and capture the detail in the shadows, so every morning and evening I took a few shots.<br />
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Despite a few rain showers we made daily trips in the region including one which led us to the Château de Murol. <br />
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The clouds from the storm that trapped us in the château made the scene look much more dramatic, and Kristina looking out over the fields reminds me of Rapunzel letting down her golden hair. It was a bit of a fairy tale day.</div>
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After the storm passed the skies quickly turned blue again...<br />
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After one of the longest summers I can remember autumn went by in a flash, and in three weeks it will be Christmas. I hope spring doesn't keep us waiting...<br />
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GOD JUL!</div>
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<span id="goog_1312937990"></span><span id="goog_1312937991"></span><span id="goog_1060732678"></span><span id="goog_1060732679"></span><br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02850486744113894420noreply@blogger.com3Clermont-Ferrand, France45.777221999999988 3.087025000000039745.68864099999999 2.9256635000000397 45.865802999999985 3.2483865000000396tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7263583418004796123.post-26525941637739236182014-07-10T21:31:00.000+02:002014-12-06T20:34:13.630+01:00The Killer Marmotte of Alpe d'Huez<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2Ysx8bVVTSY/VDLSZ9gGIII/AAAAAAAADrs/snWu4pPLJ-0/s1600/galibier_1600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2Ysx8bVVTSY/VDLSZ9gGIII/AAAAAAAADrs/snWu4pPLJ-0/s1600/galibier_1600.jpg" height="264" width="640" /></a><br />
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In search of a new adventure, and new scenery I jumped on a bicycling challenge proposed by Nina Gilljam from Höllviken CK (one of the two cycling clubs I belong to). Höllviken CK has all sorts of interesting cycling destinations and this one "La Marmotte" struck a chord;<br />
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thirty years ago in 1984 I visited the Alps around Alpe d'Huez and watched two stages of the Tour de France and since then have dreamed of crossing the Alps on bicycle in order to experience what the pro's really go through. My hero at the time, Greg Lemond, was the first American to have a shot at winning, even though officially he was working for Bernard Hinault and team "La Vie Claire". <br />
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So on the 15th of July, 1984 after spending the night in a tent on a slope my traveling companion Cathy and I spent the day watching the racers fly by, one every two minutes, during the individual time trial. A real festival atmosphere as thousands of fans lined the roads and waited for their favorites.<br />
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But "La Marmotte" is a very different animal, literally. La Marmotte is a cyclosportive named after a rather large rodent of the same name that makes its home in the Alps:<br />
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I have no idea why they named this cycling event after a rodent. Maybe someone thought a marmot would give associations to something soft and fuzzy, and that was probably a good marketing move, since the animal that best captures the pain of the world's most challenging cyclosportive (174km/108 miles and with 5,180 m/16,990 ft of climbing) would probably be the tasmanian devil, and who would sign up for a ride like that? But never mind the pain, the rewards are unforgettable. <br />
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The scenery in the alps and particulary along the route of La Marmotte, alpine meadows, quaint villages, wild orchids, and the comradery of 7000 cyclists climbing a 12% grade at 2600 meters to pass by this sign...<br />
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I was completely exhausted by the first 114km when I reached that sign, but from there it was 50 kilometers downhill which begins with sheer cliffs and hairpin turns at speeds of 60+kph before leveling out ahead of the final 13km climb up Alpe d'Huez. <br />
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Unfortunately inexperience put a stop to my race; I neglected to douse my head with cool water before starting the final climb and overheated 10 km from the finish. I didn't lose too much sleep over not making it up Alpe d'Huez that day though , since I managed to make it up another day:<br />
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Whether for cycling, photography or both this was a fantastic destination.<br />
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From our ski cottage we had fantastic views all day long, and beautiful sunsets that played out on the glaciers:<br />
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And while struggling up a hill on a training ride there were countless orchids lining the side of the road. <br />
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On the final night of our stay in the clear summer night, the stars were amazing...<br />
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But since most of this week had been dedicated to cycling, most of my photography started the day after the ride...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02850486744113894420noreply@blogger.com1L'Alpe d'Huez, 38750 Huez, France45.092624 6.068348000000014519.5705895 -35.240245999999985 70.6146585 47.376942000000014tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7263583418004796123.post-16215785499656257582014-06-23T22:24:00.001+02:002014-10-06T16:42:53.770+02:00Venice; A Tale of Two Cities... Day 4Despite unlimited things to do in Venice, we thought we should also explore the areas outside of Venice. On the advice of photographer <a href="http://gintenreiter-photography.com/" target="_blank">Arved Gintenreiter</a> we decided to take a day trip to the Island of Burano; an island known for its brightly painted houses. We got an early start and caught the Vaporetto boat at 10AM. There were already quite a few tourists on the boat, but when we arrived at Burano it was relatively quite and uncrowded. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GEwR9OblZcY/U6hqGgNGZgI/AAAAAAAACYY/JfZIoAwloFM/s1600/burano_boat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GEwR9OblZcY/U6hqGgNGZgI/AAAAAAAACYY/JfZIoAwloFM/s1600/burano_boat.jpg" height="334" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from the Vaporetto - Canon 6D + 24-105L @ 28mm f4 1/250 ISO200</td></tr>
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This would all change as the day progressed and the island filled with more and more tourists, but at least we had a couple of hours of relative calm to stroll the streets of this very small community<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9hb3AkzoVI4/U5YUrxMTfHI/AAAAAAAACQc/iiI4tA3CsM4/s1600/burano_pano2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9hb3AkzoVI4/U5YUrxMTfHI/AAAAAAAACQc/iiI4tA3CsM4/s1600/burano_pano2.jpg" height="218" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Burano 15 shot Panorama - Canon 6D + 24-105L @ 28mm f5.6 1/250 ISO200 </td></tr>
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There are many charming houses as you can see, and a panorama shot really captures the atmosphere.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R4H5g7EMWPo/U5YUrGNAmMI/AAAAAAAACQY/k-6GMHnj9Vo/s1600/burano_girl_fountain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R4H5g7EMWPo/U5YUrGNAmMI/AAAAAAAACQY/k-6GMHnj9Vo/s1600/burano_girl_fountain.jpg" height="436" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">School Girl at Drinking Fountain - Canon 6D +24-105L at 24mm f16 1/100 ISO200</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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Of course even the boats and oars are brightly painted on Burano...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dM_HFi6nZjI/U6hv2M9s0_I/AAAAAAAACYo/wIDGQBtHFbU/s1600/burano_blue_boat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dM_HFi6nZjI/U6hv2M9s0_I/AAAAAAAACYo/wIDGQBtHFbU/s1600/burano_blue_boat.jpg" height="436" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blue Boat of Burano - Canon 6D +24-105L @ 105mm f8 1/250 ISO200</td></tr>
