A few days in Tavira

September 20, 2023

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 to the town of Tavira. Tavira Tavira might not be the most popular city in Portugal but it is well worth a visit. The town itself is quite nice with a ton of small alleys to explore. But the true highlight of this region is …

Vík in iceland

September 4, 2023

vík í Mýrdal 2023 has been a special Iceland year for me. My wife and I went there in mid February and I ended up returning at the end of July to watch the recent Lili-Hrutur volcano eruption. Vík was high up on our list for both trips. A nice benefit of going there in winter and summer is to see the stark contrast between both seasons. We first visited Vík during a strong winter storm that unleashed not only ferocious winds but which also dumped epic rain on us. The winds were so strong that our hotel was rattling. …

Iceland in summer

August 28, 2023

Iceland Just a short update today. It’s been raining cats & dogs here in Bavaria. Perfect time to get caught up on photo & video editing. Earlier in August, I posted some photos from a visit to the Little-Hrutur volcano in Iceland. Following those two days, I went on a whirlwind five day trip along the South Coast of Iceland. The crazy abundance of beauty wherever you look has a drawback though: People like me are easily tempted to create more footage than you could realistically deal with later. Sifting through that and cutting it was a bigger task than …

A herculian challenge in A Coruña?

August 23, 2023

A Coruña There is a magnificent gem located in the North West of Spain. It seems to have gone somewhat unnoticed by the millions of tourists that flock to the South every year. The gem is a sparkling city on the Atlantic. It features picturesque alleys, an abundance of amazing restaurants and a number of fantastic sites/ views. I am speaking of the city A Coruña. After traveling there for work on a number of occasions, I finally had the opportunity to spend a full day in this place. Equipped with the trusted Fuji X100V and the GoPro 11, we …

Fire dances – A rendezvous with Litli-Hrutur

August 8, 2023

Volcano: Litli-Hrutur Do you have a bucket list? I certainly do and there was one item all the way up on that directory: to experience a live volcano. The closest I have come to fulfil this dream was to fly over Mt St Helens on a clear day in 2004 during a brief period of activity. But that was like watching a video. It was therefore exciting to see the mesmerising footage from the recent volcano eruptions in Iceland that started in 2021. But Covid prevented me from traveling there. However, on July 10th of 2023 a new fissure appeared …

Unearthly Beauty Meets Unearthly Charm – Gozo: The Island that Stole My Heart!

July 25, 2023

Gozo, Malta Hey fellow wanderlusters and photography enthusiasts! Today, I’m taking you on a side-splitting journey to a land where azure seas and captivating landscapes meet the quirkiest, most charming island inhabitants. Buckle up and grab your snorkels, for we’re diving headfirst into the wonderland known as Gozo! Gozo is a smaller island located in the tiny country of Malta. While most visitors will remain on the main island, Gozo is by far the nicer place IMHO. The Joy of Pronunciation When you roam the island, you will encountered places that that seem impossible to pronounce. Names like “Dwerja”, “Mgarr-Ix-Xini”, …

The fabled Sa Calobra climb

January 6, 2022

Sa Calobra The cycling community is ripe with discussions about famous mountain passes and climbs. Pretty much every athlete either dreams of conquering specific climbs or has stories of mountain passes to tell. Some climbs are (in)famous for their difficulty. Others are beloved because of their beauty. The Col dels Reis on the Spanish island of Mallorca belongs to the latter category. Better known as Sa Calobra, the road twists and turns through a rugged mountain landscape like a snake. The top features a crazy loop at the top called ‘the tie’. Riding the pass with the GoPro Hero 10 …

Ibiza – Post lock-down

June 6, 2021

More and more countries are starting to ease travel restrictions as the Covid situation improves across the globe. We were most certainly delighted to jump on a flight to Ibiza a few weeks ago. The island was quite empty and many hotels were still shut down. It was almost a bit eerie in certain parts. Nevertheless, we did enjoy our stay as we got to enjoy the beauty without the usual crowd of party tourists that usually frequent this place. Ibiza Impressions Here is a short video with impressions from the gorgeous Spanish island.

Discovering Tenerife

June 30, 2018

Tenerife The Spanish Canary islands in the middle of the Atlantic are well known for their beauty, mild climate and easy access for tourists. Earlier this month, I took a few days to discover one of the largest islands in this archipelago: Tenerife. My main purpose was to bike but I could not resist to bring my camera, of course. The destination did not disappoint. On the contrary – I had a few days where the sheer beauty and the abundance of things to explore left me outright exhausted from visual overload (there are definitely worse things in life!). So …

Star gazing on Mt Teide

June 18, 2018

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 also some spectacular photographs. However, it has become somewhat difficult to enjoy a really dark night sky. Light pollution from our urban areas is rampant and most people have probably never seen the milky way as a result of that. But there are a few …

12 Hours in Stockholm

March 19, 2018

Beautiful Stockholm It’s almost the end of March and we woke up to a fresh layer of snow coupled with freezing temperatures. These type of days are a perfect opportunity to do some focused post production photography work. While cleaning up my Lightroom catalogue, I realized with horror that there is a huge backlog of photographs that should be posted on this blog. Time to rectify this. Without further due ado, here is a short report from a gorgeous trip to Stockholm in August of 2017. A Perfect Summer Day Last summer, we took a short cruise through the Baltic …

Swim with tuna – your not so average adventure

September 10, 2017

The Adventure Have you ever experienced an adventure that gave you goosebumps thinking about? Once in a while, some of us are lucky and witness something truly unique. Something that will stick with you forever. Together with my family and our awesome friends from Portland, we did something that none of us had ever done before. There are only two places on this planet where you can do what we did. I am talking about swimming with tuna. Not just any kind of tuna but really big 400lb+ fish. The Malta Tuna Experience Malta is currently one of the two …

A beautiful morning at the Gozo Salt Pans

August 26, 2017

Roaming around the Mediterranean island of Gozo is a constant adventure. Despite the recent collapse of the ubiquitous Azure Window, there is still a plethora of treasures to be discovered. As a rule of thumb, unexpected beauty is always around the corner. If you travel to the town of Marsalforn in the North of the island, and head west along the coastal road you will suddenly find yourself in a surreal world of limestone waves on the left and a giant spiderweb of glistening salt pans cut into the stone on the right. It’s a stunning view especially with the …

The Lightroom Mobile RAW workflow

August 20, 2017

Lightroom Mobile Galore! Traveling light as a passionate photographer is a constant challenge. There is the nagging balance between bringing our beloved gear and keeping the overall weight of the luggage at an acceptable level. That is one of the reasons why I ditched my huge and heavy Nikon equipment and went with the versatile and lightweight Fuji X system. But regardless of the camera equipment, a key weight contributor is typically the computer. I personally really enjoy editing photos on vacations as this is the occasion where I can actually spend quality time on it. But I have always …

Adventures in Camogli

July 19, 2017

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 lot of other jewels that one should not miss. One example is the area around the town of Camogli just outside of Genoa. Together with my family, we decided to head down that way at the beginning of June to explore the terrain before the …

An unexpected evening in Vienna

June 28, 2017

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 done earlier than expected and there was enough time to go for a walk through the gorgeous gardens. Equipped with my trusted travel companion – the Fuji X70 and a small Manfrotto Pixi tripod, I set myself the challenge to get at least three photographs …

Christoph Papenfuss Photography