The Deer

There are lots of wild deer and boar and such in De Hoge Veluwe. Here are some of the fallow deer we saw.

Golden Flower

I know it is vastly out of season. But I just came across this image in cleaning up my hard drives in a huge backup effort. This sunflower is out of our the garden.

Landscape View

In the Park at De Hoge Veluwe (http://www.hogeveluwe.nl/de/15) in the Neatherlands I keep thinking I look at Africa somewhere. It does not look like a Dutch landscape, really.

Into the Sky

This house is reaching into the sky in Dortmund.

This image I was taking a while ago for the regular photocontest that I am taking part in. I did hand in another one but I just came across this one here today and wanted to bring it out.

Dynamic Field

There is nothing to this. Really not. I just shot straight down with a 10mm wide angle lens to highlight the poppy flower.

Da ist wirklich nichts dabei. Ich habe nur mit einem 10mm Weitwinkel gerade nach unten geschossen um die Mohnblüte zur Geltung zu bringen.

Amazing Weather

After the ups and downs of spring, I was really enjoying the weather yesterday. The poppies are looking beautiful and the clouds, this softly behind it, were making quite a nice backdrop. I took the image yesterday.

Nach dem Auf und Ab des Frühlings habe ich gestern wirklich das Wetter genossen. Der Klatschmohn sieht klasse aus und die Wolken, so weich im Hintergrund, sorgen für eine hübsche Kulisse. Ich habe das Bild gestern gemacht.

Out by the cliffs

Madeira, Easter 2014

Steep drop

Hiking along Levadas is thrilling about the hights that you look down from. Very steep drops into nothing and steep mountainsides are very common. Sometimes there are fences, sometimes not. Fences are only as good as they are whole. So never blindly trust a little wire rope.

Heavy Load

A woman in a rural area near Encumeada pass road.

The statue of Garajau

Madeira, easter 2014

I removed some people from the shot to give you a better view.

Bubbles over bubbles

Last weekend a friend came by with a soap bubble machine and we set out to take funny images. I can show you a first series of images I came up with.

Flowers

Madeira, April 2014.

Out of the Tunnel

One of the tunnels that we hiked through on our Levada hikes had this beautiful opening that you could see out the side on.


Nachdem wir 10 Minuten durch den stockdunklen Tunnel gewandert sind, mit Stirnlampen bewaffnet und bemüht, weder in die Levada zu fallen, noch den Arm an der Tunnelwand aufzukratzen oder den Schädel einzuschlagen, öffnet sich der Tunnel zur Seite und wir schauen einmal mehr in ein Tal, das auch im fernsten Regenwald liegen könnte.
Madeira, 2014.

Foggy Valley

The dreamy and misty atmosphere was a much better time to be there and photograph than a sunny and happy time.

Madeira Finches

A male and a female Madeira Finch.
These cute little birds are all over the place with lots of tweeting and flying. We really enjoyed their presence.

Encumeada

I took this photo from the road up to the Encumeada pass. The stepping fields along the mountain sides were making the image amazing, even in harsh light.

Amazing Greens

Madeira, April 2014

the Fish Market of Funchal

We got to visit the Fish Market in Funchal and couldn't get enough of all the selection. From Norwegian Dried cod - that we saw drying on the Lofoten last summer - to freshly caught black scabath and all sorts of other fish. The whole tunas were the most impressive, I think.


Es ist früh am Morgen. Alles riecht nach Salzwasser und ein wenig nach Algen. Leute reden durcheinander. Das Eis rasselt in den Bottichen. Ein Messer wird auf einem Stein gewetzt, dann wird der Fisch mit wenigen Schnitten filetiert und geputzt. Und irgendwo schlägt ein riesiges Messer eine Scheibe von einem Thunfisch herunter.
Funchal, Ostern 2014

Sunset Mood

The sunset on the beach of Punta do Sol was hazy and warm. I found this rock pyramid on the beach and set my camera low to the ground to get the sunrays all over the place.

Funchal in the hazy evening

Funchal, Madeira. April 2014
Aida Cruise Ship in the harbour.

A waterfall in the green

The water falls down that awesomely green mountain side and drops straight into the levada.

Levada path

This was on our first levada hike on the way back. The path here is pretty exposed and as you can tell there is a tunnel it goes into. The fence that is meant to protect you on the path because the hillside is really steep. But as you can tell not every fence is unbend and intact.

The levada, by the way, is underneath the concret slabs that you see here. There is no room elsewhere to walk so the levada is covered in this section.

The Ocean Bath

In Porto Moniz on the west edge of the Madeira we visited the ocean bath. The crashing surf between the the rocks and the cliffs looks impressive and a little dangerous. There is a concret barrier set between to form the sea water pool.

The waves get to crash in at high tide and at stronger waves and the pool is not much warmer than the ocean. 18 degrees that was in April.

We had a great time swimming and checking out the crashing water right infront of us. Pretty amazing place.

A quirky tree

This amazingly quirky tree was growing in the hillside above the levada. Against the sun this made a great image for me.

Fern along the side

The fern woods and jungle like vegetation makes the hikes on Madeira a true adventure.

Levadas

Levadas are something special to Madeira. That is the name for the water canals that span the island. There is a network of about 2000 km of these canals in the mountains, carrying the water from the highlands and the north to the major farming areas, mostly in the south and along the coast.

They make awesome hiking teritorry, since there a pathes along the water.

Some of these pathes are very exposed on the mountain side but all together the lure of the Levadas got us out to hike a bunch within our vacation.

Island of Flowers

Madeira is known as the island of flowers. Seeing callas grow in the parks high up in mountain towns makes this title very obvious. Despite the early time of the year in April we got to see a lot of amazing vegetation.

Punta do Sol

The sun is dominating Punta do Sol, the sunniest place on Madeira, according to the guidebook. From the cliff - and most likely also from our dinner restaurant - the yellow one - you can see sun rise, the entire course of the sun and sunset. All from one place. Only the Little Prince had a nicer spot, right? Seeing several suns rise and set.

Funchal Barber

You know I like to capture life the way it is. But also the old fashioned way it sometimes is. And therefore here is the barber in Funchal, somewhere on the edge of the old part of town. You just have to look at one detail after the other.

Madeira

I heared of the wonders of Madeira years ago and really wanted to go, one day. That one day was this easter, so just now. We are just back from a one week visit to the island and we have really enjoyed it. So, guess what: there will be lots of images from Madeira to come.

The first one is of the statue in Garajau (Canico), southern coast, just east of Funchal. Before I went to Portugal, 2 years ago, I thought that this statue was in Rio de Janeiro, only. Now I saw 2 other ones. One across from Lissabon, one on Madeira. I will need to research on their tradition.

Long exposure

One of my first tries with long exposure - due to grey filter - on ocean waves. Lofoten, summer 2013.

10 Seconds and all becomes misty. There is a lot to be done better, but it is a start.

The mountain ridge