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After four hours on Burano including a lunch at one of the towns least expensive establishments we decided that we were now overloaded with colorful houses and caught the Vaporetto back to Venice. Once back on our "home turf" I convinced Lena and Johan to make a side trip to a couple of the photo spots from our day with Arved, and luck was on our side. The cloudy skies improved the lighting significantly and as we were photographing a newly wed couple in a gondola became the center-piece on my panorama.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbEuN0oAtUs51gBq35fkq_1BoejVdmSqFhT-KsRsxQayYQECZ5C1AwMlnb4cniRCHjO9VCekKUeT3H8jmbMk__X9HvW-LieFMmFAnkJshqUwT_IB06v-kifubyuevsIro35yXbGcboVhJD/s1600/wedding_gondola2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbEuN0oAtUs51gBq35fkq_1BoejVdmSqFhT-KsRsxQayYQECZ5C1AwMlnb4cniRCHjO9VCekKUeT3H8jmbMk__X9HvW-LieFMmFAnkJshqUwT_IB06v-kifubyuevsIro35yXbGcboVhJD/s1600/wedding_gondola2.jpg" height="352" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Venetian Wedding Limousine - Canon 6D + Sigma 14mm/2.8 @ f8 1/100 ISO100</td></tr>
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But now everyone needed to take a break so we headed back to our hotel for a couple of hours before heading out again in time to catch the blue hour around 20:00...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lAf6tnmgKSg/U6iG1AMUaNI/AAAAAAAACZE/-Vi8jI-cAkE/s1600/gondolas_light.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lAf6tnmgKSg/U6iG1AMUaNI/AAAAAAAACZE/-Vi8jI-cAkE/s1600/gondolas_light.jpg" height="436" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gondola's at Piazza San Marco - Canon 6D + 24-105L @ 45mm f8 15sec ISO100</td></tr>
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And finally at 21:50 the blue light was fading, one last shot from the Riva degli Schiavoni <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PRYIfvcoR1Y/U5YUsExPMTI/AAAAAAAACQw/_9UPaEZ22kA/s1600/canal_after_sunset3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PRYIfvcoR1Y/U5YUsExPMTI/AAAAAAAACQw/_9UPaEZ22kA/s1600/canal_after_sunset3.jpg" height="436" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from Riva degli Schiavoni - Canon 6D + 24-105L @ 28mm f8 25 sec ISO400</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02850486744113894420noreply@blogger.com2Burano, Venice, Italy45.4853906 12.41665620000003445.4798246 12.406571200000034 45.490956600000004 12.426741200000034tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7263583418004796123.post-19062685661163611232014-06-07T17:21:00.000+02:002014-06-07T17:21:46.097+02:00Venice; A Tale of Two Cities... Day 3After yesterday's marathon photo session I slept in until 6:30; no blue hour photos today, and it was unlikely that Lena or Johan was going to be up before 9:00. So I decided to simply wander the streets and see what I could find. One of the places that Arved had suggested was worth a visit was the medical museum in the Ospedale SS. Giovanni e Paolo, so I headed there. It's a bit odd entering a hospital without any hospital business, and I was a bit worried that someone would ask me what I was doing there, so I tried to act like I knew where I was going and finally found the library upstairs. The library itself is stunning, with a gold tiled ceiling, but the highlight has to be all the medical equipment that they have gathered from hundreds of years of medical practice. Most of them look painful and would probably have persuaded me to live with whatever was bothering me. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju9NT9WI39SBMviF_ji1JK_sPZH5cTzvDXQ6ybXeYmORcQdI2rxczPEtYz572Yeqvfx63mfPSJVEsKUeNQkHEjEwlCMakYQ68I-F3JhdjzV8Rvx4CXRcZLSQ7kPd8kWqePKTbZw3nQUsui/s1600/hospital_library.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju9NT9WI39SBMviF_ji1JK_sPZH5cTzvDXQ6ybXeYmORcQdI2rxczPEtYz572Yeqvfx63mfPSJVEsKUeNQkHEjEwlCMakYQ68I-F3JhdjzV8Rvx4CXRcZLSQ7kPd8kWqePKTbZw3nQUsui/s1600/hospital_library.jpg" height="268" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hospital Museum - 2 shot pano Canon 6D + Samyang 14mm @ 1/60th, iso1600 </td></tr>
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As fascinating as the museum was, it didn't fit my photographic vision for the day, so after 45 minutes of looking at scary metal instruments I headed for another recommended destination; a nearby used bookstore with some original decor. The back entrance to the bookstore is via a canal, so the store is subject to flooding, and to avoid damage to the books the owner has stacked the lower books in bathtubs and a gondola, which is what you see in the image below. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDW92lNHO-CXvLTuG79Z53vWkN5Blr7iLEwhLIHYR3fYwYoitbMzdTT8XX-_saXK4j6aCMKB45fLqVDdLkmlv9nhGlu4tVE8qy77F18m-QCtFXE_7wOMqfYS7qbWM3tX2HEOq0LF-wIqtf/s1600/bookstore_gondola.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDW92lNHO-CXvLTuG79Z53vWkN5Blr7iLEwhLIHYR3fYwYoitbMzdTT8XX-_saXK4j6aCMKB45fLqVDdLkmlv9nhGlu4tVE8qy77F18m-QCtFXE_7wOMqfYS7qbWM3tX2HEOq0LF-wIqtf/s1600/bookstore_gondola.jpg" height="422" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Panorama with Canon 6D+Sigma 14mm/f2.8</td></tr>
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The owner was very friendly and suggested I also take a look at his garden, where he has built stairs of books<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6dnFqGM8ZQIE5xYFprHtknvS30LtxxEX5MeNpF_YqbH8GBuGfEHpw0KDg9RK65SSy6R6p5fEhWZlCHH-MY9EOuSA876RUDkLXadhxcjyb1fzJlkJtYxTJSz3m6QY9RbP_U7aM8Umz0cCO/s1600/bookstore_garden_pano.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6dnFqGM8ZQIE5xYFprHtknvS30LtxxEX5MeNpF_YqbH8GBuGfEHpw0KDg9RK65SSy6R6p5fEhWZlCHH-MY9EOuSA876RUDkLXadhxcjyb1fzJlkJtYxTJSz3m6QY9RbP_U7aM8Umz0cCO/s1600/bookstore_garden_pano.jpg" height="330" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Panorama with Canon 6D+Sigma 14mm/f2.8</td></tr>
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By now it was close to 10:00 and Johan and Lena were ready to go out, so I returned to the apartment and then we headed towards the Rialto Market area. This meant crossing the Rialto Bridge which provides beautiful views even mid-day...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from Rialto Bridge</td></tr>
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There are both fish and vegetable markets and they are well worth a visit. Being under cover you can photograph midday with not worries about shadows or high contrast, and there are always interesting fish and produce to look at.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ttFruAk9ShY/U5MZV02bA3I/AAAAAAAAB7M/-naDI84_Yf0/s1600/market.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ttFruAk9ShY/U5MZV02bA3I/AAAAAAAAB7M/-naDI84_Yf0/s1600/market.jpg" height="436" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vegetable Market</td></tr>
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After exploring the market we went to a small restaurant <a href="http://cantinadospade.com/en/" target="_blank">Do Spade</a> to get a bite to eat. Risotto was the specialty and was recommended to us by Arved. My only complaint is the portions in Venice are both small and expensive. In Italy you have several courses with every meal; risotto is more of an appetizer than a main course. But rather than spend another small fortune on another small portion we decided to hold out for an early dinner.<br />
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Our next destination with the old Jewish Ghetto of Venice, where Arved promised we could find an excellent gondolier Luca without the tourist traffic jams. It took us several trips in, around and through the ghetto before we finally find Luca, but we did succeed and he was extremely charming as he spoke reverently about his 50 year old gondola that was built by his father with upholstery recently restored by his mother.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKyYM5jPRZtk7BIdQmHZ0thsCWEfGDWFWTi_szJ7Fdpgn5Lx2stQ_meNujxrZhms64vrm74YiCmLiWwyuvUzr1Qjtyz8DaOnNwh36OKo1sPZjJO3c677fHOz8OUDKNIlkxyJUsZWJrU606/s1600/luca_gondolier.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKyYM5jPRZtk7BIdQmHZ0thsCWEfGDWFWTi_szJ7Fdpgn5Lx2stQ_meNujxrZhms64vrm74YiCmLiWwyuvUzr1Qjtyz8DaOnNwh36OKo1sPZjJO3c677fHOz8OUDKNIlkxyJUsZWJrU606/s1600/luca_gondolier.jpg" height="640" width="486" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Luca </td></tr>
