The Dolomites, Italy – For The First Time…

I can’t believe it myself, but last year September has been the first time I have been to the Dolomites in northern Italy – to the probably most beautiful “mountain-scape” in the whole world. It’s only a 4-5 hours drive away from where I live and a predicted 4-days high pressure weather period and a New Moon phase was the final trigger to get moving. Arriving there late in the afternoon, I was overwhelmed by the sheer beauty of this place. I had no maps and I did not know where to go first – everything was just amazing. I stood by my car at the highest located parking lot at an elevation of 2320 m, while looking around and waiting for the sun to set, the clouds moved in and within an hour, everything was soaked in. Damn. I went to bed in my car early and was very anxious about what the next morning would bring. But as often, “don´t ask what will I get today, ask what will I be given today.” And in my case, its been one of the most beautiful mornings I have witnessed so far. Only the first five images are from the arrival from that afternoon, all the others are from the next morning and day. The Dolomites are a place of heaven nowadays, but this area has got a dark past as well. During WW I, there has been the fighting line between the Italians and the Austrians/Hungarians, filled with tunnels and emplacements and most of the soldiers on both sides died not of the fightings, but of hunger, the cold and avalanches. The Dolomites are a place with history and a fantastic area for doing outdoors – combining those things with photography – makes an extraordinary experience. A tons of images are building up on my stock site: http://wernerpriller.photoshelter.com/gallery/The-DOLOMITES/G000043GRA7Inif4 , stay tuned and…Enjoy!

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Soldier cemetery  @ “Nasswand”, Toblach…

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The Rifugio Auronzo, 2320 m a.s.l. @ the world-famous Tre Cime di Lavaredo Nature Park…

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Sunset @ the Gruppo dei Cardini mountains…

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Clouds moving in @ sunset…

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Obscured Gruppo dei Cardini @ twilight…

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A starry morning feat. Venus, Canis Minor, Canis Major, Sirius and Orion (from l.-r.); the clouds above are gone, but the valley is still covered and the lights of the town of Auronzo are shining through @ nautical twilight…

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Orion above the Gruppo dei Cardini and the clouds are floating through the valley; the light to right on top of the ridge is the Rifugio G.Lorenzi, 2932 m a.s.l. within the Gruppo del Cristallo Range…

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The stars above and the town lights below and the Rifugio Auronzo begins its day…

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The lights of Auronzo –  like a space ship sailing through the void…

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Morning is coming @ the Rifugio Auronzo…

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The lights within…

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Floating clouds @ twilight…

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…at an elevation of about 2000 m…

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First light and floating clouds on the Gruppo del Cristallo…

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The so-called Venus Belt or Earth Shade visible over the Gruppo del Cristallo Range (left); this is the area where they filmed the movie “Cliffhanger” feat. Silvester Stallone in 1993…

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Man @ work…

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Exhausted, but happy after photographing through a fantastic morning…

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Can you spot the Rifugio G.Lorenzi @ 2932 m ? Somewhere to the top right…

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Take me in…

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Hiking trail feat. a lot of tunnels from WW I…

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Looking down @ the summit of Sasso di Landro, 2536 m…

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Looking towards the Drei-Zinnen-Hütte, the red dot to the upper right…

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The Drei-Zinnen-Hütte to the left…

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The so-called Blue Hour @ the Gruppo dei Cardini; the Blue Hour marks the time between civilian and nautical twilight, just before the stars become visible…

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” Feel happy and grateful for having received such wonderful gifts. Then go your way in peace.”  (Neville)

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The Chadar Trek, Zanskar, India, Day Four

It´s the fourth day on the Chadar Trek and slowly, everything is coming together – still perfect conditions on the trek. After two hours walking, we made a short rest and then reached for the “side-valley”, which leads all the way up towards Lingshed, our main destination, at an elevation of about 3650 m a.s.l., where we stayed for the night at the house of our guest family. Tons of more images are here: http://wernerpriller.photoshelter.com/gallery/CHADAR-TREK/G00003n2SagiJ8_w/. More to come…Enjoy!

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Posing in-front of a nameless ice fall, standing on solid ice…

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A so-called Upper Tangent Arch, a solar halo…

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Sheer cliffs, walking on ice and fresh snow on colored rocks…

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Our three locals: Tsultrim, Sangay and Tsering…

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The team, just before the ascend towards Lingshed…For the a group like us (five tourists), it would be normal to have 10-12 porters; we only had three and thus we have been the attraction along the Chadar Trek…

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Along the slopes we go…

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 Afternoon light illuminating the ridge of the Zanskar Mountains…

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Again, sheer cliffs and colored rocks just before…

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…we got first sight of Lingshed – a dream came true!

