Moon Halo

On the old Charles Bridge, the most famous bridge that spans the Vltava River, there are 30 statues. The night I arrived, the moon was surrounded by a halo (caused by the refraction of moonlight in hexagonal-shaped ice crystals formed in thin, high clouds).

The Old Jewish Cemetery

Those who have seen the INXS video would know where this is. Kirk Penguilly stands there in a trenchcoat, saxophone is hand, surrounded by old decaying tombstones. That’s the Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague, one of the most popular tourist attractions in the city. Literally in the centre of the town, it was only 5 mins from our hotel and walking through here was a very solemn experience. There are over 100,000 people buried here, up to 12 deep, in an area not much bigger than a few blocks of land.

Prague APPA

I might be dreaming but this could be an APPA for 2010. What do you think Fletch???

Don’t ask me how I treated it. I was editing and working images along the way and I just pulled this one from nowhere in the early hours of the morning.

Lets go to Prague

WOW! What an amazingly beautiful city! Prague was everything I expected and more. Two days wasn’t enough. Two weeks would be barely enough time to see the sights. Two months and I might be ready to move on…

Ever since seeing the INXS video for ‘Never Tear Us Apart‘ 20 years ago, I’d longed to go there. Here’s a shot from the Prague Castle overlooking the old city.

Teufelsberg 5

Another dome that i thought looked cool with a desat.

Teufelsberg 4

A 15secs self-portrait taken inside the main dome at the top of the tower. An internal staircase (dark and filled with broken glass) leads to the top where it’s hard to speak as the echo is so strong. Someone has cut a hole in the base (allowing the light in here) where it’s a 30m drop to the ground below.

Teufelsberg 3

Shot from the base of the main tower, we spent hours exploring the domes.

Teufelsberg 2

Shot from the reversal angle of the previous post, we’re now up high on the main tower looking over the forest that surrounds the hill.

Teufelsberg

WOW! Teufelsberg! What a place! The Teufelsberg (German for Devil’s Mountain) is a hill in Berlin, Germany, in former West Berlin. It rises about 80 meters – the hill itself built by the Allies after the Second World War from the rubble of Berlin during the following twenty years as the city was rebuilt. One estimate for the amount of rubble is about 12 million cubic meters, or about 400,000 buildings!

The US National Security Agency (NSA) built one of its largest listening stations on top of the hill. The station continued to operate until the fall of East Germany and the Berlin Wall, but after that the station was closed and the equipment removed. Surrounded by fences and barb wire, we found our way in and spent hours exploring the various buildings and structures. Not for the faint-hearted, this involved walking up pitch black staircases filled with broken glass and other such fun that made it all the more exciting!

More images to follow.

Staircase leading upwards

Shot inside the Berlin Aquarium. I love symmetry (and pink like Christian)!

Holocaust Memorial

Adjacent to the Brandenberg Gate is the Holocaust Memorial. Completed in 2005, it is a memorial to the Jewish victims of WWII. 2,711 columns rise from the ground at varying heights. Very sober stuff.

Reichstag 2 – The Opening

Here’s that opening at the top of the dome that I was talking about. Shortly after sunset (aboout 5pm), I waited until no one was around, lay on the floor for this angle and to brace myself to shoot at a slow shutter speed.

Reichstag

The Reichstag building was constructed to house the Reichstag, parliament of the German Empire. It was opened in 1894 but after the Second World War the Reichstag fell into disuse but was later restored after reunification. This shot is taken inside the dome that look down into the main parliament sitting room. This strange mirrored structure extends down like a bee’s stinger. The white circles are a ramped staircase that lead to the opened dome top. Photos of that coming later.

Shoot at extreme wide angle, 17mm, ISO 800, 1/30sec @ F2.8. no tripod.

Somebody’s been naughty!!!

Only days after posting that info about entering the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, it seems that someone’s been telling a furfies! Allegedly last year’s winner, Jose Luis Rodriguez, used a trained model to capture his winning shot and has therefore broken the competition rules, being stripped of his title.

This from the BBC website:

Louise Emerson from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition office explained that the judging panel had been “reconvened” and had concluded that it was likely that the wolf featured in the image was an animal model that could be “hired for photographic purposes”.

This, she said, was in breach of the competition rules which are made available to all entrants.

“The judging panel looked at a range of evidence and took specialist advice from panel judges who have extensive experience of photographing wildlife including wolves,” continued Ms Emerson.

“They also considered the responses to specific questions put to the photographer.”

In my mind, I was a little surprised to see this image win last year – I felt it to be a somewhat standard image of an animal (that looks tame!) jumping over an artificial structure using flash. Mmmm! I’ve seen SO many other good photographs over the years in this competition and I really feel that they deserved the accolade more than this one.

Anyway, it’s all subjective and of course if I was a judge, all my shots would win each year!

More information on this story can be found at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8470962.stm

Brandenberg Gate

The Brandenberg Gate is the only remaining gate of a series through which one formerly entered Berlin. It was commissioned by King Frederick William II of Prussia as a sign of peace and completed in 1791. Being one of Europe’s most famous landmarks, it’s had it’s far share in history in recent decades. Vehicles and pedestrians could travel freely through the gate until the Berlin Wall was built, 13 August 1961. The Wall was erected as an arc just west of the gate, cutting off access from West Berlin. In 1963, U.S. President John F. Kennedy visited the Brandenburg Gate. The Soviets hung large red banners across it to prevent him looking into the East. In the 1980s, decrying the existence of two German states, West Berlin mayor Richard von Weizsäcker said: ‘The German question is open as long as the Brandenburg Gate is closed.’

On June 12, 1987, U.S. President Ronald Reagan spoke to the West Berlin populace at the Brandenburg Gate, demanding the razing of the Berlin Wall. Addressing CPSU General SecretaryMikhail Gorbachev, Reagan said, “General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

Another ride

Shot at 800 ISO, hand held, 1/8sec @ F11.

Amusement ride

At another Xmas market, they had rides set up for the kidies. Here’s one that raises about 30 metres. Shot at 800 ISO, hand held, 1/2 sec @ F11.

Fernsehturm Berlin

Sitting near the centre of town, the Fernsehturm (German for tower) was constructed between 1965 and 1969 by the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) administration who intended it as a symbol of Berlin. Apparently it is the fourth tallest freestanding structure in Europe.

This shot is as grainy as hell. Shot on 3200 ISO, I was hand holding with Oliver squirming in my back pack as we made our way to the Xmas markets – Yummy crepes!

Berliner Dom

Wandering through the streets of Berlin and seeing the sites, we came across this building, the Berliner Dom. The former court church of the Prussian royals was completed in 1905.

I gave it the Peter Eastway effect as this image reminded me of his many european images from years gone by… 5 stitch image, heavy vignette and desat.

Berlin

After HK we popped over to Berlin for a few weeks to celebrate Xmas/New Year. What an amazing place! So much to photograph with so much history.

Here’s a shot from a local train station…