Through the eyes of a travelling photographer
The following morning, we left Budapest, heading northwards across Slovakia and into Poland. The air was thick, as the skies darkened over Kraków, as the heavens above decided to unleash a powerful two hour display of lightning and thunder.
Stunning castle on the road through Slovakia
Lightning grounding over Ikea, Krakow
Massive bolt lightning over the fields
Lighting up the sky over Krakow
The hottest day of our tour involved walking the beautiful streets of Budapest with the temperature creeping over 37°C. Budapest was once two cities – Buda and Pest, seperated by the great Danube River which officially combined in 1872. The Buda side is located on the western banks of the Danube, featuring the hilly terrain and historic castles. Across the river on the expansive Great Plain, lies Pest, where much of the style is on 19th century architecture.
Buda side
Overlooking the Danube
Inside the Terror Museum – some disturbing scenes from WWII victims. Featuring photographs from Jewish victims, historic video footage, and torture devices.
Photography wasn’t permitted in the rest of museum, but was worth visiting for harrowing accounts of concentration camps, suffered by Jewish people from the Hungarian region.
St Stephen’s Cathedral (St István Parish Church) – Is the largest church in Budapest, with building commencing in 1851, but not completed until 1905. This Neo-Renaissance church is often simply known as the Basilica.
Inside the Basilica
Inside the Basilica.
Winding staircase up to the tower
Looking back down the staircase at the Basilica
View from the Basilica, over Pest and the Great Plain
Front view of the Basilica
Mercedes in Budapest 😉
Parliament Building on the scorching day
After walking across the Chain Bridge, headed up the hills into Buda.
With the extreme heat and dehydration setting in, Peter, Nic and I ventured into the Labyrinth of Buda Castle, where the temperature is a constant 14°C and 90% humidity all year round. Without a tripod, photos were near on impossible due to the dark conditions. Walking down one of the corridors the sweet aroma of wine became apparent, where we found a wine fountain.
Wine fountain, Labyrinth (ISO 6400)
Stepping back outside created instant stickiness against the still hot and humid conditions after 6pm local time. Once back at our hostel, a quick freshen up and we were back out again with a few others from the tour group to watch the vibrant sunset from the Chain Bridge spanning the Danube River.
After climbing the bridge supports
A well deserved meal and drinks were rapidly consumed following this physical, but amazing day around this grand city.
With a full day to kill around Vienna, arranged to meet up with my friend René who was kind enough to show myself and Peter around the various sights and history of the magnificent city.
Donauturm Park
René borrowing my Canon 17-40L lens + Lee filter setup
(And his new 5D II)
Overlooking Vienna from up the Donauturm tower
Our trip into the city also coincided with the Tour of Austria, final leg.
In the afternoon, we visited the Schnapps museum for some exciting alcoholic beverage tasting, including gold leafed Schapps, and some stronger Absinthe.
Ann about to take a milky Schnapps shot
Grant showing the after taste effects from the hot chili Schnapps!
Following the milky drinks, René and his partner Anja took me along to the Danube River for sunset. The Danube is famous for being the only river to pass through four major cities, and also the second longest in Europe, spanning ten countries!
Long grass alongside the river… and as I figured out, a haven for mosquitos.
Anja, also wasn’t safe from those nasty mosquitos
Twilight over the Danube, with the Donauturm tower
Candid with the 85L in very low light – ISO 3200, F1.8
A massive thanks to René and Anja for the tour of the city, and following drinks alongside this grand river.
Travelling northward from Venice the following morning, we quickly headed to the border of Italy and Austria. The high quality roads through the Alps were absolutely amazing, offering unparalleled views.
Making a quick stop at a service station
From the coach, endless vineyards in northern Italy.
Glacial Riverbeds over Northern Italy
Church on the Hill, dwarfed by the Alps
First view of Austria
During lunch stop at another service station, with spectacular views over the valley
Exploring the wondrous city of Venice, can only be achieved by water and on foot. Venice is unique in many ways, with endless beautiful detailed buildings perched alongside the water. Capturing the sights from the gondola boat ride, through the twisting passages and underneath low bridges was definitely a highlight and impossible to ignore. Later in the afternoon, took in the spectacular views from atop St Mark’s Campanile, witnessing the sprawl of intricate architecture over hidden islands.
Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge
Narrow passageways
Wedding photos in St Mark’s Square
View to San Giorgio Maggiore
Venice Gondalier
Pigeon in St Mark’s Square
Too many pigeons for my liking
Gondola Riding – Niki, Pete, Grant, Richie and Warren
Passing old buildings in the narrow canals
Arriving into the Grand Canal
Cindy, having a good laugh
Riding under one of the 400 bridges
0.6 seconds on a Gondola
San Giorgio Maggiore
St Mark’s Square – Notice the water patches from high tide
Endless views over Venice
More views from the Campanile.
Yet another pigeons flies by St Mark’s Campanile
Terrific thunderstorm approaches Venice
Speed boat, passing St Mark’s Campanile
Heavy thunderstorm clouds over Venice
Painting Santa Maria della Salute from Accademia Bridge
Slow shutter speed over Venice
Low sunlight over Venice after the thunderstorm clears
Rich coloured buildings are always a spectacle
Ending back at Constitution Bridge after 24 hours
Ready for an early morning departure, over Northern Italy, and into Vienna, Austria.