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Cuties of our guest family…

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During winter time, only one room is heated, and the five of us and the eight of our guest family still found place in this 3 x 3 m room. Notice the sign in the top right corner, the Swastika, an old sign being formerly/still used by Hinduism and Buddhism, then being used/abused by the Nazis… (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika)

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Stanzin Thardod and his daughter – my daddy is the greatest!

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Preparing dinner…

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 Kitchen and living room @ the guest family – notice the sooty ceiling…(shot at Iso 16000!)

The hospitality and friendliness of our guest family were extraordinary; I´ve never met such nice and gracious people before, even if you might consider them living a poor life, but indeed, they live a very rich (not material speaking) life! Thank you for letting me be a part of this…

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The Last Rites Of Winter

By now, winter is gone, at least to an elevation of 1500 m a.s.l. I took this images in the attempt to photograph comet PanStarrs early morning, 2nd of April 2013, but the night I arrived at the Rossfeldpanorama-Straße, Berchtesgaden, Upper Bavaria, Germany, I got nothing but clouds and the sight was below 50 m – much different to the predicted clear skies for that night. Traveling for 3 hours and a 180 km drive away, I camped in my van, set the alarm for 5:00 am and waited for the things to come. First I was disappointed by the fact that there were still clouds and comet PanStarrs and the Andromeda nebula were obscured by clouds, but when I got home and looked at the images, the trip was it worthwhile, and it got me some images I dreamed of for some time – extended low stratus clouds down in the valley and stars up above! As always, you can find more images over on my stock site: http://wernerpriller.photoshelter.com. Enjoy!

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The valley of Berchtesgaden is covered by clouds, city lights are shining through, and the constellations of the Big Dipper and Leo, as well as the bright star Arcturus, are accentuated…

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View to the opposite side, lots of clouds around, but fantastic scenery…

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No sign of PanStarrs, but some stars are still visible in this pre-dawn scenery; like the constellations of Perseus, Cassiopeia, Cepheus and Cygnus (l.-r.)…

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Nice place to “work”…

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Above the clouds…

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At the office…

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Clouds are still floating through the valley…

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Still some snow around, 04/02/2013, 1400 m…

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Same elevation, different place, but most of the snow is gone, while the wild flowers are starting to bloom, 05/01/2013, Soingraben, Bayrischzell, Upper Bavaria, Germany …

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“Personality is everything in art and poetry.” (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

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My Favorite Images Of January 2013

A bit late, but its time again for me to edit my favorite image from every month in order to be ready at the end of the year to participate at Jim Goldstein´s blog project “Best Photos of…” (http://www.jmg-galleries.com/blog/2013/01/09/photos-2012-jmggalleries-blog-readers/ # 70). For me, this blog project is about something to learn which images to choose and to edit and in my opinion that´s almost the hardest part of photography, besides selling your stuff. It’s a good learning lesson each month to flip through the images and have a look at them and deciding which ones you think would be cool and select them for a higher goal – to pick the best one from each month at the end of the year and making your personal “Best Of”, then you can  compare them to the ´Best Of` the year before and see what may have changed. My favorites from 2012: http://wernerpriller.wordpress.com/2012/12/29/2012-a-year-in-twelve-images/ . Enjoy!

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By the bark beetle devastated fir trees, Bavarian Forest NP, Germany…

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On top of Lusen Mt., 1373 m, Bavarian Forest NP, Germany…

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Indus Valley @ Leh, Ladakh, India, Himalaya…

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Shanti Stupa, Leh, 3650 m a.s.l., Ladakh, India…

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Prayer flags and stars, Leh, Ladakh, India…

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Stars and camp site @ Chadar Trek, 3250 m a.s.l., Zanskar River, Zanskar, India…

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Lunar Halo and yours truly @ the frozen Zanskar River, Zanskar, India…

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Rising full Moon illuminating the Zanskar Gorge, Zanskar, India…

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Standing on solid ice, watching the stars and hearing the water flowing, Zanskar River, Zanskar, India…

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Camp site above the Zanskar River, watching the stars and the rising full Moon, Zanskar, India…

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Our crew along the Chadar Trek, for ten days and ten nights…

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Elder Lama, Lingshed Monastery, 3950 a.s.l., Lingshed, Zanskar, India…

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Startrails, Lusen Mt., Bavarian Forest NP, Germany…

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Camp site, Arcturus and Saturn @ Lusen Mt., Bavarian Forest NP, Germany…

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Probably the first ever startrails image done on the frozen Zanskar River, Zanskar, India…

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Startrails, frozen and dead fir trees @ Lusen Mt., Bavarian Forest NP, Germany…

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The second startrails image from the frozen Zanskar River, Zanskar, India…

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“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” ( Walt Disney )
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Conjunction Of Moon And Jupiter, 04/14/2013

Long time no see of the celestial constellations since a couple of weeks, but on Sunday the sky cleared up, right on time to watch Moon and Jupiter making their way along the ecliptic, through batches of cirrus clouds towards the horizon. Neat little spectacle on a Sunday night – good to be out again…Enjoy!