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Luca took us through areas that most tourists never get to see, and we enjoyed the solitude and quiet in the narrow canals of the oldest parts of Venice.<br />
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On the way to our flat we passed one of Venice's oldest pharmacies. Half the pharmacy was modern, and half was a museum exhibition of the old pharmacy. Obviously clean floors and safety was a concern back in the middle ages as well.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-J6JtjpSNyiQ/U5MY0qZxrqI/AAAAAAAAB7A/bATgPsP7F_s/s1600/pharmacy_pano.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-J6JtjpSNyiQ/U5MY0qZxrqI/AAAAAAAAB7A/bATgPsP7F_s/s1600/pharmacy_pano.jpg" height="408" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ancient Pharmacy - Canon 6D+Samyang 14mm @ f8 1/80/iso1600 7 shot panorama</td></tr>
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After a reasonably priced dinner in one of Venice's neighborhood pubs we climbed the Rialto bridge again to watch the gondola traffic as night began to fall.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-b6QpdjHQHfQ/U5MYxTJ9YXI/AAAAAAAAB64/-MEssp4aMX0/s1600/grand_canal_night.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-b6QpdjHQHfQ/U5MYxTJ9YXI/AAAAAAAAB64/-MEssp4aMX0/s1600/grand_canal_night.jpg" height="436" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rialto Bridge at Sunset - Canon 6D+24-105L @ 24mm/f8 1/2sec</td></tr>
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Finally when it get's dark enough you can do long exposures, assisted with ND and/or POL fiters which smoth out the water and create star effects of the street lights. Another stunning day in Venice, final count 412 pictures...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sclhtPn1xpI/U5MYwlvioFI/AAAAAAAAB60/HAvF4XKFOpU/s1600/grand_canal_night_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sclhtPn1xpI/U5MYwlvioFI/AAAAAAAAB60/HAvF4XKFOpU/s1600/grand_canal_night_2.jpg" height="436" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blue Hour on Rialto Bridge - Canon 6D+24-105L@ 24mm/f11 30 secs</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02850486744113894420noreply@blogger.com0Ghetto, Cannareggio, 1146, 30121 Venice, Italy45.445318 12.32690930000001145.0885775 11.68146230000001 45.8020585 12.972356300000012tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7263583418004796123.post-33468553362155379312014-06-03T08:31:00.000+02:002014-06-03T08:31:09.691+02:00Venice; A Tale of Two Cities... Day 24AM arrived quickly. No doubt because I had left the bedroom window open on our fifth floor room and was up half the night trying to get rid of our uninvited guests. Later I discovered that our room had air conditioning, which avoided further blood-letting. Anyway, happy 50th birthday Lena, this will be a day to remember... Lena is not a morning person, so I think she suffered more by the 4AM wake-up call than I did from the mosquitoes and lack of sleep.<br />
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We met <a href="http://gintenreiter-photography.com/" target="_blank">Arved Gintenreiter</a> by the columns on the Piazza San Marco at 4:45. We spent about 10 seconds on introductions because the night sky was disappearing quickly. Arved assisted Johan while I quickly set up for a panorama shot of the piazza capturing the contrast between the cobalt night sky and the illuminated piazza which was now completely deserted.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g1zzlJJrXIY/U4zb5Ko6v9I/AAAAAAAAB44/LpapS_ZvZLg/s1600/San_Marco_square_5AM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g1zzlJJrXIY/U4zb5Ko6v9I/AAAAAAAAB44/LpapS_ZvZLg/s1600/San_Marco_square_5AM.jpg" height="330" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pre-Dawn Piazza San Marco 9-shot panorama Canon 6D+24-105L @ 24mm/f4 1sec iso800</td></tr>
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The night sky was quickly disappearing and we hurried to take different shots on the piazza. When we finished I made another effort at the full moon disappearing behind the Basilica Santa Maria, but it was a lost cause. I overexposed the moon which was now too low to make the composition interesting, and missed the focus on the basilica since I had used manual focus earlier. But what are you going to do? I will pretend I was focusing on the gondolas and the Basilica is the background...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R2tFFrJll7o/U41Y32XgvfI/AAAAAAAAB58/qR1rcNmRUFI/s1600/moonset_gondolas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R2tFFrJll7o/U41Y32XgvfI/AAAAAAAAB58/qR1rcNmRUFI/s1600/moonset_gondolas.jpg" height="436" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Moonset Behind Basilica Santa Maria - Canon 6D+24-105L 65mm/f5 1.3sec iso100</td></tr>
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We took a few more shots on the piazza and ended our first session at 5:50 as the sun began to light up the basilica.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDYwjz6L74wpuNMmlN69OBMnnNX-Ju0oIAAjyDciO-8aXfHcEBFICa0q6ETjI9CfJQBkeoGo2-rsNUHTO8_OejoDFF3nM1CS92ip8acFlJ24fON0vq14cPWfNZMe3235uB8XwkTUdjz_yY/s1600/san_marco_lamp_sky.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDYwjz6L74wpuNMmlN69OBMnnNX-Ju0oIAAjyDciO-8aXfHcEBFICa0q6ETjI9CfJQBkeoGo2-rsNUHTO8_OejoDFF3nM1CS92ip8acFlJ24fON0vq14cPWfNZMe3235uB8XwkTUdjz_yY/s1600/san_marco_lamp_sky.jpg" height="436" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Street Lamps on Piazza San Marco - Canon 6D+24-105L 100mm/f4 1/25sec iso100</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WQKddookrwk/U4zb7WIUTMI/AAAAAAAAB5c/m2yALoWVf6c/s1600/sunrise_gondolas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WQKddookrwk/U4zb7WIUTMI/AAAAAAAAB5c/m2yALoWVf6c/s1600/sunrise_gondolas.jpg" height="436" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Basilica Santa Maria at Dawn - Canon 6D+24-105L @ 75mm/f5 1/160sec iso100</td></tr>
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We took a quick coffee break at one of the few cafés open at this time of morning before starting our next session, where Arved taught us some very interesting lessons about using the play between light and dark. Knowing the locations and how to time the shots with the sun's position, Arved led us to a half a dozen interesting spots all the while sharing the history of Venice and the places we were seeing.<br />
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The shot below was unplanned; just a cat in a window at 7:30 in the morning. This was the only good shot before a scowling old man opened the window to see what what was going on outside. He obviously hadn't had his coffee yet.<br />
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We finished our morning session and agreed to meet Arved again at 5:45PM. In the meantime we went back to our hotel room and collapsed for a couple of hours before lunch. At 12.00 we tracked down one of the few restaurants that advertised having gluten free pizza for Johan. A poor choice in hindsight, a half sized pizza at twice the price... oh well, YOLO...<br />
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So now we were back in the tourist Venice as the once empty streets and alleys quickly filled. I'm always a sucker for a view, and since the cathedral on the piazza did not allow photography I suggested we take the elevator ride to the top of the Campanile which provided a fantastic view of Venice. It's not so exciting photographically, no contours, and mostly roof tops, but at least there were a few clouds to make the sky a little more interesting.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T_sTN19XbGo/U4zdEbmK9DI/AAAAAAAAB5g/Z2StzEAWYdA/s1600/campanile_pano_1600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T_sTN19XbGo/U4zdEbmK9DI/AAAAAAAAB5g/Z2StzEAWYdA/s1600/campanile_pano_1600.jpg" height="330" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from the Campanile</td></tr>
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An authentic venetian traffic jam. A tick in the box for the one day visitor to Venice. But do yourself a favor and find a gondola outside the main tourist zone. No queues, no traffic and a no tourists. <br />
