Vík í Mýrdal

Today we stayed in the Vík area (vík means bay), Suðurland. The first photo is taken from the 218 road to Dyrhólaey and shows the morning sun on the Mýrdalsjökull (jökull means glacier). In the afternoon we made a hike on one of its ice tongues, Sólheimajökull, with dangerous crevasses. And we closed the day on Reynisfjara lava beach.

* Canon EOS 5D Mark III, 70-200mm/f2.8 @ 70 mm; ISO-400, f16, 1/160s; +1.3 stop.
* Canon EOS 5D Mark III, 24-105mm/f4 @ 50 mm; ISO-400, f16, 1/200s; +1 stop.
* Canon EOS 5D Mark III, 16-35mm/f4 @ 25mm; ISO-400, f14, 1/13s; +0.7 stop; ND2 hard gradient filter; tripod.

Foss day

Yesterday in the late afternoon I set foot on Iceland for the first time in my life! We (my brother Mathieu and his son Stan) landed on Keflavík, and drove up to our AirBNB address in Laugarvatn. Today we first visited the intimate Bruarfoss waterfall (foss means waterfall). It is a bit difficult to find. But what a beauty, I wish I had spent more time here (I definitely do that next time when I visit Iceland!). Next we headed to a touristic Geysir (with the famous geyser Strokkur, erupting to heights of up to 30m every few minutes) and moved on to a very windy Gullfoss winter wonderland. We were very lucky with the overcast weather of today. It added to black-and-white winter scenery.

* Canon EOS 5D Mark III, 70-200mm/f2.8 @ 85 mm; ISO-200, f16, 1/8s; +0.7 stop; tripod.
* Canon EOS 5D Mark III, 70-200mm/f2.8 @ 125 mm; ISO-100, f14, 1/30s; +1.3 stop; tripod.

Zorro on the moorland

It’s really “cool” to be outside in these special circumstances. Frost and sunrise light did the magic. The moor was suddenly painted in blue and orange colors. A perching Great Grey Shrike (Lanius excubitor/Klapekster) completed the wonder winter scenery.

 

Nature is full of surprises. Shrikes are one of them. They are medium-sized birds with a long tail, strong bill with hooked tip, and sharp claws. Although they behave as birds of prey they are in fact passerines. They like to perch at high points and to overlook the area for prey.

* Canon EOS 5D Mark III, 500mm/f4; ISO-800, f5.6, 1/320s; +0.7 stop; tripod.

SEO

Here is my last post of 2015. A big wish has come true! This Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus/Velduil) suddenly decided to land just in front of me and enjoy the last sunshine of the day. Look at those fierce yellow eyes! This is definitely one of the best nature experiences I had this year. In the background you see a few houses of the village Zevenhuizen.

* Canon EOS 7D, 500mm/f4; ISO-400, f5, 1/164s; -0.3 stop; tripod.
* Canon EOS 7D, 500mm/f4; ISO-400, f4.5, 1/500s; -0.3 stop; tripod.

Amazing Kestrels

Kestrels (Falco tinnunculus/Torenvalk) were excellent models today. Ditches and margins of fields are their favourite habitat for catching voles.

* Canon EOS 7D, 500mm/f4; ISO-400, f4.5, 1/1600s; tripod.
* Canon EOS 7D, 500mm/f4; ISO-400, f4, 1/1600s; tripod.

Reichswald

The terror attack in Paris of 2 days ago resonates everywhere in the world. It feels a bit strange to be in this quiet old Reichswald forest this morning. The forest has ears and the fields have eyes. This is an old saying for medieval times . Although the quietness is all around you could still sense an “unheimisch” atmosphere. Probably this has to do with the heavy fighting at the end of WOII in this forest.

* Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 16-35mm/f4 @ 16mm; ISO-400, f9, 1/60s; hand held.

Beech forest

Beech forest in autumn colors. I tried to focus more on forest photography this autumn. It is not easy. It is very much about creating order out of chaos.

* Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 70-200mm/f2.8 @ 75 mm; ISO-400, f16, 1/2s; +0.7 stop; tripod.
* Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 16-35mm/f4 @ 16mm; ISO-400, f16, 1.3s; polarization filter; tripod.