Iconic Mountains - The Matterhorn

The first work week of the year 2021 has passed. And the current COVID pandemic is controlling many aspects of our lives around the globe.

While searching for an iconic image of the Matterhorn - Mount Cervin in Zermatt - for a wall picture of a friend of mine I was working on my Matterhorn collection.

Some years ago I spent time in Zermatt on several occasions taking pictures of that iconic mountain. We were setting up at the top. Taking pictures both digital as well as on film using my forty years old Hasselblad 500 c/m camera. - An Iconic mountain requires it's picture taken by an iconic camera ;-)

Gornergrat at an altitude of more than 3'100 m.a.s.l. is one of the best spots to take pictures of that impressive mountain rim. 

At this altitude the air starts getting thin and breathing gets challenging with physical efforts. The comfort of being brought up there by cable car in some thirty minutes does not really help in this.

Surrounded by several peaks all higher than 4'000 m.a.s.l. one can feel the power of nature and spirit of earth.

But there is one peak which could not be more prominent. - The Matterhorn - Mount Cervin. That iconic triangular shape towering above all other peaks leaves a massive impression.

There is no doubt that this natural landmark is the biggest asset of the area. Be it for millions of tourists, for pictures, and for all the mountaineers who conquered that mountain.

Unfortunately with the restrictions of the current pandemic tourism is a bit lower and does not pay off that well. Hence, images might be an alternative to serve the longing for mountains.

Probably billions of pictures of that magical mountain have been taken over the years. And many people have a picture a picture decorating the wall in their house or appartement. And nature with ever new weather conditions makes every picture special.

Hence, it can well be understood that the search for new images never ends. And, that iconic pictures of Matterhorn remain attractive to the audience.

Thomas Crauwels - Fine Alpine Photography

While searching the internet for Matterhorn imagery I came across an incredibly impressive portfolio of iconic mountain images by Thomas Crauwels.

Thomas offers his images printed and framed, ready to be placed on a wall as a masterpiece.

And it's not only the Matterhorn which he captured in unprecedented and spectacular manner. He is documenting mountain sceneries of the entire Swiss alps.

I can only recommend to have a look at this exceptional portfolio.

Find the portfolio at link.

Scenic Places in Black and White - Golden Gate Bridge

Baker Beach - Arleta Rogozinska (500px)

The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is one of the most famous landmarks of the USA. A target of many tourists and travel photographers.

Shooting the Golden Gate Bridge in black and white opens up some interesting possibilities.

Black and white is well suited to picture the silhouette of this iconic man build landmark.

The special weather conditions in the area give rise to interesting light conditions or limited visibility sceneries with fog, clouds, and low available light.

Silver Gate - Dayne Reast (500px)

Not only light and weather conditions but also the geographical surroundings are very interesting.

Golden Gate Bridge -
Nathan Camarillo (500px)

There are thousands of opportunities to find the right spot for shooting a picture of this historical construction.

golden gate
bridge -
daprano84 (500px)

The Waves Above Us - Christopher Soukup (500px)

Scenic Places in Black and White - ...

Bern WB - Farhad Salami (500px)

The old town of Bern, Switzerland is part of the UNESCO world heritage.

For photographers there are a lot of interesting spots in the old city of Bern with opportunities of beautiful capture of old architecture.

The old town is built on a peninsula surrounded by the river Aare. The river as part of photographs either gives interesting line and perspective, or natural framing of the urban scenery.

Panorama Bern - Dennis van Silfhout (500px)

In black and white the texture of buildings, storefront of buildings, roof tops comes out very well.

The old town offers a lot of more spots with architectural details hidden behind the arcaded sidewalks. The ambitious photographer only has to find them.

Memory - Marc Fan (500px)

Scenic Places in Black and White - Racetrack Playa

Sailing Stone - Dave MacVicar (500px)

The Racetrack Playa is a dry lake in Death Valley national park, California, USA. It is a remote place where you only can go with serious off road vehicles and good planning on outdoor equipment.

The Racetrack Playa is most famous for sailing stones. Rocks which travel across the dry lake driven by nature phenomena which are not very well understood. Current explanation for the moving rocks is that the rocks are being moved by wind under conditions when thin ice panels are melting.

Color Blind - Reetom Hazarika (500px)

Given the remoteness and lack of light pollution of this area this is a perfect place for milky way photography.

Here are two examples. - One against the principles of this section of my blog in color...

Milky Way arch over Racetrack Playa -
Matipon Tangmatitham (500px)

Scenic Places in Black and White - Schloss Neuschwanstein

Neuschwanstein - Werner Neumann-Peters (500px)

Schloss Neuschwanstein in Bavaria, Germany is one of the most visited places in Europe. In recent times this is more than 1.4 million visitors per year.

The castle has been built in the nineteenth century above the village of Hohenschwangau by Ludwig II of Bavaria. The castle is built in romanticism style.