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We met up with Arved again at 5:45 and spend another few hours walking to a dozen great photo sites, while Arved pointed to even more we should visit when the light was right or the sky was better, or we had more time. It's hard too choose from the many shots we took, and this shot is maybe a standard postcard shot, but I just love a good sunset...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8rOVLLvXu7E/U4zb52CAmiI/AAAAAAAAB5I/x8FytFBTno0/s1600/San_giorgio_sunset.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8rOVLLvXu7E/U4zb52CAmiI/AAAAAAAAB5I/x8FytFBTno0/s1600/San_giorgio_sunset.jpg" height="432" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">San Giorgio Maggiore at sunset - Canon 6D+24-105L 70mm/f22 6sec iso50</td></tr>
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1055 shots was the final count for the day, but I did a lot of bracketing, so
maybe the true count is closer to 400. It was a memorable day, for all
us and loaded with ideas on venues, restaurants we said farewell to Arved on the Piazza San Marco. We ended our evening enjoying a great dinner while listening to a live band just outside the window. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSnvngYV6MHSe7C-J-8W5P_NWYvH1EgabUBS1_3UdKSPjfzX0v1xPLlXsbrYi_cuR0FvQZDgUOfmUHDKFCWPGjbFv-1aAq_8TmKc3ywdWp4_e3wiIpqJ3hjslM27csgpP-qPugTyw18PjZ/s1600/birthday_dinner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSnvngYV6MHSe7C-J-8W5P_NWYvH1EgabUBS1_3UdKSPjfzX0v1xPLlXsbrYi_cuR0FvQZDgUOfmUHDKFCWPGjbFv-1aAq_8TmKc3ywdWp4_e3wiIpqJ3hjslM27csgpP-qPugTyw18PjZ/s1600/birthday_dinner.jpg" height="640" width="440" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Birthday Dinner on the Piazza San Marco</td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02850486744113894420noreply@blogger.com2Venice, Italy45.4408474 12.31551509999997145.0841069 11.67006809999997 45.7975879 12.960962099999971tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7263583418004796123.post-13934241274686183482014-06-01T13:36:00.000+02:002014-06-01T13:36:00.559+02:00Venice; A Tale of Two Cities... Day 1When Lena turned fifty in the middle of May we wanted to celebrate somewhere we had never been, but it had to be close since we could only take a few days off from work. I'm not sure why I thought of Venice, but Lena jumped at the idea. I on the other hand was worried about winding up in a tourist trap with thousands of visitors getting that "tick in the box", while street vendors sell souvenirs of Venice made that are in China. Around 30,000,000 people visit Venice each year. Many of them are there for a single day as their cruise ship sails from port to port. The photographs I have seen made it clear that Venice is beautiful, so I wasn't going to let a few million tourists get in our way...<br />
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Using TripAdvisor I found that two of the top ten activities in Venice were photo-walks. This seemed like a good way to kill two birds with one stone; see and photograph Venice with the help of a local expert, and get some inside tips on where to go to avoid the tourists... Of the two photographers on TripAdvisor, only Arved Gintenreiter mentioned early morning/late night photography during that magic blue hour that I love so much. So it was an easy decision to book a tour with Arved. That fact that he was not Italian concerned me a bit initially, but as a true world citizen who has lived in Venice for a number of years, Arved offered both the Venitian and outsider perspective. We agreed to meet on May 14th at 4:45AM on Piazza San Marco for a three hour morning session and again at 17:45 for another three hour evening session. By meeting at the beginning of our trip we had plenty of time to take advantage of Arved's suggestions on restaurants, outings and destinations.<br />
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The flight to Venice was 1:45 and the boat from the airport to Piazza San Marco took another hour. Even from the boat I could see that Venice was beautiful but filled with tourists. Every view was like a postcard, even in the harsh midday light. The contrast between the light buildings, the blue sky and green waters is striking; Venice is brilliant.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z0jIOFCOOhY/U4iymgPZqcI/AAAAAAAAB3c/ESxxwDy4KEc/s1600/san_marco_square_crowds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z0jIOFCOOhY/U4iymgPZqcI/AAAAAAAAB3c/ESxxwDy4KEc/s1600/san_marco_square_crowds.jpg" height="406" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Museo di Palazzo Ducale - Canon 6D + 24-105L 32mm/f5,6 1/500, iso 200</td></tr>
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From the boat landing on the Piazza San Marco to our apartment was about a five minute walk, although we did manage to get lost a couple of times in the narrow alleys with no GPS reception. After checking in we spent the afternoon wandering along the canals, bridges and alleys, and it became clear that just a few streets from the main square there were few tourists and every canal was like a postcard. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nQpwkQ5xilk/U4sFfXT5U7I/AAAAAAAAB4Y/TYxSJmZNRog/s1600/boat_bow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nQpwkQ5xilk/U4sFfXT5U7I/AAAAAAAAB4Y/TYxSJmZNRog/s1600/boat_bow.jpg" height="436" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boat Bow near Campo de Sant'Angelo - Canon 6D+24-105L @ 55mm/f5,6 iso400</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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Despite the harsh light midday, shooting in Venice can be down all day, since the tall buildings prevent the sun from reaching the ground in most of the small alleys and canals. Clouds are preferable because they provide a more diffused light, but no matter what the conditions are, there are shots to be had everywhere.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--ElvAZrUJjM/U4sB6FJ4pAI/AAAAAAAAB4M/nMD9hgUR4fk/s1600/girl_sketching.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--ElvAZrUJjM/U4sB6FJ4pAI/AAAAAAAAB4M/nMD9hgUR4fk/s1600/girl_sketching.jpg" height="640" width="490" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Girl sketching - Taken with Canon 100-400L 95mm/f8</td></tr>
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After enjoying a nice dinner Lena I returned to the Ponte dell'Academia in hopes that maybe I could getting a shot with the rising full moon. Well it's on the shot, but in using a wide angle lens the full moon has little impact.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PXLeEDU_kio/U4i6hEht6XI/AAAAAAAAB3w/lCrSOCAxguM/s1600/venice_skyline_evening.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PXLeEDU_kio/U4i6hEht6XI/AAAAAAAAB3w/lCrSOCAxguM/s1600/venice_skyline_evening.jpg" height="436" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Basilica Santa Maria at moonrise - Taken with Canon 6D+24-105L 50mm/f5.6</td></tr>
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My plans to get to bed early were sabotaged by a full moon and fantastic light, I'll take a nap at lunch tomorrow I told myself, and I continued to wander the alleys of Venice looking for other photo opps.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZpTCWa073N0/U4i-SrC6eyI/AAAAAAAAB38/f9YmZU8L6sk/s1600/laser_hawker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZpTCWa073N0/U4i-SrC6eyI/AAAAAAAAB38/f9YmZU8L6sk/s1600/laser_hawker.jpg" height="640" width="440" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Laser Hawker at the Chiesa di San Moisè - Taken with 6D+24-105 @24mm/5.6 iso1600</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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I finally wound up directly across from the Basilca Santa Maria where I took my final shots for the day<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr_FtcCJTDzFKD2Jj7Q7VvGs_sCWhazNIQjG7hMp5W5mNNUWqHiDReGNpLw4Zuk7j-vtywP9DiXFE3Ezk0MK5OmAPjiKXLU2lrV1IXGHcy9ZUN5YeA5bkCUazSx4OINmOgTK8CA7wQo0Gn/s1600/Basilica_Santa_Maria_blue_hour_1600_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr_FtcCJTDzFKD2Jj7Q7VvGs_sCWhazNIQjG7hMp5W5mNNUWqHiDReGNpLw4Zuk7j-vtywP9DiXFE3Ezk0MK5OmAPjiKXLU2lrV1IXGHcy9ZUN5YeA5bkCUazSx4OINmOgTK8CA7wQo0Gn/s1600/Basilica_Santa_Maria_blue_hour_1600_2.jpg" height="436" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Moonrise behind Basilica Santa Maria - Canon 6D + 24-105L 24mm/f4, 1/5thsec, iso 1600</td></tr>