More “Moonscapes“: http://wernerpriller.photoshelter.com/gallery/MOONSCAPES/G0000tnlsfxwbzkE/

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Moon and Jupiter @ civilian twilight…

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Close-up…

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Wide-angle view @ civilian twilight…

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The colors starting to fade at the beginning of nautical twilight…

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Close-up @ nautical twilight…

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At the end of nautical twilight, the stars become visible…

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Addendum, English…

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Addendum, German…

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The Chadar Trek, Zanskar, India, Day Three

The third day started with a clear sky, but with a cold wind, which blew through the gorge of the frozen Zanskar River. Sometimes I almost wished the spectacular scenery would turn into ´normal` for just an hour or so to get a little break from photographing all the time, which can become quite strenuous while carrying the backpack and not loosing contact with my fellow comrades. After every turn, every bend the river made, either there has been a jaw-dropping scenery or we met other local porters, who were surprised we did not have more than three local porters for our group – 10-12 would have been normal. After a six-hours walk, the hardest thing of the day was to reach the 30 m higher grounded camp-site above the Zanskar River. But the view from there was just breathtaking – the most spectacular place I have spent a night so far. Enjoy!

Meanwhile, there are more than one-thousand images from this trek on my stock site; check them out if you like: http://wernerpriller.photoshelter.com/gallery/CHADAR-TREK/G00003n2SagiJ8_w/

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Along we go the frozen Zanskar River…

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Getting water for daily use can become quite dangerous…

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Tsering, one of our locals, with the traditional sledge; in the back a group of porters from a different party…

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Sangay, my trusty back-up…

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Sangay meeting some other porters on their way back…

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Walking on ice…

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Prayer flags wrapped around a holy tree…

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A mystical place amidst the Zanskar Mountains…

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Up we go to the camp-site…

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Tsering and Sangay gathered some fire wood…

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Last light on the nameless mountains of the Zanskar Range…

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Camp for the  night…

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By the fire…

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The first light of the rising full moon touching the snow-covered ridge…

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Sirius, Orion, Hyades, Jupiter, Pleiades (from left to right)…

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A night to remember…

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“Nature is the art of God.”  (Dante Alighieri)

Making The Print

Ever considered printing your images but did not know how to do it? Or the image on your screen did not match the output of your printer? Or is monitor calibrating, soft proofing, icc-profiles and stuff like that a closed book to you? And why should I even get my images printed – I bring them to the lab, even if they do not match the colors I had in mind. Yes, that´s been me! I had no idea of all that stuff I have mentioned above, since I came around an e-book by Martin Bailey: http://craftandvision.com/books/making-the-print/ . And than the fun started! I calibrated my monitor with the X-rite Color Munki ( http://www.xrite.com/product_overview.aspx?ID=1513 , German, Videos English), installed my brand-new Epson Stylus Pro 3880 printer ( https://www.epson.de/de/de/viewcon/corporatesite/products/mainunits/overview/3642, German) and got some Epson quality paper like the Premium Luster Photo Paper ( http://www.epson.de/de/de/viewcon/corporatesite/products/consumables/overview/2057 , German) . The results are mind-blowing! But why should I do all that, you may ask?! To learn, to develop, to get your stuff seen and to have something you can hang to your wall, physically speaking. Or like RC Concepcion said it on Scott Kelby´s blog: “Hipping your house!” (http://scottkelby.com/2012/the-effects-of-printing-and-hanging/ ). But what really got me going was listening and watching to the master himself, Art Wolfe! Check this out: http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/Video-Library/video/Professional-Imaging/Art-Wolfe-Velvet-Fine-Art-Paper/950856188001?BV_UseBVCookie=yes . But best thing last: you have the whole thing in your hands, from taking the image to printing and selling it, your bargain.  If you do not honor your work yourself, who else should? Lots of links in this blog, but printing is really something special. Give it a try, but beware, you might get some kind of addicted to it…Enjoy!

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Epson Stylus Pro 3880 A2+ and some first prints…

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