A Room With a View

 On the drive back from Alsace I had decided to break up the journey with a stopover in Bruges. I had visited the city before but had never stayed overnight and I wanted to see it after dark; It really is a fairy tale city and I hoped to capture some of the magic of the beautiful architecture and the reflections in the canals.

I booked a room in what was once a brewery and I paid a supplement for a room with a canal view and the images above show the view of the canal and the courtyard below both in daytime and at night.

I love the architecture in Bruges. The city has a really interesting history and is famous for the production of handmade lace for hundreds of years. The street on which my hotel was located (Wollestraat) is very old, it is a busy thoroughfare with lots of shops one of which is a fabulous lace shop. The shop was built prior to the Napoleonic era when Belgium was under the rule of the Napoleonic empire. A curious hangover from that era is the window tax. I say curious because the tax is still applied today but only to buildings that were in existence at that time, so the owner of the lace shop has to pay an annual tax on each of her windows but the shop next door which was built slightly later is not liable to the tax. 

Anyway, over the next few days I will share a few more pictures from my wanderings around this beautiful city which I hope you will enjoy.

Illuminations

 One of my aims when I was in Alsace recently was to capture some images of the pretty villages after dark. The historic half timbered houses with their varied colours are very photogenic. I have selected just a few images to share with you which I hope you will enjoy.

These are of the pretty town of Kaysersberg which is where I was staying.

Deer Fern and Baby Beech

Here are two more images from the Black Forest.

The first is a lovely clump of deer fern which is nicely framed by the trees front and back. The second is of a tiny beech tree shoot. The pale leaves stand out really well against the damp leaf litter on the ground. It also looks good in black and white.

Leaf Litter

 One of the things I love about walking in the forest is kicking my way through the leaf litter, this colourful pile was below a large beech tree. I love the rich, warm colours glistening from the recent rain.

I spotted the lichen not far away, this plant has always fascinated me with its incredible structure. Of course lichen is not really a plant but a composite organism, they have no roots and gain their nutrients via photosynthesis and they grow on bark or hang from branches as if living on thin air. 

Lichens are truly amazing, they are found in all climates and all altitudes and some can even survive inside solid rock.

I have just looked in Wikipedia and discovered that there are around 20,000 different species of lichen and a staggering 6 -8% of the earths surface is covered with lichen.

Waterfall

 Here are four more images from my brief visit to the Black Forest in November, as I said in a previous post I had gone to see the famous Triberg Waterfall but it was closed due to adverse conditions. However that disappointment did not stop me enjoying the forest or limit my opportunity to find great photographic subjects.

The theme for today is falling water even if the pictures do not show a waterfall; in the first picture the reverse of the leaf has a jewelled coating of raindrops that reflect the little light that was creeping through the trees. I have increased the depth of the shadows to highlight the glistening droplets. This was shot using my 100-400mm lens and perhaps the focus is not as sharp as I would have hoped but nevertheless I think it is an effective image.

For the next three images I switched to my 100mm macro lens and got really close up to capture the raindrops clinging to the branches, several times I missed the shot as the droplets fell before the shutter closed. The light was fairly poor and I had no flash so I could not capture the falling droplets which is a shame but even so I think these shots look pretty cool.

I particularly like the last image, I used a small torch to illuminate the droplet from below, I took three different shots of this droplet, the first two to capture the inverted reflection of a pine tree  but of the three shots I preferred this one that highlights the shape and structure of the droplet.
 

Dead Wood

 In the forest in winter it would be easy to think that everything is either dead or dormant but actually as you look around you will find an abundance of life. Everything in the forest works in harmony and even the old dead wood is home to so much new life; from the insects and grubs that feed on it and help to break it down, to the fungi and mosses that draw on its rich supply of nutrients.

Then in the rain or after a heavy rainfall the sound of water dripping from the tress and the sheen on the leaf litter adds even more to the experience.

I enjoyed my woodland walk here (this is in the Black Forest) and I will be certain to get out to a forest near me over the coming weeks so that I can draw on the energy that it gives.

Making a Mark

 

These shots were taken in the Black Forest just outside of the town of Triberg. I had gone to see the waterfalls which are famed as one of the highest in Germany.

I had been once before in March 2015 with my son, however on that occasion due to the snow the paths to the falls were closed and I didn't get to see them. I had hoped to see them during my recent visit in November, before the winter snow arrived. However, following recent heavy rains the paths were once again closed. 

I was of course a little disappointed although the forest is so beautiful and the drive through the mountains to get there had been lots of fun. I was determined not to let that setback ruin my day and enjoyed a walk in the forest before heading into town for some hot chocolate and a piece of cake, and a little shopping.

I loved walking in the forest, surrounded by the variety of trees, I immersed myself in the sights, sounds and smells of the woodland in winter. I took lots of photos that captured some of the magic of the experience and along the way I spotted this mile marker a little way off the main path in the trees. I tried to imagine the people from years past who would have used this stone as a guide along their journey and wondered what life in the forest might have been like. 

The colours in the forest at this time of year were rich and varied and in these images I have used the masking tool in Adobe Lightroom to highlight the stone and separate it from the background using a variety of settings. I like all three images, not only because they help me recall a wonderful day out but also because they look good. As well as the richness of the colours I love the texture of the stone that has weathered over so many years exposure to the elements.