Apr
15
2023LOFOTEN’S LITTLE SISTER
ARRIVING
Senja, Norways second biggest island lies about 350km above the Polar Circle at 69° north. We arrive around 22:30, at Bardufoss airport, which suitingly is called Snowman Airport, once again a place hardly anybody knows, just the way we like it ! To be honest I didn’t know it existed until I needed a flight to Senja. We get the car, definitely a 4WD, at the SIXT desk. Okay, that’s new, the guy stays inside and we get the car key: your car is outside, deep frozen… with the motor running and the heating at 28°, to defrost I guess. We still can’t open the hatch, so we dump everything on the back seat and head for the hotel. It is minus 18 degrees or so.
HUSØY
Welcome to the polar circle
After breakfast, and scraping ice off the car for about half an hour we leave for Senja. The drive itself is already an adventure, the weather is sunny and we drive through snowy forests, past cute red cabins, see beautiful mountain peaks gleaming white against a blue and sunny sky. This is great.
Read More»Jan
28
2023But only if you are ready for at least
15’000 steps a day
Venice is an absolutely magical city. Beautiful old buildings, cultural highlights around every corner, the huge Grand Canal winding through it like a big fat snake, framed with majestic palaces, the overly richly decorated Palazzo Ducale, the Markus square, gondola floating through quiet little waterways, basilica and towers (most of them tilting slightly) around every bend of the canal, and be prepared… tons of tourists ! There are great little restaurants away from the main tourist hub, with sensational pastas and seafood dishes and for the shopping queens there are shops everywhere selling anything from Dolce&Cabana, Prada and Chanel to second hand, there’s something for every girls heart ! And if you are a photographer like we are, this city is simply heaven !
The famous Rialto bridge built in 1588
Feb
09
2019The horse races at St. Moritz
We don’t have a clue about horses, don’t ride them and don’t know a thing about them, just that they look gorgeous when racing by at full speed. I’ve wanted to come here to photograph them for years, and finally we made it. Bad luck: the weather is lousy, it is cold and snowing heavily and visibility is bad, no or little light, but that won’t spoil our fun.
White Turf, the races at the mondain winter ski resort of St.Moritz. The only place I’ve heard of, where horses race on snow on a frozen lake. These races have been held here for ages, always the first 3 Sundays in February, this year is the 112th issue ! To get there take the bus Nr.1 from your hotel to St.Moritz Bahnhof and walk across the road, or come by car and park in one of the assigned (free) parking lots, just follow the signs. Walk to the race area and pay the entrance fee: CHF 85 for a premium numbered seat on the stands with of course the best view of the finish line. CHF 45 if you like to sit and have a good overview, free choice of where you sit, or CHF 25 for standing but then you can literally go anywhere around the outside of the track. Which seemed a better option for us to photograph.
Read More»Jan
08
2017We didn’t want to start a family fight over who had gotten the Nr. 1 picture for this year, so we decided to split the story, favourite 5-his & hers ! Decide for yourself !
Here are my favourite photos for 2016. It was hard to choose since I had quite a few very nice pictures from our trips to Iceland, Zimbabwe and the Farn Islands (GB). Each of these trips was special in its own way. Have a look at the pictures yourself and enjoy.
5. WILD DOGS!
On the first morning on our Zim-Safari we experienced an extraordinary encounter with a pack of wild dogs, which I will never forget for my entire life .
We couldn’t believe when Humphrey our guide said: “quick get out of the jeep and position yourself on the road!” This is exactly what we did and the wild dogs came very close, passed us with the “catch of the day” and I could take this picture of how nature works. “Eat and get eaten”
Give me a hand!
Jan
07
2017The other half of avoiding a family fight over who had gotten the Nr. 1 picture for this year, our favourite 5-his & hers ! Decide for yourself which is your favourite photo !
Here’s my favourite photos for 2016. It wasn’t too hard to choose since I didn’t get to travel much after quitting my job and opening the new practise. But there were a couple of highlights, sensational highlights I must say. We both turned 50 and each picked a very special trip. So it wasn’t the quantity this year, but there was definitely quality !
5. PUFFINS
They are the cutest birds ever, and after seeing a few in Svalbard we took a trip to a famous bird island in Norway to see more of thenm close up. We didn’t see any ! So I was seriously afraid to do another puffin trip and be disappointed again. Not this time ! There were hundreds, no thousands of them on the Farne Islands (GB). It is quite a challenge to capture them in flight, they are so fast, but we got better and better. This was one of the first pictures I took, starting with the “sitting ducks”. It really looks as if they are having a chat or maybe even a family fight…
Do you want to talk about it ?
Dec
17
20162016
They say 2016 will be year of change. I didn’t expect much, but by the end of the year I had to admit…. a lot has changed.