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I made it to bed by 11:00PM which gave me about 5 hours of sleep before having to get up in time to meet Arved...<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02850486744113894420noreply@blogger.com1Venice, Italy45.4408474 12.31551509999997145.0841069 11.67006809999997 45.7975879 12.960962099999971tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7263583418004796123.post-64771524261572675432014-04-11T08:23:00.002+02:002014-04-11T08:32:06.305+02:00Lifestyle Lessons in ValldemossaDuring our 8 day bicycling tour of Mallorca we were constantly awestruck by the beautiful countryside we were passing through, and I would often make a mental note of where we had been and what we had seen so I could make a new visit to take some pictures.<br />
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Although Palma de Mallorca and Alcúdia both resemble typical tourist destinations with countless hotels packed tightly along the beach and all the expected souvenir shops and tourist traps, this is not the case in any other Mallorcan city or village. In every village we passed through we were met by charming scenes of everyday life that could have taken place 50 years ago. Little old ladies gossiping in front of their flats, children on their way to school, men enjoying an espresso at the local espresso bar for 1 euro, and small boutiques with locals and the occassional tourist.<br />
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The exception is the town squares, usually centered around the village church; they look deceptively laid back and quaint in the early morning. But at lunch time it is standing room only as the entire square is packed with bicycles and bicyclists in their brightly colored club uniforms and the waiters and waitresses scurry between tables taking and delivering orders. By 13:30 the cyclists are on the road again and life on the village square returns to normal.<br />
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One of the many charming villages we encountered is Valldemossa, and although it is named in guidebooks as the most beautiful village on Mallorca, it would be unfair to say that it was much different from any one of a dozen villages we passed through; it is however on the road to Sa Calobra which was one of our destinations for the day, and that put us in Valldemossa in time for a mid-morning espresso and a look around the center.<br />
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As we approached the village via a winding road we stopped on a private driveway to get an overview of the village. There are few places to stop on the narrow roads of Mallorca, and many times we were not able to stop due to traffic and/or bicyclists. Early morning is the best time, before the cyclists take over the roads.<br />
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Once in the village we set off on foot looking for the main square, which led us to the highest point where the cathedral is located. <br />
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While my cycling colleague Olof Hagander studied the guidebook and looked for an open café where we could enjoy an espresso I photographed the square and then took a tour of the cathedral and
the attached museum.<br />
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The church (above on the left) opens for visitors at 10:00 and a tour group of fifty Germans was ahead of me, so it was impossible to see or photograph anything in the cathedral when the doors were opened. Seeing my dilemma a museum attendant suggested I start at the far end of the museum and work my way back to the cathedral completely avoiding the German invasion. Great idea...<br />
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The museum contains the various chambers of the monastery as they were used hundreds of
years ago, including the pharmacy and the Celda Prioral (the Prior's
cell) above and below.<br />
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With the Germans out of the way I was able to get this view<br />
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Back on the street Olof found a small boutique where he stopped to buy some plums. The queue system was unique to say the least. There were only a couple of customers in the shop when we came in and Olof got in line with his small bag of plums. The owner took several minutes with each of the two customers ahead of Olof, mostly small talk I suspect since no additional products were purchased. As Olof got to the front of the queue the owner smiled and said, "Just one moment please" and proceeded to let another customer (where did she come from?) step in front of Olof and pay (which also took a couple of minutes). Once more at the front of the queue Olof was once again ready to pay, but once more the owner said pleasantly "Just one moment", and took yet another local customer ahead of Olof. Maybe it was just their way of maintaining the small town atmosphere, taking care of their friends, relatives and repeat customers first; tourists at best only buy plums for a couple of euros...<br />
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Exploring the back streets around the square we found a restaurant that was not yet opened, but their terrace had a nice view of the valley below., where we took a a final shot of Valldemossa before continuing our trip to Sa Calobra.<br />
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Photographing in the narrow streets and confined spaces of old villages can be a challenge, the best results require a wide angle lens. I used a combination of the full-frame Canon 6D + Samyang 14mm and the Canon 24-105L, but the Canon 17-40 would have been a good alternative. And if it's still too tight, make a multi-shot panorama image, the image of the town square above was made with 13 shots in portrait orientation with the Samyang 14mm. Just remember to shoot in manual mode to ensure the same exposure on all images, and allow about 50% overlap on each image. Photoshop CS and Photoshop elements have a great tool to automagically merge your multiple images into a single shot. It's best with a tripod, but even hand held gives good results if you are careful about keeping the shots level. <br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02850486744113894420noreply@blogger.com007170 Valldemossa, Balearic Islands, Spain39.7114523 2.622569800000064839.6992373 2.602399800000065 39.723667299999995 2.6427398000000646tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7263583418004796123.post-54368445340935714772014-04-09T21:11:00.000+02:002014-04-09T21:12:42.818+02:00Mallorca, for Birders and Bicyclists...Beside being a favorite destination for bicyclists, Mallorca is also a favorite for birders. The island is both a stopover for European birds migrating to and from Africa, as well as being home to many resident species. In total over 300 species of birds have been seen on Mallorca, and early spring is a perfect time to photograph birds. Once the birds begin nesting in mid-April and May, they become more secretive and will be much harder to spot. In addition the sunlight in late spring means an even earlier sunrise, when birds are most active, and harsher contrast in your images once the sun is up, as well as a greater likelihood of un-sharp images due to heat haze. Cool cloudy days with occasional sprinkles are best, and as luck would have it that was the weather I had on my first day out. <br />
A problem when traveling by car on Mallorca is that it is often impossible to stop and photograph safely due to the narrow roads, and the many cyclists and cars. So my first photo stop was an early morning at the Cap de Formentor on the northwest point of Mallorca before the cyclists and tourists had taken over the roads. This allowed me stop almost anywhere I liked without taking any risks, and from the car I was able to photograph the following species:<br />
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This blue rock thrush was taken from the parking lot at the Formentor Lighthouse, it's not a great shot, but they are shy birds and they simply refused to come any closer. <br />
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Another species that can be seen easily but not photographed well from the lighthouse are the shearwaters that glide over the water's surface about 300 meters below. I won't make a guess on which species of shearwater these are. In Sweden Twitchers (Birders) become ecstatic when they see a shearwater at 1000 meters, which then leads to endless discussions on the internet birding forums on which species it might have been...<br />
