Cascais James Bond has taught us that secret agents love fancy places. Earlier this year, I wrote about a special location in Europe that used to be a spy haven: Cascais. It’s a beautiful spot that I keep going back to. To top off a great 2023, my wife and I recently returned to the… Read More
Blue Hour Timing matters. This is especially true when it comes to photography. I was astounded this week during three photo sessions how much difference a few minutes can make. The blue hour is one of my favorite times to take photos. While on a trip to Cascais, Portugal, I set out to photograph the… Read More
Ringo the Flamingo Is that a flamingo? Boy, I was surprised to see a flock of these awesome birds stand in a tide pool close to Faro airport in Portugal as we made our final descent. Quite a fun sight. And that was a nice and surprising way to start to a short vacation close… Read More
Intro A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to spend a wonderful morning roaming the quiet streets of Passau. My trusted Fuji X100V accompanied me per usual. The city of Passau is located in the Eastern part of Bavaria. It is known for each unique geographic feature: three rivers meet at the tip of… Read More
Mt Teide When is the last time you have taken the time to enjoy the night sky and do some star gazing? Probably not as of lately? If not, you should. And you should also bring your camera. Star gazing and astrophotography are activities that can provide you not only with an awesome experience but… Read More
Camogli, June 2017 The problem with traveling to Italy is that you need to choose a place. There are just so many awesome and gorgeous options on the table. High on anybody’s wish list should be the region of Liguria. While it’s best known for the UNESCO world heritage site Cinque Terre, there are a… Read More
Photo challenge in Vienna Business does take me to Vienna quite frequently. But when I go, I usually stay right in the beautiful city centre. As luck had it, this time I ended up in a hotel right next to the famous Schönbrunn Castle which is a little bit outside of the city. Work was… Read More
Cinque Terre Greetings from Riomaggiore, Italy. This is a wonderful town in the famous Cinque Terre national park in Italy. Just a quick postcard for today. A complete trip report will follow soon. The photo was taken with the Fuji X-T1, Samyang 12mm, f2 along with a Haida ND3.0 and the wonderful Singh-Ray warming polarizer…. Read More
Benagil Sea Cave The Algarve Coast in Portugal is an amazing place to visit. The beaches, coves and villages are simply stunning. As an added bonus, the whole coast line is littered with sea caves. Some are easy to visit, others not. Some or boring, others are gorgeous. One of these caves stands out, though. It… Read More
The Spanish island of Mallorca is well known not just for its famous beaches and holiday resorts but also for its exceptional cycling terrain. There is an endless network of smooth & well maintained roads that spans almost the entire island. Combine that infrastructure with beautiful views and respectful drivers and you have something that could… Read More
Over three years ago, I posted a review of the Walimex 8mm f/3.5 fisheye for Nikon. Since then I have sold all my Nikon gear and switched to the Fuji X system. Naturally, one of the first lenses I acquired was the Fuji version of the fisheye. Since the original article is still one of the… Read More
Batu Caves The Batu Caves is a series of well known limestone caves outside of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. The caves and the exterior house a number of hindu shrines that are dedicated to Lord Murugan. The whole place is extremely impressive and one could easily spend many hours exploring and observing. Unfortunately, we only had… Read More
Starry nights A few months ago, I started experimenting with photographing the night sky. I had done a few ill-fated attempts at capturing star trails in the past. Inspired by the David Kingham’s eBook Nightscape, I managed to get some nice results while vacationing on Malta this past summer. Unfortunately, there are not that many opportunities… Read More
Vacation Photos Vacations are always an exciting time for photographers: lot’s of new and exciting stuff to explore and most importantly time to pursue your passion. However, many people return with disappointing results. I have certainly had my fair share of this. While there might be a bunch of pleasing compositions in the final album,… Read More
Side, Turkey A few weeks ago I had the pleasure to go on a short family vacation in Side, Turkey. It’s a popular tourist destination. While the myriad of giant hotel parks is not that easy on the eye, the town of Side offers some amazing views. It’s an ancient Greek settlement and you can therefore walk… Read More
Speedlights What to do on a cold, stormy and rainy early summer evening? Play with your photo equipment! Earlier today I read an interest blog post by Joe McNally. It is called ‘More Flash Play’ and Joe explains how to simulate the light from a computer screen. All you have to do is tape a… Read More