Not much going on in January, not much snow either … we did’t even get to ski, definitely time for a photo holiday !
February
We left for Iceland, a 2 week combined C4 – Captur Earth Photo Tour with Hougaard Malan, the landscape master photographer, to at last get better at landscape photography. Now I am no great fan of landscapes, or cold, but it was Jürgs 50th birthday and he desperately wanted an aurora for his birthday. So as I asked him : warm (meaning Myanmar) or cold birthday trip ( meaning Iceland) ? He took about 30 seconds to decide. Believe it or not, he did get an aurora for his birthday, the best one of the whole trip.
Dec
31
2015We were busy this year, travelled a lot, to sensational new places, found many new friends, and enjoyed being with the old friends.
January
Already in January we had a surprise visit from our friends from the Antarctica trip 2013: Frank & Silke. We spent a fun weekend, unfortunately no skiing because of too little snow and bad weather, but fun anyway.
Remembering the good old times
February
We entered the Mala Mala photo competition, hoping to win and get 2 free nights. Somehow my pics got lost, Jürg made it to the finals with his wild dog racing in the river. To see the other finalists check out the link:
http://blog.malamala.com/index.php/2015/03/guest-winner/
March
Spring got there and the travel season started.
Read More»Sep
13
2015International balloon days Toggenburg
I did a trip in a hot air balloon years ago. Have ever since wished to photograph a balloon flying over some spectacular landscape, or lots of them together. The latter came true and it was spectacular to say the least.
There are balloon festivals in lots of places at different times of the year, we were lucky to find a 4 day festival near us in Ebnat-Kappel. Check out their webpage : www.ballontage.ch
Read More»Apr
26
2015Friends asked me if I could take some photos of their daughters, naturally they would be dressed in their favourite colour… different shades of pink. Of course I did, especially since they offered a brunch to start with. I arrived with a camera, flash, diffuser and a bunch of tulips for mum. Now I know about photographing wildlife, you just take what you get, get in the best position, make the best of the light and background, think ahead, hope they do what you expect them to do. So I figured with kids there wouldn’t be a problem…. Wrong ! With kids it’s a different story !
Jan
21
2015Okay, I admit, I couldn’t decide… so it’s 12.
I mean, there were thousands, I got it down to 25 rather well but then it got really hard. They may not all be photographic highlights, but what they all have in common: they are “feel good” pictures to me. The places I took them, the trouble I went through to take them, the special light or occasion… hope you like them too.
12
This one changed my life. It was a cold winter afternoon at a little lake near where we live, I believe I was the only person for miles around, and it was so quiet, peaceful and beautiful ! If I could I would have jumped a double salto for joy, instead I jumped around in the snow, rolled in the snow and kicked my legs in the air like a turtle on its back, and shouted yes, yes, yes ! Right there I decided I wanted to be a photographer, wanted to share all these beautiful places, with whoever wants to see, through my photos and in writing.
Dec
20
2014We wish all our friends and everybody reading and watching our webpage a wonderful Christmas and a great start in 2015!
Juerg is definitely not a shop-a-holic, but creative as he is, he proves that ( from a photographic point of view) shopping centres at Christmas time are not just stress, they can be fun, inspiring and they are beautiful….
2014 was the year of change and new beginnings.
Read More»Dec
14
2014THANK YOU GREG & PIETER !
This is just a tiny blog, but for a big issue….
See, we sent in 9 photos for the Mala Mala photo competition, and were really very disappointed when we didn’t even make it in the top 10…. so we forgot all about it, well, sort of put it in the back of our minds. Till one day early August I got an e-mail : Mala Mala calendar 2015. Figured they wanted to sell me one of the calendars, opened it, and to my surprise they didn’t want to sell me one, but use one of my photos ! Yes, yes, yes ! I am going to be a famous photographer, someone has “discovered me”. Boy, I am so proud ! They even sent the email twice. As I opened the second one it turned out I was wrong again. They want to use another photo ! Even more proud now ! We still didn’t really believe it, decided to wait till we saw the calendar, had it in our hands…..and here it is.
The good thing is, one photo is Jürgs, one is mine, so we can keep the discussion going as to which of the two of us is the better photographer. Judge for yourselves !
The thank you part is the most important ! We couldn’t have done it without these two guys.
So here’s a very big thank you : to Greg du Toit, my absolutely favourite photographer. His photos are just something else, different, unique and inspiring. He showed me how to really use and be master of my camera, and inspired me to keep trying, wait for the light, and see with my eyes and heart.
Just as big a thank you to Pieter van Wijk, my favourite ranger ever. He tracked down and drove us to these wonderful animals, got us in prime photo position more than once, and to my opinion is one who truly sees with his heart.
In the following picture Greg and Pieter are the two pretty ones on the right !
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