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<span style="color: black;"><br />In the valley forests on Formentor red-legged partridge can be see around almost every corner, unfortunately they run for cover when you pull over to take a picture, I think they are more used to shotguns than Canons. This one was far enough away to not be bothered by my stopping.</span></div>
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During a visit to the summit of Sa Calobra this cinereous vulture circled over in the drizzling rain, but the picture doesn't do justice to this magnificent bird, so I am also including a picture I took of the same species while visiting mainland Spain a few years earlier... </div>
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My cycling colleague Olof Hagander who joined me on the trip to Sa Calobra later recalled the scene in the following way: </div>
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<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".3v.1:3:1:$comment850180794997218_850201741661790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".3v.1:3:1:$comment850180794997218_850201741661790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".3v.1:3:1:$comment850180794997218_850201741661790:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0">"Sa Calobra revisited... 45kph winds, rain, under an olive tree a goat cowers while a black vulture circles above... Mordor"</span></span></span></div>
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And finally along the southwest coast, in the meadows and farmlands there are countless other LBB's (little brown birds) like this crested lark<br />
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And the European greenfinch<br />
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Most of these shots were taken with the Canon 7D+ 800/5,6, but a 300/2.8L with 2X extender or the 500/4 +1.4X extender would also work well. If you are only interested in birding your options are far greater, since there are many wildlife sanctuaries with hides which provide good views over wetlands and meadows, although not with the same proximity that a photographer demands.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02850486744113894420noreply@blogger.com2Cap de Formentor, Spain39.962730700000009 3.212499900000011639.179868200000008 1.9216064000000117 40.745593200000009 4.5033934000000118tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7263583418004796123.post-42845353774006040692014-04-08T08:17:00.000+02:002014-04-08T16:29:15.163+02:00Mallorca, An Accidental Photo Trip...I've never been a big fan of common tourist destinations which always makes for interesting discussions with the family; I suggest Alaska, Spitzbergen, Jokkmokk, the Falkland Islands, and they respond with New York City, Miami and the Canary Islands... But Mallorca wasn't intended to be a normal vacation; instead my bicycling club CK Lunedi planned an 8-10 day trip for spring training. In the middle of the cold and wet Swedish spring making that trip seemed like the only sensible thing to do, never mind the tourists...<br />
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After doing a little research it seemed that there might be more to do on Mallorca than just bicycling, so I took along my camera gear as well as my bicycle. I had to pay 65 euros for the bicycle, but I think the camera gear weighed even more than the bike.<br />
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We stayed in Can Pastilla which is just east of Palma de Mallorca in a beachfront hotel called Fontanellas Playa, with breakfast and dinner included. The hotel is very much geared towards cyclists who can be a demanding lot when it comes to food. The buffet was excellent with varied specialties every day, and lots of alternatives for replenishing the calories burned during the long cycle tours during the day.<br />
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From the hotel and the immediate surroundings, Mallorca looks like a normal tourist destination, the kind I usually avoid. But 30 minutes into our first bicycle ride into the countryside it felt like I was no longer in the same place, or even same century for that matter. The countryside is filled with rolling hills, meadows of wildflowers, mountains, cliffs, and uncountable small villages that have changed little since the 1700's. So after an exhausting 135km ride on Sunday, I decided to take the following day off and explore the island in a rental car. <br />
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Leaving early and missing breakfast I managed to catch the sunrise on the south coast (taken with the Canon 1DmkIV and 300/2.8) before revisiting Randa, one of the hills we had climbed the day before. <br />
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It's only about 500 meters elevation but the view is fantastic. (This image is a 9 shot panorama with the Canon 6D + Samyang 14mm/2.8)<br />
I then continued on to Formentor, the Northwest peninsula of Mallorca where I had the road to myself until about 10AM when the bicyclists hit the roads. The road is narrow and winding, but the views are spectacular. This is a 5 shot panorama again with the 6D + Samyang 14mm.<br />
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At the very end is a lighthouse with a snack bar. This seems to be the
main destination. Come early, otherwise parking is impossible and
gridlock is guaranteed. This shot taken with the Canon 6D+24-105/4 @40mm)<br />
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Later in the week after a couple more 130km bicycle rides I had even more places I wanted to photograph, among others the 10km serpentine road that leads to the port of Sa Calobra which we had bicycled on Wednesday.<br />
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On a rainy Thursday my cycling colleague Olof Hagander and I took a rest day from cycling and enjoyed fresh squeezed orange juice and a salad with tuna at the summit of Sa Calobra and when the rain let up for five minutes I ran out and captured this panorama (11 shots with the 6D + Samyang 14mm). The view is breathtaking, and the bicycle ride down is exhilarating. But be warned this is also the only road out and it took us 59:51 to ride up to the summit again (stronger/younger/lighter bicyclists do it in half the time).<br />
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We also spent a couple of hours in the beautiful village of Valldemossa, but I will cover that in a separate post...<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02850486744113894420noreply@blogger.com1Majorca Island, Balearic Islands, Spain39.6952629 3.017571200000020338.9124004 1.7266777000000204 40.4781254 4.3084647000000205tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7263583418004796123.post-65831220138585380292014-03-21T17:44:00.001+01:002014-03-22T07:00:52.750+01:00The Sistine Chapel of Torna Hällestad...Since moving to Sweden in 1987 on an exchange program with UCSD a favorite pastime has been exploring my new home country. To that end I have dragged my wife, children and in-laws to the arctic North in both February and June and most of the rest of the country in spring and summer when we have explored the back roads, small towns and nature and I can safely say I have seen a lot more of Sweden than most Swedes, who take this fantastic country for granted. So it was I was quite surprised when I discovered a new treasure only a short distance from our home.<br />
On a recent March morning when the weather was poor and the wildlife had gone into hiding I gave up after a few hours and decided to head home on a back road that took me through <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torna_H%C3%A4llestad" target="_blank">Torna Hällestad</a> (pop. 584). I have tried to photograph the church from outside but was never really impressed with the results, but on a whim I thought I would take a look inside and see if there was anything to photograph. Opening the door to the church was like stepping back in time to the middle ages. In 25 years of living in Sweden no Swede has even mentioned Tonra Hällestad to me, but I guess the grass is always greener...<br />
In any case it is impressive; the architecture, the vaulted ceilings and most of all the paintings on the ceilings, which I later learned painted around 1460 by a Swedish artist named Nils Håkansson and called "Vittskövlemästaren" - "The Master of Vittskövle". <br />