The castle has served a venue in several movies. One of the most famous is the use as sleeping beauty castle in Disney's Cindarella.

Shortly after the death of King Ludwig II in 1886 the castle was opened to the public. Ever since the castle of the fairy-tale king is a must see on many tourist's itineraries.

Schloss Neuschwanstein - Jorge Schramm (500px)

Not only for tourists but also for photographers the landmark has some magic.

Embedded in beautiful alpine landscape, with dense forests, lakes, hills, and mountains the scenery offers endless opportunities for beautiful shots under unique light conditions.

The challenge is to find the right spot with the best view on to the castle at the right time.
Looking through collections of examples this is possibly the key to success, but also one of the strongest secrets of photographers.

Choosing black and white can give some more magic to that scenery.
For example the image below by Viktor Lakics showing the castle embedded in dramatic mountain landscape right after a storm. Rays of light shooting through the dark clouds of the thunder storm, fog arising from the forests, reflections on the lake, and the majestic castle in the foreground give this image some drama which would not be as intense when shot in color.

After the Storm (Mono) - Viktor Lakics (500px)

As can be seen from these examples shooting in black and white can be a artistic technique to add some other dimension to your imagery.
However, there is much difference if a picture has been shot as a monochrome capture or if it has been transferred to black and white in post processing.
Already when shooting the black and white photographer should take certain aspects into account.

Most important is the search for contrast. Try to capture true whites with true blacks in the same image. Only this way the lack of color will transform into interesting texture.
While with color you would rather avoid flat light, in black and white this can be a condition which gets most out of a scenery.

For some tips visit: link

Influential Photographers - Peter Lik

Australian self-taught photographer Peter Lik is one of the most successful contemporary landscape photographers. - According to his website lik.com Peter Lik's comment about his most favourite image is: "I haven't taken it yet."

Peter is running a series of galleries around the US and Australia showcasing his landscape images.

One of the most famous pictures of Peter Lik is the image "Phantom" taken in Arizona's Antelope canyon which has been sold at US$6.5 Million. This is the most expensive photograph ever sold.

The picture in black and white has been bought by a private collector who acquired some other of Peter's images at exceptional price.

The Antelope canyon picture taken by Peter Lik has been the starting point for thousands of photographers hunting exceptional light conditions in this spectacular geological formation. An internet search yields an endless number of great images taken in the very same spot.


Another of his iconic images is "Inner Piece" a beautiful back lit tree captured in Oregon.

For more inspirational pictures check out the image collection on Peter Lik's website.

Chocolate Hills Landscape

Recently on a underwater photography trip to the Philippines we visited the chocolate hills in the center of Bohol Island.

The chocolate hills are an impressive landmark. The hills are geologically composed of coral stone. A reef that has been lifted out of the sea long time ago.

By geological nature the hills are only covered by grass and little bushes. During dry season they turn brownish leading to the name chocolate hills.

Black and White - Chocolate Hills Photography

Chocolate Hill, Philippines - Ullyss Wang (500px)

Chocolate Hill, Philippines - Ullyss Wang (500px)

Chocolate Hills - Kilian Sternad (500px)

Chocolate Hills - Bohol - Sam Cadby (flickr)

Chocolate Hills - Aldrich Lim (flickr)

Road to Monument Valley

Image sharing platforms such as 500px.com or flickr.com offer an almost endless resource to photographs of almost every spot on earth.

Landmarks such as the Monument Valley on the Colorado Plateau located on the state line between Utah and Arizona, USA are amongst the most visited and photographed landscapes. 

The spectacular rocks are sandstone formations sculptured by the forces of nature over time.

yes - one of the first hits is an image from Myanmar

Searching for images tagged with "road to monument valley" on 500ps.com yields a long list of images capturing this scenic landscape. 

Interesting is the fact that many of these images have been taken from almost exactly the same spot but no two images are the same. The influence of photographer, equipment, and mostly of nature with its unpredictable weather conditions gives rise to interesting variety.

See the series of 500px sample picks below. All of these photographers captured the same three iconic monuments with the dirt road entering the valley in the foreground, some of the textured structures of the desert soil, and some cloudy sky.

Monument Valley by
Florian Demmer (500px)

Monument Valley by
Maciej Bledowski (500px)

Valley by Roman Prais (500px)

But no two images are exactly the same.

Monument Valley by
Dmitry Vinogradov (500px)

While in this series of images the cloudy sky and therefore changes in light conditions make the biggest difference to the individual photographs, the image shown at the bottom of the page involves more artistic photographic techniques such as longtime exposure at night giving raise to these beautiful star trails.

The image involves a bit a lower perspective but has been taken from almost the same spot as the other four. Color of the rock formations is different given the fact that it is a longtime exposure at night.

Monument Valley landscape before
sunrise by Katrina Brown (500px)