A Year In Review
With this post I´d like to show you my favorites from 2011. I tried to pick an image from each month – with a story behind. Click if you like to enlarge the images. Enjoy!
JANUARY
4th of Jan., waiting for the partial eclipse of the sun at the highest spot in Germany, the Zugspitze, almost 3000 m in elevation; the sun was covered by high clouds, but the view to the north was breathtaking; more info: http://wernerpriller.wordpress.com/2011/01/08/waiting-for-a-clear-sky/
FEBRUARY
2nd of Feb., arriving at Wells Gray Provincial Park, British Columbia, Canada, late at night at the Helmcken Falls; I camped at the plowed parking lot. A starry night at -25° with the constellation of Orion at the lower middle edge; pretty spooky being on your own in an unknown dark forest; the snow was plowed up head-high against the trees and one could hear the roaring of the nearby waterfall; the back-lights of my SUV painted the scene in red; see this post here:http://wernerpriller.wordpress.com/2011/02/10/a-journey-of-a-lifetime/
MARCH
8th of March, Lago di Garda; during the first school holidays of the year, we went down to the beautiful Lago di Garda; while watching the sunset, a crested grebe paddled into perfect position; more on this post: http://wernerpriller.wordpress.com/2011/03/13/bella-italia-lago-di-garda/
APRIL
23rd of April, the city of Portofino at the Ligurian coast, Italy; on Good Friday, it was pure coincidence that we came across this place and have been able to watch the beginning of the Easter bonfire at this trendy type location; more of this story here: http://wernerpriller.wordpress.com/2011/05/02/at-easter-in-bella-italia/
MAY
18th of May; visually watching the full moon with my new toy, a Meade 8″ telescope, I managed to snap an airplane flying across the full moon; focal length: 3000 mm! real size image; more images here: http://wernerpriller.wordpress.com/2011/05/31/celestial-meets-terrestrial/
JUNE
23rd of June; the Torre Sfinale is an old defense tower at the north-east coast of the Gargano Peninsula, Italy; image is a composite of about 230 single frames, stacked with software; this has been my first “real” attempt of making a startrail image and it´s now featured on the “TWAN-the world at night” homepage/guest gallery; if you like this image, you might love this post: http://wernerpriller.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/startrails/
JULY
9th of July; the day before the race of the FIM Motocross World championship at Teutschenthal, East Germany; my son and I went there for watching that spectacle with an estimated crowd of about 40000 people; people walking by around the racetrack during twilight; more info and images here: http://wernerpriller.wordpress.com/2011/07/17/action-sports-motocross/
AUGUST
28th of August; my first “Deep Sky” image is a composit of 6 single images, each 5 min. of exposure, stacked with software; if you expose an image for that long, you normally will get startrails; in this case, I mounted my camera “piggy back” on the equatorial mount, which moves exactly the same speed like the seemingly rotation of the earth; the bright dot in the left lower corner is our neighbour galaxy, the Andromeda nebula; more info here: http://wernerpriller.wordpress.com/2011/07/27/the-milky-way/
SEPTEMBER
26th of Sept.; what really matters in this image are the two light streaks to the right; according to Arnold Barmettler of calsky.com, one of the best internet sources for astronomy, these are so-called Iridium Flares; but this time not of a normal satellite, but of a chinese military satellite, called “Yaogan 9″! See more here: http://wernerpriller.wordpress.com/2011/09/30/iridium-flares-and-stars-at-the-hop-fields/
OCTOBER
23rd of October; another startrails image, taken in a pitch black, new moon night; the leave-less poplar trees give a great silhouette against the colorful trails; lot´s of wild pigs have been around that night, also an owl and some deer; see more of that story here: http://wernerpriller.wordpress.com/2011/10/25/a-night-out-in-the-woods/
NOVEMBER
16th of Nov.; Morning glory at the Sudelfeldpaß, Upper Bavaria, Germany; after watching a star/moon occultation before dawn, the rising sun painted the whole area into dramatic light; in the lower left corner is still some extended low stratus visible; more of this story, read here: http://wernerpriller.wordpress.com/2011/11/17/the-foothills-of-the-bavarian-alps/
DECEMBER
27th of Dec.; conjunction of the crescent moon and venus, photographed at the Spitzingsee area, Upper Bavaria, Germany; after 2hours of driving and 1,5 hours of walking up a snow-covered trail at the foothills of the Bavarian Alps at a hight of 1500m, I arrived just in time to watch this celestial event during twilight; it´s a composite image of 11 single shots, stacked via software; I then spent half of the night up there photographing startrails and the Milky Way…
Such great work here. Simply gorgeous and those night sky images — amazing. Nice year, eh?
Thank you, Katie!
I bet ya, definitely!
Cheers, Werner
Hi Katie, lesley, Neuromancer, photonatureblog, studiomjames and the Alternate Economy! Thank you all for liking this post and being around in 2012!
Always great light! Werner
Great celestial shots. Congratulations!
Thanks a lot, Robert! Appreciated very much!
Have a nice week! Werner
Outstanding work! I especially like the October star trail image – really well done.
Thanks a lot, Michael! I appreciate it very much to get such an approval by a pro like you!
Cheers from Bavaria! Werner