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 …

A postcard from Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre

June 7, 2017

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. P.S.: I have been getting dirty looks from the plethora of photographers frequenting the five villages: my tiny and lightweight Fuji setup does not look pro compared to the motor enhanced Nikon D5s, Canon 1Ds etc.. Oh well… 😉

The Azure Window is gone!

March 8, 2017

A sad day Boy, what a sad day. Earlier this afternoon the world found out that the famous Azure Window in Malta is gone. It’s gone for good. RIP. A massive storm took this amazing piece of nature down to the depths of the ocean. I have a hard time expressing how sad I am about this. The Azure Window was one of the most iconic rock formations in the entire Mediterranean. It was a view that I could not get enough of. On some days, I would head out to Dwerja multiple times to view it in different lighting and ocean conditions. The …

The Benagil Sea Cave Adventure

November 10, 2016

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 is breathtakingly beautiful. You have probably seen pictures of it on the internet. I am speaking about the Benagil Sea Cave. You can find it close to a beach of the same name not too far from the tourist town of Armacao de Pera. Easy …

Hiking with the Fuji X-T2

November 2, 2016

Hiking & The Fuji X-T2 Hiking with photographic equipment can be quite cumbersome. There were days when I schlepped a heavy backpack with a set of lenses and DSLR bodies around. Not only was the hiking experience akward but I also often ended up leaving the camera in the bag as it was inconvenient to take stuff in and out. Those days are long gone. Hiking with a mirrorless camera such as the Fuji X-T2 is a joy. Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to discover the gorgeous Lake Duisitzkar (Duisitzkarsee) in Styria, Austria. Together with my family, we …

Two amazing days in beautiful Slovenia

July 17, 2016

Gorgeous Slovenia Some things just don’t make sense on paper. But when you actually do them, they seem right. Last weekend, my family and I jumped in the car to head down to Slovenia to meet up with some good friends that we hadn’t seen in a while. It’s usually a 3.5h drive from Munich but summer traffic added a few traffic jams and hours. But boy….it was so worth it. To make it short: we love Slovenia. Lake Bled Our short adventure started in Bled. It’s a small town nestled between gorgeous mountains and a lake. It couldn’t be …

Scandinavian Summer Days

May 26, 2016

There is something magical about summers up North. Sunrise is bright and early (no pun intended) and the evenings never seem to end. Earlier this week, I had to head up to Copenhagen and Oslo for business meetings. It was a pretty intense and rushed affair. But summers being summers in Scandinavia, days are longer than anywhere else and you get to enjoy life in the sunshine after you are done with your chores. Likewise, days start early: the sun rises shortly after 4am in Oslo right now. Endless days The first evening, my team and I went on a …

Christoph Papenfuss Photography