Scenic Places - Kamchatka

Yelizovo #2 - Kirill Vedeev (500px)

Recently a photography friend of mine shared his 2017 photography adventure project with me. - Volcanos of Kamchatka!

Hmm, ... Kamchatka..., where is that?

Not admitting that I had no idea I asked google. And here is the answer. Kamchatka is the peninsula at the eastern edge of Russia. It is rough wilderness and a landscape with many volcanos.

The volcanos of Kamchatka are registered as an UNESCO world heritage.

With 270'000 square kilometres the Kamchatka peninsula is slightly bigger than the United Kingdom (242'500 sq. km). Population is extremely small. Kamchatka is home to 170'000 people.

Not only spectacular by nature it must also be spectacular to get there at first for travel photographers. - A am waiting for my friend's experience and recommendations to be shared.

In terms of climate the Kamchatka peninsula is heavily influenced by cold winds from Siberia and cold ocean currents from the Oyashio sea. In consequence the landscape is covered by snow from October to late May.

Brown bear eating salmon - Eyal Cohen (500px)

Kamchatka is home to the Kamchatka brown bear. But also other predators are present such as the arctic fox, the tundra wolf, or the east siberian lynx.

After this little research, I think this place could truly be an interesting target for nature photography.

There are several photography tour operators with interesting offerings, such as:

Unusual Expedition: http://unusualexpedition.com/singapore/index.php/portfolio-items/russia-kamchatka/

For an impression of Kamchatka's nature and wildlife, have a look at the Nat Geo Wild documentary "Wild Russia":

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 - My To Do List (II)

This is my list of potentially interesting photo locations which I would like to visit for some shooting.

The list is not organised at all. Neither by subject, nor geographical location. - Just a collection of ideas.

Over time the list shall be enriched with more information - either out of my collection, or feedback from readers.

• Creux du Van
• Creux du Van is a natural rock formation in the Swiss Jura.
• How to get there: link

• Saut du Day

• Close to Vallorbe in the Swiss Jura the river Orbe bursts out of the limestone mountain.
• How to get there: link

• Cascades du Flumen

• The Cascades du Flumen are located in the Parc naturel régional du Haut-Jura in France.
• How to get there: link

• Graffitti Bridge Lörrach
• Underneath the autobahn bridge in Lörrach, Germany a series of very artistic graffitti master pieces has been sprayed on to the concrete pillars of the bridge.
• The place is called the Bridge-Gallery: link
• How to get there: link

• Spreepark Berlin
• The Spreepark is an abandoned amusement park in Berlin.
• How to get there: link

• Angkor Wat fromt he air
• Angkor Wat in Kambodia is one of the most impressive archeological places on earth. The size of these temple architecture can best be seen when airborne. Using a drone could be an option, but how about getting on a microlight plane?
• An example: 360° aerial panorama
• How to get there: link

Underwater Videography - Underwater lock shot collection

Underwater lock shot collection #1 from Eunjae Im on Vimeo.

Scenic Places - My To Do List (I)

This is my list of potentially interesting photo locations which I would like to visit for some shooting.

The list is not organised at all. Neither by subject, nor geographical location. - Just a collection of ideas.

Over time the list shall be enriched with more information - either out of my collection, or feedback from readers.

• Creux du Van
• Creux du Van is a natural rock formation in the Swiss Jura.
• How to get there: link

• Saut du Day

• Close to Vallorbe in the Swiss Jura the river Orbe bursts out of the limestone mountain.
• How to get there: link

• Cascades du Flumen

• The Cascades du Flumen are located in the Parc naturel régional du Haut-Jura in France.
• How to get there: link

• Graffitti Bridge Lörrach
• Underneath the autobahn bridge in Lörrach, Germany a series of very artistic graffitti master pieces has been sprayed on to the concrete pillars of the bridge.
• The place is called the Bridge-Gallery: link
• How to get there: link

• Spreepark Berlin
• The Spreepark is an abandoned amusement park in Berlin.
• How to get there: link

Scenic Places in Black and White - Tutorial by Doug McKinlay

Taking pictures in black and white technically is easy. Especially in today's digital world where post processing offers endless possibilities in tuning and filtering the taken image in the computer.

Canadian photographer Doug McKinlay gives a tutorial on how already at the moment of image capture you need to decide if this picture is going to be presented in color or in black and white.

Scenic Places in Black and White - Cruise on the Lake Lucerne

The lake lucerne in central Switzerland is a go to place for thousands of tourists every month.

Not only the landscape of this winding lake surrounded by high mountains but also the fleet of steam boats cruising on the lake are spectacular to experience.

The fleet of cruise ships has five historical steam boats with one exception cruising the lake for more than 100 years.

Steamboat fleet:
- PS Schiller (1906) as captured on the left
- PS Gallia (1913)
- PS Uri (1901)
- PS Unterwalden (1902)
- PS Stadt Luzern (1928)

Andrew Clegg Littler (500px)

Dani Pfister (500px)

The cruise ship fleet offers a series of round trips around the lake visiting all the historical places of Switzerland's early origin located around the lake.
Best is to spend a day around the lake and hop on and hop off the traditional steam boats










Weather conditions around the lake are often dramatic and quickly ganging. For black and white photographers this offers spectacular light conditions important for monochromatic photography.

Aken Kriko (500px)

Pierre Meunier (500px)

The cruise ships as well as infrastructure around the lake offers endless opportunities for interesting detail shots.




Specially interesting are the manoeuvres when boats are landing and passengers get on and off the boat.










In very rare cases it is possible to capture more than one steamboat of the fleet in one shot.

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

Scenic Places in Black and White - Matterhorn

Zermatt in Switzerland is one of these places in the Swiss Alps that offers endless opportunities to enjoy the scenic mountain panorama.

Recently I spent a weekend on the Riffelalp, the Gornergrat side above Zermatt. From this location there is one of the most spectacular view on the iconic Matterhorn.
Taking the train to the Gornergrat is one thing not to miss. From the Gornergrat Kulm one can experience an exceptional panorama on the Monte Rosa, the Matterhorn and plenty of other 4000 m.a.s.l high peaks of the Swiss alps.

Opportunities for iconic pictures can be found at the Riffelsee. A little lake embedded in-between two mountain rims with usually mirroring clear surface in which the Matterhorn is reflected.

It is possibly one of the most touristic shots. Thousands of international tourists per year in search of typical pictures. Here another representative in black and white taken on a beautiful morning this summer.

Best time to go is in the morning since then the sun illuminates the Matterhorn from the front. A scenic place for landscape photography.