For Lois

A special post for Lois, the sister of a fellow IBM:er Jim Wiltsch, who is starting a new round of chemotherapy. A few shots of some of the beautiful places and things we have seen to and prayer for your speedy recovery.


Psalm 23 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Sunrise on the island of Gotland, Sweden

² He makes me to lie down in green pastures: 

Tuolomne Meadows, Yosemite

he leads me beside the still waters.

Summer evening,10 PM in Överkalix Sweden, on the Kalix River, near the Arctic Circle

 ³ He restores my soul: he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

The West Fjords of Iceland

 ⁴ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 

Starlight over the Grand Canyon

I will fear no evil: for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff they comfort me.

Sunset on the Lighthouse near Alnes, Norway

 ⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.

Lena (L-R) Kristina and Johan at a table in Isajordur Iceland

 ⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: 

Sunset at Fredshög, the Southern coast of Sweden

  
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Saint Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin

Michael Gehrisch

 
 

My Best Shot at 2011

Another year gone too quickly. I don't now where it went, but thankfully I took a few good photos to remind me what a great year it was...

An owl on a stick on Jan 2, that had to be a good omen...

A business trip to Stockholm also brought some memorable photo-opps, here from the Katarinahissen

A sunrise in April

May in Scania brought beautiful weather and great light

A two week trip to Iceland with the entire family was spectacular

And even the fall brought some beautiful sunsets in Malmö

The year ended with a beautiful sunny and cold day in Lund, Sweden

And another 9670 pictures from 2011 are proof that it was a pretty good year.

All the best for 2012!

The Icelandic Diet; for "REAL" men only...

During both our trips to Iceland my son Johan and I lost about 5 pounds in two weeks. So although Kristina (16) wasn't the least bit interested in birds, nature, hiking or wilderness, the prospect of losing weight that easily had her sign on for the first family trip to Iceland.

The diet is easy:

1. Get up at 4 AM, have toast and coffee for breakfast.
2. Don't bother making any lunch or snacks. Just bring along your dehydrated trekking meals and your Primus stove.
3. Photograph anything that moves or sits still until 2PM
4. Enjoy your trekking meal in the Icelandic countryside. Maybe take a nap.
5. Keep photographing until 8PM.
6. Enjoy another trekking meal, or if you happen to find a restaurant or grocery store try the local cuisine.
7. Take some more pictures until 10:30
8. Go to bed and repeat.
   
   (On second thought maybe I should call it the photographers diet?)

The only problem with the diet was a schoolteacher named Lena who also happens to be mother to Johan and Kristina and insisted that this would simply not do and instead provided us with a two week plan that included always having a supply of sandwiches or snacks. 

A great meal in Reykjavik

Needless to say the diet failed miserably, and we weren't allowed to wake the ladies up at 4AM either. I'm not sure how the vikings made it work on Iceland, but I'm pretty sure they didn't have any Swedish school teachers along...

The geyser Strokkur

During two weeks we traveled the entire perimeter of Iceland along the Ring-Road. We made 3 stops at geothermal springs to bathe, including the Blue Lagoon outside of Reykjavik, the community bathhouse in Myvatn. 

Now I just have to see if I can convince the family to join me to see the Northern Lights during the winter...

Jökulsárlón Glacial Lagoon

Think you're having a bad day?

An Arctic fox in the West Fjords

The road to Myvatn

Johan Gehrisch, enjoying a fantastic dinner in Isafjordur

Dinner on Flatey Island; going hungry was not allowed by Lena...

Hallgrímskirkja in Reykjavik

More of my images from Iceland can be seen at

http://www.pbase.come/kingfisher/iceland

The Best of 2010

Well we have made it through another year, and looking through my Lightroom database I see a huge variety of images made in 2010. Nature, landscape, macro, birds, wildlife it's all there. And looking through them makes me appreciate what a great year our family had. Here is a small sample of my 2010...

February

From a photo hide in Norway

April evening in Copenhagen

May Macro

May - A goldeneye duckling

June - My son Johan and I made our second trip to Iceland in June. See this post

June - Woodpeckers

July was the 10 year anniversary of the opening of the bridge between Sweden and Denmark

Sunset over Smögen

Sunset in Malmö

August

September - Another sunset in Copenhagen

And a little red church I just happened to pass by in Denmark

October - A migrating six gram kinglet crashes into the Turno Torso skyscraper

December in Florida

All the best for 2011!

http://www.pbase.com/kingfisher