With one of my best friends from New Zealand visiting, decided to tag along on a 16 day Eastern European tour with the Top Deck company. We had to rendezvous our group at 2pm in the city of Rome, so needed a fairly early departure from London Gatwick to get there. Flying in with Easyjet to Rome Fiumicino, it was a smooth non eventful ride.
Cockpit of our Easyjet A319 (G-EZAN)
Flying over English countryside
Flying over the Alps
First view of Italy, village on outskirts of Rome
Following this, we caught the recommended train from the airport with the Leonardo Express. This is where our first bit of trouble happened, as we weren’t told we had to validate tickets on a machine, despite just buying them from a cashier next to the trains. The €11 tickets, soon became an extra €50 on the train, after the conductor wasn’t accepting our lack of knowledge as an excuse.
All smiles, about to board the Leonardo Express
The resulting fine, and expensive first day!
Spent an evening again with Jason, down to the Thames to catch a sunset. Beautiful pink and mauve colours filled the sky, against the city backdrop.
Millennium Bridge Sunset
My long time kiwi friend Jason came visiting London for a few days, before starting his new position in Geneva at CERN.
Decided to show him some of the more impressive views of London, including the modern Canary Wharf, Greenwich Meridian line and a walk along the Thames before sunset alongside Westminster.
Greenwich Foot Tunnel
Houses of Parliament at Twilight
Some of the London and South-East UK photography-on-the.net (POTN) members converged on central London for an all night shoot, featuring off camera flash (strobist), followed by sunrise soon after 4:30am around the Millennium Bridge. Some were pumped on Red Bull, eager to get every shot, whereas a few of us, it was a desperate game to keep awake. This shoot immediately followed the road trip to Warwick Castle, so a new form of zombie like shooting was formed.
Neal managing his best awake impression
Millennium Bridge and St Pauls at 2am
Gosia dreaming of the next shot
Couple hours later over Millennium Bridge just after 4am
Against the fast incoming tide
With London having such a high latitude, sunrise/sunset in the middle of the year is rather extreme. This mornings sunrise was up before 5am, which meant leaving home at 330am to venture towards the Isle of Dogs near Canary Wharf for a view over the Thames and O2 Dome. What a beauty of a day, she turned out to be…
At this point, I also created a sequence of shots that I pieced into a video:
85L @ f2.8 DOF test
Dawn over the O2 Dome
Another version of the same angle
Shooting over the grass
Silhouette of the O2 Dome
Hosted the photography meetup group meetup again, starting at the tasty Borough Food Market near London Bridge. From there, we ventured off to Tate Modern, and the pub on the Thames. Following this, we headed off to Camden Market, and finally watched the sunset from Tower Bridge. Another highlight of the walk, was meeting Pink Floyd album cover artist/photographers, Storm Thorgerson & Rupert Truman who produce some amazing work.
[ cheese ]
Got beer?
Walking along the Thames walkway
Photographer shootout
London Underground
Camden Market
Andrew
Neal
First time catching the bridge lift in operation as a ferry goes beneath
Primrose Hill was the starting scene for the 8th London Photography meetup group, that I was hosting for a walk and shoot around London. After meeting at Chalk Farm, and ascending Primrose Hill (not exactly that high!), we wandered through neighbouring Regent’s Park before venturing into the pub for a drink and meal. Later in the evening, a few who remained practiced some off camera flash lighting in Leake Street, with the known Waterloo Graffiti, before watching the sun go down behind Westminster.
Click to watch HD video, captured with a Canon 5D II
Standing bright in yellow
Leake Street
Gerhard
Andrew
South Bank
House of Parliament as the sun goes down
Wireless off camera lighting (under railing)
Neal again with some more off camera flash
Photographymeetups.com next meetup will be on Saturday 16th May at the Borough Food Market. And will be hosted by myself again, sharing technical tips/suggestions to improve your shots.
After an uneventful evening departure from Melbourne via Singapore to Dubai, had 16 hours of night time flying to catch up on the lastest movie releases. So sadly there were no Australian desert, or sub tropical Asia to take photos 40,000 feet above.
Flying into Dubai at 5am local time – Emirates 777
Departing Dubai on a 777-300ER (A6-EBU)
Mountains of Iran
Sea of Azov, Ukraine – world’s shallowest sea
Berlin, Germany
Beyond Geelong to the start of the beautiful Great Ocean Road in Victoria, took a drive out to see the Rip Curl World Surf Championships. Unfortunately upon arriving, realised it was a “bye” day, due to lack of surf in the morning – however many pros and locals were still out there making the most of the good conditions.
Very steep beach, mixed with plenty of sea foam from the ferocity of the waves makes Bells Beach very unique
Flew into Sydney during the early hours of the morning for a three day quick sightseeing trip with my mum who lives in Melbourne. Sydney is Australia’s largest city with just over 4 million residents, surrounding the beautiful Sydney Harbour and coastline of New South Wales. First day in Sydney involved plenty on long walks around the CBD, Opera House and finally a walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, for a spectacular view of the bridge and CBD from Luna Park.
(Reposted from last year, showing vast stretch from CBD to the beaches of Bondi in foreground and Manly across the mouth of harbour)
The iconic Sydney Opera House
The enormous Pacific Dawn passes under the Harbour bridge
Opera House and CBD viewed from the walkway on the Harbour Bridge
Sydney Harbour Bridge at night
Sydney Skyline from Luna Park
The flag atop the Harbour Bridge flutters at night
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