Here are a couple of shots from Vienna's Jewish Quarter.
Prior to 1938 there was a thriving Jewish community in Vienna, and across Austria as a whole. 140,000 Jews fled the country but 65,000 were murdered. The second image shows the Judenplatz Holocaust Memorial also known as the Nameless Library which was designed by the British artist Rachel Whiteread. The walls depict the shelves of a library with the books standing spine inwards so the titles of the books and their contents remain unrevealed and they represent the Jewish people or "People of the Book" the stark structure stands in contrast to the fine baroque architecture and hopefully gives cause to visitors to think about a dark moment in the history of this beautiful city.
What I hadn't realised was the holocaust was not the first time in the city's history that the Jewish population had been persecuted.
There had been a Jewish quarter in Vienna from the 12th Century with a population of between 1,400 and 1,600 people, with schools, a hospital and synagogues and thriving trades until 1420/21. The Wiener Gesera however was a period of increased hatred towards Jews leading to the mass extermination of the community, the community were threatened with death if they did not convert to Christianity and as a result many hundreds were murdered or burned alive.
I hadn't intended to post something quite so dark, I had meant only to post some pictures to show some of the beautiful architecture however the history cannot be ignored.
I have been thinking lately about the importance of being kind and showing respect for others and these episode from history should serve as a reminder of this.
In February when I visited Vienna I stopped in at the botanical garden but perhaps unsurprisingly there was nothing much to see. At least,there were no flowers to add colour and at first I was a little disappointed. However one of the great things about gardens in winter is you get to see the structure of things like this magnificent tree.
Standing against its trunk it was amazing to see the shadow stretching forwards like a hand reaching out just as the tree was reaching up to the sun.
These are absolutely, definitely one of my favourite mammals.
I think they are great to photograph because they have so much personality.
This one was in the Tiergarten, the Zoo in Vienna
You have to admit they're so cute.
So when you saw the title of this post what did you think?
Sheep dog trials perhaps. As I write that it amazes me that for 23 years between 1976 and 1999 Sheep Dog Trials was prime time TV in the UK, described as a BBC gem it had 8 million viewers in its heyday. But the flocks in this image are not sheep but birds and there's no chance of herding them...
I thought this was a nice scene with the twitcher out on the sands focused on the flock of wading birds gradually coming closer as the tide rolled in. I really like the way the dog is standing focused in the same way as his companion completely still so as not to scare the birds away.
I also really like the layers of colour and light in this scene and the way the wind turbines seem to hover on the horizon.
This pair of Mallard ducks was seated on a wooden railing overlooking there mere and sheltering from the rain. They allowed me to get pretty close, their heads pretty much filling the full frame. The light was really poor and the ISO for these shots is 12,800, even so you have to agree these are pretty sharp.
I think the female in the first image looks as though she is smiling, the drake on the other hand is like "what you looking at?"
Two more pictures today from my early experimenting with my new lens, proving what an amazing all-rounder it really is.
The first shot shows the flowers of Ribes sanguineum a flowering current and this variety is called "Porky's Pink" and eventually those pretty flowers will be replaced by fruit.
The second flower is Red Campion or Red Catchfly, I really don't understand how it earns the "Red" part of its name but even so it is a pretty little thing.
Robins are such wonderful little birds, so full of character. They can be really feisty and they have a lovely song.
These two (at Longton Brick Croft nature reserve) were obviously used to people and were quite happy to pose for photos. Aren't they beautiful...
Here is one of the first wildlife shots with my new lens showing three knot. Looking at these birds you wouldn't think they are one of our most colourful waders but that's because they are still in their winter plumage which is fairly drab. Even so they are lovely birds and we are lucky here to have large flocks that perform wonderful synchronised flying displays as they swoop and turn over the sand as the tides ebb and flow.
Yesterday I shared a couple of the first pictures taken using my newest lens and today I am sharing two of the very last pictures taken with the old 150-600 mm Tamron lens that I traded in...
I had been doing some washing up and looking out into the garden I spotted a little mouse scurrying around beneath the bird feeders helping himself to a tasty meal from the seeds that had fallen to the ground. What he didn't realise was that as well as me watching his every move was being followed by the neighbour's cat Rosie who was poised on top of our shed. I went for my camera never really expecting to get a clear shot and as I opened the door to the garden the little mouse shot into this crack in the wall leaping straight up and disappearing inside. I realised there was a pile of soil at the base of the wall indicating that the mouse has probably made a nest in a hollow behind the wall.
I figured that it would have to come out eventually so I waited a few minutes as quietly and still as I could and then I was rewarded as it slowly popped its head out and then came out to go feed some more allowing me just enough time to get this cute portrait.
All the while Rosie watched intently but couldn't muster the energy or enthusiasm to make a move so the little mouse was safe for another day.
In my last post over a week ago I spoke about having lens envy and since then I have traded some of my old gear and bought a lens that I have wanted for ages, the Canon 100-400mm L series telephoto and I am so excited about it. Primarily I wanted it for my wildlife photography but it is a great all rounder and I popped down to the prom for a little while to test it out. I absolutely love the lens, it is everything I had hoped it would be and paired with a 1.4x extender I am confident that I will be able to get some great shots.
I had to shelter from a hailstorm at one point but even that didn't put me off and I was rewarded with these shots of the rainbow touching down over the container port at Seaforth.
I had a really good spell at Mere Sands Woods reserve yesterday during a brief respite in the horrendous weather we've had recently. I watched a lovely Little Grebe fishing and saw a stunning kingfisher fly directly towards me before it looped off around the mere.
Then at a different spot I heard the tell tale call of another kingfisher and and after a few minutes searching the reeds I spotted it and spent the next 15 - 20 minutes watching it fish. It caught what appeared to be newts, eating one and after killing the second he hung it on a branch possibly to go back for later.
Although I managed to get a few pictures it was too far away to get a decent clear image. I will have to save hard and maybe have to sell some gear to be able to afford a better lens and get the sort of images a fellow photographer managed to get (but his camera and lens set up would have been around £17K so I would have expected the sort of images he was keen to show off).
That being said I don't think you have to spend such a huge sum of money to get great images and I think these shots of a fishing Great Crested Grebe are proof of that.
I think these are such regal looking birds and they are so sleek as they dive in search for food, barely leaving a ripple as they break the surface.