Trying to capture this interior however is a challenge; how do you present this in a way that reflects both the detail and the whole? The only option I could see was to shoot this as panormas about 20 shots using my favorite Samyang 14mm/2.8, starting with the ceiling:<br />
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Ideally you should now hold your computer monitor or at least your iPad over your head to get the proper effect.<br />
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Moving on to the crossing of the transept I shot the 360 degree panorama (26 shots) you see below. There is some HDR processing to be able to recover both the shadows and highlights since it was a bit dark in the middle of the church, but with bright light from the windows.<br />
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And finally moving to the transept I shot the 210 degree panorama below which shows a bit more ceiling detail.<br />
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Satisfied with my one hour visit, when not a single person had entered the church I took a look at the exterior of the church which contains three rune stones in the wall including the one below. Originating from circa 980 AD and probably commemorating the battle of Fyrisvallarna, outside Uppsala. In tot<span class="text_exposed_hide"></span><span class="text_exposed_show">al there are three runestones in the church walls. Interestingly the one which should be vertical is horizontal and the one which should be horizontal is vertical</span><br />
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While it might not be fair to compare this to the Sistine Chapel, considering that people are willing to travel thousands of miles and spend enormous amounts of money to visit Rome, Torna Hällestad Church deserves a good deal more attention from both Swedes and visitors, so the next time we have visitors we will definitely make a stop here.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02850486744113894420noreply@blogger.com2247 45 Torna Hällestad, Sweden55.679009 13.4275660000000755.670053 13.40739600000007 55.687965 13.44773600000007tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7263583418004796123.post-66555175266767161082014-03-01T14:52:00.002+01:002014-03-02T15:27:01.725+01:00Golden Eagle Adventures...<br />
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Even though I already had 2400 pictures of golden eagles which I was really happy with, when I got the opportunity to join Felix Heintzenberg on a 3 day trip to Norway to photograph more golden eagles, I just couldn't resist. So after landing in Oslo at 9:30 we picked up our 4wd rental car at 10.00 and started driving to Dalen in Telemark, a place so remote that my GPS said there are no streets there. Thanks to back up guidance from Felix we managed to find our guide's home at 3.00am. Jostein had said to give him a call when we got there, and a bit hesistantly we called and got... voicemail. Grrrrr. Now what? Sleep in the car for an hour and a half before getting up to head to the hide? We knocked on the door; carefully at first and then a little more insistenly. Still no answer. I checked the door, it was unlocked. "I'm going inside and sleeping on the couch". Felix followed me in and we were met by two extremely well behaved retrievers who refused to bark or leave there beds, but their tails were wagging so hard it was hard to ignore while trying to fall asleep. Jostein finally heard all our noise and came and greeted us. His phone had run out of juice without him noticing he explained sheepishly.<br />
We tried to sleep a few more minutes, and at 4:30 we finally got up and had some breakfast before packing our gear and loading it on to Jostesin snowmobile and sled. Felix volunteered to ride on the sled with the gear as we started the 15 minute ride to the top of the mountain to the eagle hide. I kept looking back to make sure Felix was still there. Near the top of a very steep hill the snowmobile just started spinning its track, so we both had to jump off and walk the last 15 meters up the hill. The brisk wind and a lot of snow down the back of my neck woke had me fully awake and the all night drive seemed almost forgotten. We finally reached the hide, loaded in our gear and hurried to get everything set up while it was still pitch black to avoid scaring off any eagles or ravens that might be able to see us. We had two cameras and lenses each, and once they were in place, pointing out of the hide, they could not be removed until it was dark to avoid scaring the eagles.<br />
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At 8:30 there was finally enough light to being to photograph, but so
far only the ravens were to be seen, and care must be taken not to scare
them. They are a sign to the eagles that everything is safe. Finally at
9:00 the first eagle made a cautious approach and sat on a tree top at a
safe distance, but they were cautious and only stayed a few seconds at a time. As the day wore on and it became afternoon the eagles came and left several
times and extended their stays, Felix and I took turns napping between eagles visits. <br />
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Most of the eagles fed individually and if a second eagle landed it usually meant there was going to be a fight. But there was one pair of eagles that was obviously a couple since they ate and flew together. In little more than a month the female would be sitting on their nest incubating two eggs that will hatch around the beginning of May.<br />
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The weather changed from snow to clear to fog to more snow and
finally the light disappeared again at 5:00pm while a final eagle took a
few last scraps of meat to tide him over until morning. The days result was 360 images, a few of which made the long day in the hide worthwhile. We packed up our gear and waited for Jostein and his snowmobile to take us back down the mountain.<br />
By the time we got off the mountain, ate dinner and had a quick review of our pictures we were ready to pass out from lack of sleep. We made an early evening of ate and before we knew it the alarm was ringing to tell us it was 4:30am and time to get up.<br />
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Our second and final day in the hide was much slower, fewer visits and poor light, but nature is fickle and golden eagles show up on their own terms. Nonetheless I took 260 images and filmed the eagles as they ate 25 yards from us. We loaded our car with our gear and prepared for the the five hour drive back to Oslo. On the way we passed a wooden church and thanks to the full moon the sky
still had a blue tint despite the fact that it was 11:00pm. We finally reached Oslo at 1:30 where we grabbed a few hours of sleep before catching a 7:00AM flight back to Copenhagen.<br />
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Two days in isolation with these majestic birds and a fantastic view; it
can hardly be called a vacation, but it was definitely worth the time and effort! Nonetheless I was glad to get back to work and be
able to sleep normal hours...<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02850486744113894420noreply@blogger.com2Dalen, Norway59.444736000000013 8.011686599999961833.922701500000016 -33.296907400000038 84.96677050000001 49.320280599999961tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7263583418004796123.post-65681590395969383542014-01-27T07:51:00.001+01:002014-01-27T07:51:18.035+01:00Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard SpotDomkyrkan, the cathedral in Lund is a great photo subject during the Christmas and New Year's holidays. The towers are illuminated and the windows glow from the lights inside. The only challenge is getting far enough back in order to be able to capture the entire facade. The front of Lund's Domkyrka is about 35 meters from the buildings and shops across the street and through the years I have seen thousands of tourists pressed up against the shops across the street trying in vain to get as much as possible into the shot.<br />
