Michael's Photo parade - Best-of 2022
Every year Michael from Erkunde die Welt [↗] hosts his photo parade [↗] and also this time I'm joining it again. You can find my old entries below in the "You might also be interested in this:" section.
The rules are quite simple: There must be at least 6 pictures taken this year. Additionally, he gives some themes, but you are free to expand or modify them as you like. So far, I have always been able to cope with it quite well. But this year I have to fold. To "famous" I would have found something if I had taken some artistic freedom, but "fruit" I have simply not photographed, and "selfies" are a no-go 😉.
So I take my joker and adapt the topics to the categories of my portfolio. It's still not a real best-of as stated in the title (there would be a few more sunrise and sunset pictures), but it comes pretty close.
So here are the categories (in the order I use on the homepage) and my candidates:
Landscapes
In summer we went on a short roadtrip up to Rügen. This picture is one of two that made it into this best-of. A travelogue will follow, but for now, you have to stick with these two.
The witch forest in the forest park Semper is a relatively small area within the forest park. It consists of cripple beech trees, which in summer form a canopy that reaches down to the ground.
The forest park was established at the beginning of the twentieth century and includes a larger forest area near Lietzow. We parked our car near the train station, crossed the main road, and walked along the bay towards the forest. If we had been here in early summer, we could have admired the blooming rhododendron. But so we continue on the well-maintained hiking trails. The witch forest is signposted and easy to find.
Luckily, no one is there right now and I can shoot some pictures for a panorama. Unfortunately, it does not take long and a family with children appears, who thinks they have to use the trees as a jungle gym 😠.
For the second picture from this category, I had quite a number of candidates - especially from the US trip. If you like you can have a look at the gallery of the travelogue.
The picture was taken in the late afternoon at the beginning of the loop road to Artist’s Palette in Death Valley. I feel it perfectly reflects the roadtrip character, even though the van was not mine.
By the way, Death Valley is by no means as flat as one often imagines when seeing pictures of Bad Waters or the like. Also at the Artist’s Palette, you have to be well before the official sunset, because it sets behind a ridge. However, it doesn't make sense to be too early because the colors only start to glow when the sun is low in the sky.
If you want to know more about my days in Death Valley, you can find the corresponding part of the travelogue here.
Cityscapes
Early October we went to Venice to visit the Biennale. Of course I took the opportunity to photograph more motifs. Especially the time before and shortly after sunrise was very rewarding, because we had a great sky almost every day. From this trip alone, quite a few pictures would have deserved to be included in the best-of. A report with more pictures will follow soon.
The view from the Rialto Bridge to the Canal Grande is one of the key tourist destinations in the city. Especially at sunset, people crowd in rows of 4 or 5 in front of the railing. If you want to take a good photo at this time, you should be there at least half an hour before to secure a spot.
It is quite different in the morning. When I arrived, there were only a few teenagers hanging around, obviously trying to down the last beers of an all-nighter. But the pre-dawn timing has two additional advantages: The lights are still on and there is still relatively little traffic on the canal, which always leads to ugly smudges with the long exposure times.
After the pictures from the bridge, I went down to the canal to photograph the palazzi and the bridge itself. Slowly the sky turned pink and I went up to the bridge again to take more pictures. Even now there were no tourists except for a few photographers.
This picture of the pier in Sellin is the second from our summer trip that made it into this overview.
Since we have our accommodation in Sellin, we walk towards the beach after an early dinner. It will be the only day we have nice weather. The approaching low-pressure system gives us a nice sky today even if it is not good enough for a colorful sunset. I take some pictures with beach chairs in the foreground and go up to the pier when the lights are turned on.
Most of the visitors are probably at dinner at the moment and those who are still there are on the move and not standing on the railing. You still have to be patient, but if you expose long enough, you don't see them in the final shot.
Indoor
Another image from a blog waiting to be published (should be next if everything goes as planned).
Edit: You can find it here now.
I had a few hours at the end of July to photograph the Frankfurt skyline. From the airport, the first thing I did was drive to the Zeil to visit the department store "My Zeil". From one of the upper floors you have this view looking down.
Speaking of "view looking down": This interesting staircase can be found in the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney. This is a shopping mall completed in the 1890s that has been renovated several times but has maintained its style to this day. Somehow the staircase reminds me of Hogwarts 😉 .
More about my short visit to Sydney can be found here.
Outdoor
There is actually not much to write about this picture either. It was taken last winter on a trip to the Allgäu, to escape the fog at home. It shows the church St. Coloman near Füssen. By the way, in the background you can see Neuschwanstein.
This picture, I could of course also pack in the category Cityscapes, but I think it also fits well here.
The picture was taken during our Biennale visit to Venice. We were so early at the ferry to Burano, that except for us only locals were on board. Accordingly, we didn't see any tourists in Burano itself. Burano is not quite as crowded as Murano, but it is certainly not unknown either. So during the day, it can get busy.
Another advantage of being there early is of course that you have good light. In the yet-to-come blog I will show more pictures of the beautiful colorful buildings, but this rather graphical one I like particularly.
Animals
The Desert Museum in Tucson, Arizona is one of the best places to see Colibri. Unfortunately, it is also one of the most popular. For this reason, you should be at the museum as early as possible after opening and also make your way to the Colibri Habitat quickly.
Since I was there in the spring, the park didn't open until 8:30 (instead of 7:30 as it does in the summer). This means that it gets crowded quickly, whereas in the summer you have an hour or so where few people are around.
A plus to visiting the Desert Museum in the winter is the bird of prey air show. It starts at 10am, but I am asked to be there early as it can get crowded. And it is. I got there 20 minutes early and there was already a long line.
When we are allowed in, we don't enter an amphitheater, we just line up in three rows. The birds fly over our heads from the left and right. Since they fly directly at us, they are difficult to photograph in the air, especially since we are not allowed to hold anything above eye level. Rangers place food on small trees close to us. This way even people with smartphones can take photos. They don't show a huge variety of birds (nothing compared to Weltvogelpark Walsrode or the bird of prey show at the Kasselburg). The owl was sitting a bit away on a branch and loudly demanded another portion of food. A perfect opportunity for an expressive portrait.
More about my adventures in Tucson and the surrounding area (and of course more pictures) can be found here.
Special
In the past, Michael always asked for the "best" picture with which you could win an award. This year he has changed the rules a bit and this category is no longer existing. I, therefore, take the opportunity to finish with a picture to smile about.
I had already used it as a finale in the blog Winter Tristess and it comes from a series where I try to find interesting structures in frozen puddles:
