Alone in the dark – part 9

Posted on Februar 25th, 2016

What did I write – alone in the dark?
I was walking alone in the middle of the night through nomans land, just me and the stars in the sky. And I reached the sky way before the sunrise. At first I put on some warmer cloths, because the wind was really fresh. I always cary an extra warm primaloft jacket in my backpack for a languorous cosiness.
I took some panoramic shots with my 100mm lens and I also realized one or two people coming up to the peak. But then suddenly, as I turned me around, I was surprised. Where came all the people from? Normaly I can enjoy my peak experience alone. And then it was very clear, because on the other side of the peak is a mountain hotel and it can comfortably reached by a train.
Well all the lazy bones, had a good night’s rest and can enjoy now the sunrise before they get a breakfast and drive back by train

Alone in the dark – part 8

Posted on Februar 23rd, 2016

Watch this beautiful panoramic view of the Bernese Alps. (ZOOM IN!)
While I was waiting for the sun and the strong wind tugged vainly on my wind proof outdoor cloths, I started to get bored. But why waiting for the sunrise without making photos?
So I took my 100mm Canon lens and mounted it on my lightweight Sony A7r. By the way, this was my first trip without a canon body. But anyway, I focused by hand, because the autofocus was not working and with zooming into the liveview I could do this easily. And next time I will also turn off the IS because with long apperture times and mounted on a tripod, the IS worked contrary and it shacked the image.
Luckily this panorama image was such huge, that I shrinked it to a usable width of 6144 pixel and the unsharpness is no more visible. Meanwhile the Foen was collapsing and the storm front was pressing the clouds over the mountains. But I was still optimistic, because the Foen is stronger in the eastern part, so I hopefully can see the sunrise.
An Explanation for all Non-Swiss people, the Fön is a strong, warm wind coming from Africa over the Alps. This wind can be very strong with speeds up to 160km/h and if a blast hits you, it feels like a hot hair dryer is blowing in your face. That’s why a hair dryer in Switzerland is called a Fön.

Alone in the dark – part 7

Posted on Februar 16th, 2016

The darkness recedes and the light comes back.
From now on, I’m no more alone in the dark, because the darkness is gone It’s the time to wait for the sun and as always, before the sun reaches the horizon, the wind beginns to blow. This time was the wind stronger than normaly and I thought to me, it’s a little fresh up here for the month of August.
Only much later, I remembered me, there was a note in the weather forcast, that  a storm is coming in the morning, followed by heavy rain. But at this time I could only see some clouds at the horizon.

Alone in the dark – part 6

Posted on Februar 9th, 2016

The sun comes and the stars are going.
Accomplished, I reached the peak and I’m early enough to see the last stars are going. And I was right, it would be too bright to still see the milkyway. But look at this! How beautiful are all these Bernese mountains in the very early morning glow. Although it will take more than an hour until the sun will reach the horizon and you can already see the reflecting light at the peaks of all the high mountains.
I build this image from four shots to a pano, so you can see the whole lake of Brienz and on the left the city of Brienz and on the right the city of Interlaken. On the horizon you see all the famous mountains like, Eiger, Moench, Jungfrau, Wetterhorn and so on.

Alone in the dark – part 5

Posted on Februar 6th, 2016

I can’t stop doing that…
Even the time is short to reach the peak, I had to stop and take some pictures from the way I came. On the bottom left you can see the lake where I took my first images. And the grass below me, is the gap I took the last images.  The light at the horizon should be the Titlis, another famous mountain.
These views are the reason, why I’m always to late at the top, I can’t resist to take images. Okay, maybe I’m also not walking fast enough

Alone in the dark – part 4

Posted on Februar 3rd, 2016

At the gap, 800m altitude difference are done and another 300m before the peak.
Since the short glance to the milky way, I was walking between rock faces and then suddenly my view opens and I could see the whole, beautiful bernese alps.
Down in the valley the city of Brienz at the shore of the same named lake. The city lights illuminating the rock walls on the other side of the valley and behind, all the mighty 4000m mountains. You see the Eiger, Moench and Jungfrau in the center of the image. At the ridge left of the peak from the Eiger you can see the light of the Eiger hut, where you will stop before you climb the peak, except your name is Ueli Steck and you take the shortcut over the northface in approximately 2 hours. On the right side you can see the lights from the Jungfraujoch, which you can reach by a train, an expensive train.
But now hurry up, the time is running and I should reach the peak before the morning lightshow begins.

Alone in the dark – part 3

Posted on Februar 1st, 2016

A few steps further, another stop was necessary.
Actually I wanted to walk ahead and maybe take some milky way images from the top. But I was already late and probably I will reach the peak too late for nightshots. So I decided to take an image of the milky way, even the bright part is hidden behind the mountains and I was really shure I will not get another chance for an image of the galaxy. Because the way will leads me along the slope which will cover this side of the sky until I will reach the top.
But now I had an image for shure and I walked ahead to the peak as fast as I could, until I had to stop at the next interesting point to shoot another image…