For most p&s cameras it's impossible, they just can't go wide enough. When I first came to Lund in 1987 I had an analog camera, an Olympus OM2n and a 24mm Zuiko lens which allowed me to capture the front but not much else. The situation deteriorated when I went digital with the Canon 300D + 18-55mm lens, which was the full frame equivalent of 29mm<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mVPK6Vb2jrA/UuXzegoY_4I/AAAAAAAABuU/ejtqu2V3qkQ/s1600/domkyrkan_18_55.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mVPK6Vb2jrA/UuXzegoY_4I/AAAAAAAABuU/ejtqu2V3qkQ/s1600/domkyrkan_18_55.jpg" height="640" width="425" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lunds Cathedral at 18mm (29mm fullframe equivalent)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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As you see the shot is nothing to excited about, it might work as a reminder of what I have seen, but it doesn't put the cathedral into any kind of context.<br />
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I've never been very interested in wide-angle lenses but every time you travel to a big city like Stockholm, New York or Lund, you realize they have a place in your lens collection. With a full-frame camera like the 5DII the Canon 24-105mm lens became my "walk-around" lens. It's much better than 29mm but still not quite at home in close quarters. Here is where the 17-40mm lens shines, allowing you to put things into a context:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCh6um7J2OTUuMm5qeFRCdXq3ga0UB_kR8jVOyULDhdwKuY6onW7WAlGKSe1T5BJJxrhbO0iylGMaIvwbcxc8-pL3S7SX39na-En1mdTI8M-mwbnfYMlOfWIAa81gzGonPlHWQK0wiMgSe/s1600/domkyrkan_17_40.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCh6um7J2OTUuMm5qeFRCdXq3ga0UB_kR8jVOyULDhdwKuY6onW7WAlGKSe1T5BJJxrhbO0iylGMaIvwbcxc8-pL3S7SX39na-En1mdTI8M-mwbnfYMlOfWIAa81gzGonPlHWQK0wiMgSe/s1600/domkyrkan_17_40.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lunds Cathedral at 17mm</td></tr>
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As you see in this shot the cars spoil the shot, and setting up for New Years eve fireworks I knew that this was going to be a problem when the fireworks went off behind the cathedral. It would be better to be on the same side of the street, but then the 17-40 isn't wide enough. So I decided to chance it and as you see from the result below the composition is pretty good, but the cars were indeed a problem; of the 15 shots I took, there were cars in most of them.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTr7XIr0Fgzs02fhqUutnDct_j5T97eZ6i9nbkuu_AR4W0zVGTdpE8NKqWRULtzFIr0ai6eIXFjOkoR3zmx3P5RhBHhwp35TN150xjRC4seQqxZmxPewqkvA6sbX9_TNwePaN288wTBHn1/s1600/domkrykan_fireworks_2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTr7XIr0Fgzs02fhqUutnDct_j5T97eZ6i9nbkuu_AR4W0zVGTdpE8NKqWRULtzFIr0ai6eIXFjOkoR3zmx3P5RhBHhwp35TN150xjRC4seQqxZmxPewqkvA6sbX9_TNwePaN288wTBHn1/s1600/domkrykan_fireworks_2014.jpg" height="486" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New Years Fireworks at 17mm</td></tr>
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Still even 17mm doesn't tell the whole story, and while my favorite lens the Samyang 14mm is better, I wanted even more.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf0AW2d_OnM6IdK75C1upkBKEwRPNUYueFjL9TZC53YWlPQQQB_RgCIRSwdNHnvIv11oXjOEmVrrS_YFrG12U_ruHWYo_1JELArkHgQaNFASr12kt5AjL1dsEhL34XNFn466Kp5A63-67w/s1600/domkyrkan_stars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf0AW2d_OnM6IdK75C1upkBKEwRPNUYueFjL9TZC53YWlPQQQB_RgCIRSwdNHnvIv11oXjOEmVrrS_YFrG12U_ruHWYo_1JELArkHgQaNFASr12kt5AjL1dsEhL34XNFn466Kp5A63-67w/s1600/domkyrkan_stars.jpg" height="436" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lunds Cathedral with the Samyang 14mm f/2.8</td></tr>
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So during the last days of my Christmas holidays I experimented with stitched panoramas of the cathedral, using the 14mm Samyang and taking 15 shots in portrait orientation to create a 360 degree view.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-finDFrVVpPo/UuX9NWYjG2I/AAAAAAAABu8/7qsldhCaNnc/s1600/domkyrkan_pano_evening3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-finDFrVVpPo/UuX9NWYjG2I/AAAAAAAABu8/7qsldhCaNnc/s1600/domkyrkan_pano_evening3.jpg" height="274" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">360 degree view of Lunds Cathedral</td></tr>
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Of course now the distortion is a bit distracting, but it captures the big picture.<br />
The nice thing about stitching images is that you can use almost any lens, a tripod makes it easier to line up the images properly and shoot in M mode to ensure that the exposure is identical in all images. I could have created the same result using a 50mm lens, but it would have taken 240 images instead of 15.<br />
So next time you can't get far enough from your subject, try capturing the shot using multiple images, remember to use portrait orientation, otherwise your image will only be wider, not higher. Photoshop's "Photomerge function will put the pieces together for you automagically, blending the image perfectly.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02850486744113894420noreply@blogger.com1Lund, Sweden55.7046601 13.19100730000002455.633088099999995 13.029645800000024 55.7762321 13.352368800000024tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7263583418004796123.post-72605733757449639752013-12-28T14:31:00.002+01:002013-12-28T14:31:30.783+01:00Dreaming of a White ChristmasEvery so often Lena gets tired of spending Christmas in Southern Californa and insists that we spend Christmas in Sweden and enjoy a traditional Christmas in Sweden. Unfortunately the weather in southern Sweden has a somewhat different interpretation of traditional Christmas, and what we generally get is rain, wind and clouds.<br />
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As luck would have it we did get some snow a couple of weeks before Christmas and Lena and I took the opportunity to pay another visit to <a href="http://www.soderasensnationalpark.se/En/Pages/default.aspx" target="_blank">Skäralid National Park</a>. It made for a fantastic winter setting but it only lasted one day before the rains came and washed it all away.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tX0j_x1xDTc/Ur68kqXTqBI/AAAAAAAABqo/Y46NUqH8G5Q/s1600/skaralid_snow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="436" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tX0j_x1xDTc/Ur68kqXTqBI/AAAAAAAABqo/Y46NUqH8G5Q/s640/skaralid_snow.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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This image was taken with the Canon 6D and my "walk-around lens" the 24-105L, post-processing done in PS Lightroom, with some extra saturation to bring out the red in the buildings.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q3wBwspWodU/Ur7Mfpc-mBI/AAAAAAAABq4/-imUxzRpBjI/s1600/skaralid_winter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="436" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q3wBwspWodU/Ur7Mfpc-mBI/AAAAAAAABq4/-imUxzRpBjI/s640/skaralid_winter.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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This image is taken with one of my absolute favorite lenses, the Samyang 14mm f/2.8. Although this is a completely manual lens, you shouldn't be intimidated by the lack of autofocus. Even at f2.8 the depth of field will extend from 2m to infinity, so focussing is rarely a problem. This lens costs a fraction of what Canon's 14mm lens costs, and easily matches the Canon in most aspects, and surpasses the Canon for astro-photography where the Canon has a tendency to make stars look like commas.<br />
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And here is the Christmas weather we were dreaming about:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrOsEF39bFYf8rk1L3MAJH8iQKSEtHGT4HsBQYVa7aZDgKSkVv_tpPerO6ARUyQ1cMzQoqO5oP-cez-qzygXE_gI0RpiO4LAuQdRq6lHXPp24P44iid5Bwq8MronOiOq2hLkCnBlf9zcYO/s1600/ice_hotel_spark_ed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="436" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrOsEF39bFYf8rk1L3MAJH8iQKSEtHGT4HsBQYVa7aZDgKSkVv_tpPerO6ARUyQ1cMzQoqO5oP-cez-qzygXE_gI0RpiO4LAuQdRq6lHXPp24P44iid5Bwq8MronOiOq2hLkCnBlf9zcYO/s640/ice_hotel_spark_ed.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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But I had to dig into the archives from 2005 and the Ice Hotel in Northern Sweden for this one.<br />
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Best wishes for a happy new year!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02850486744113894420noreply@blogger.com3Lund, Sweden55.7046601 13.19100730000002455.633088099999995 13.029645800000024 55.7762321 13.352368800000024