Landscapes

Welcome to my Top Ten 2017! Each year I collect my best ten shots and this is what I came up with in 2017.

After a really nice, joyful and relaxing three weeks road trip with some 4.600 km from Hamburg to Southern France and back this is my Top Ten France pictures collection. If you would like to see more and some more blogposts about France click here.

"It is -8 °C up there", I said. Looking up the Mont Blanc from the Chamonix valley it seemed far away. And it is: Like almost three kilometers higher than the valley. Chamonix is about 1000 m high and the Mont Blanc, the highest mountain of the alps and the EU, is 4810 m above sea level. We waited in line at the Chamonix cable car on that beautiful morning in early June. Unfortunately, it was quite windy up there and the ride was closed for almost 90 minutes. Afterwards, the 20 minutes ride up the Aiguille du Midi went pretty smoothly. The Aiguille du Midi is a 3842 m rock formation at the Mont Blanc massif and hosts the cable car station, a restaurant and some board walks with stunning views towards the mountain. We stopped in Chamonix for two nights on our way to Southern France to visit the famous "white mountain".

I chose my Top Ten pictures every year and thought about my Top Ten Iceland pictures of my 2016 trip. This week I collected my very best shots and share their story. If you want to see more of this check my Iceland Gallery.

September 2016, Iceland: I was on a 4x4 road trip in Iceland for 10 days. We spent time in the South and the highlands of this beautiful country. I was especially looking forward to shooting waterfalls in remote locations. Waterfalls that are not a stop for busses full of tourists. We found quite some of these as well as some obvious touristy ones. With the latter it is hard to find your composition without people. With the others you can spend on hour photographing without anybody disturbing you. This is what we did. I made extensive use of my new tripod, L-bracked and ND filters to get the blurry look of the water. I would like to share my most relevant shots with you with this blogpost. If you interested in the rest of my Iceland highlands click here.

Welcome to my 2016 highlights! Each year I collect my top ten shots and this is what I came up with in 2016. Hope you enjoy!

I regularly browse the internet for locations that I plan to visit and so did I for Iceland in September 2016. I found some stunning pictures of a valley with a free floating river called Þórsmörk. And here I finally was. At the end of our 10 day trip after an hour hike in the rain before sunset I was on the peak. Since it was cloudy and I had hardly any light, but rain and wind I already started my way back. I felt disappointed and then I saw a tiny bit of blue sky in the dense cloud cover. "When the weather is not good in Iceland, wait for 10 minutes", I remembered. And so I did.

The picture shows what happened after 10 min. It gave me a more than satisfied and grateful mood for my descend!

September 2016, Iceland: I was on a 4x4 road trip in Iceland for 10 days. We spent time in the South and the highlands of this beautiful country. On our way to the village of Vik i Myrdal we stopped at Hjörleifshöfði. An unspeakable location for most Europeans and an incredibly raw place as well. Just turn left from the N1 ring road on your way to Vik. It is located about 15 km ahead of the village. if you don't have a 4x4 these photos indicate where your journey ends.

My last trip to Iceland was almost a year ago. Meanwhile, I published quite some Iceland blogposts that you can find here (at the bottom of the page). What I did not post as of today is my pictures and thoughts of one of the most beautiful spots: Reynisfjara black beach. So here it finally is. Take your time to review and let me know your opinion.

September 2016, Iceland: I was on a 4x4 road trip in Iceland for 10 days. We spent half of hour time in the highlands, the rest at the coast near the ring road. After our turning point Höfn we were slowly going westwards again and stopped at Vik i Myrdal for one night to enjoy the local beauty. Vik is mainly about three spots: the Reynisdrangar sea stacks, the black beach of Reynisfjara and Dyrholaey - a cliff with a hole.

September 2016, Iceland: I was on a 4x4 road trip in Iceland for 10 days. We spent time in the South and the highlands of this beautiful country. Half of our time was dedicated to the highlands and we included one night in Laki, or Lakagígar - the craters of Laki. The most prominent eruption was between 1783 and 1784 for eight months. Its effects were noticed even in continental Europe. But especially in Ireland, where the clouds of poisonous hydrofluoric acid and sulfur dioxide killed over 50% of Iceland's livestock. Laki consists of small volcanic craters stretching along a straight line for about 25 km. Leaving the ring road No. 1 at about Kirkjubæjarklaustur you go north for more than two hours. You can't go without a 4x4 and within Laki you even test the limits of your car. This blogpost is about this two day trip. If you interested in the rest of my Iceland highlands click here.