So as I stood there admiring the peaks towering above Seis in South Tyrol, an elderly gentleman walked up and spoke to me in German. I didn't quite catch all of it, but it sounded like he was trying to say "Yeah...they look alright now, but wait until a night when they get lit up by the setting sun." As the Western sky was covered by high clouds, I was pretty sure that I was going to get shut out that night with no light on the peaks. I was OK with this situation as the view was absolutely stunning, with or without the sunset light.

This particular group of peaks of the Dolomites is known as the "Rose Garden" or "Rosengarten" due to the pink coloring found in the peaks, apparently caused by a mineral which eventually became known as "Dolomite." Some say that this mineral "takes in the sunset and glows" which may have inspired the name of this particular group.

Then again, perhaps there's something to the legend about the dwarf king Laurin who was supposed to have had a rose garden here; as a result of a curse its beauty can only be admired at twilight.

In either case, I kept shooting, and surprisingly, I found myself alone on the shore of this beautiful small lake, on a Saturday night in October as the sun finally snuck through a crack about 2 minutes before sunset, and lit up the range. I stood staring for a while as the range glowed quietly in front of me. Not for the first time I wondered who was fortunate enough to live here. How do you get to be a farmer in South Tyrol? And even if the winters are hard...do you ever really get tired of looking at a view like this? As for the glow...it pretty much stayed with me for the rest of the week. :)

From "Bozner Bergsteigerlied" which is an unofficial anthem of South Tyrol:

Dann kommt mit seiner Herrlichkeit
Der Herbst ins Land herein
Und alle Keller füllen sich
Mit Heimatfeuerwein.
Man sitzt beim vollen Glase dann
Und singt ein frohes Lied,
Wenn in des Abends Dämmerschein
Der Rosengarten glüht.

Translation:

Then come with his glory
Fall in the country
And all the basements fill up
With home fire wine.
You sit with a full glass then
And sing a happy song,
When in the evening twilight
The rose garden is glowing.

Tags:   Rosengarten South Tyrol Alps Italy Sunset

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I've just recently returned from another quick Autumn trip through the Alps where I spent most of my time in Northern Italy and South Tyrol with day trips to Bavaria, Slovenia and Croatia. This year's trip was very cathartic as the trip back in 2017 was almost a total bust.

At the top of my list of disappointments two years ago was my trip to Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia. As their computers were down, I wasn't able to get into the park until midmorning, it was hot, it was crowded, it was hazy, and more than half of the leaves were missing as I had arrived after a wind storm. I left the park feeling completely dejected by around noon as there was really no point to shooting a hot, hazy, barren park with horrible light.

In comparison, I arrived early this year and hiked in for several miles, shooting the sunrise across the lakes on my way in. By the time I arrived at the overlook, I was the only one there. It seemed that rain in the forecast had driven most of the big crowds away. Eventually I was joined by another photographer and his wife and together we watched as a storm blew in from the North. As we stood there in the pouring rain, the contrast between the two experiences could not have been more pronounced. I stood on that hillside thankful for the rain, thankful for the color, and thankful for the opportunity to spend the day enjoying Fall color in one of the most gorgeous national parks in europe.

I tore myself away at 1:30 after shooting throughout most of the park knowing that I had a 7 hour drive back to South Tyrol. I had a bit of an adventure on my way back as some workers had torn apart the bridge that I crossed on my way in. I tried to communicate to the Croatian road crew that my CAR was on the other side and that I need to cross. They just laughed at me and said that if I was lucky, I might be able to cross later that night.

Undeterred, I doubled back and found another hapless soul who was also trying to cross and together we plowed through the underbrush, down an embankment and over a small river or two, eventually arriving wet and muddy on the other side.

It was a long drive back to Italy with soggy feet but I was smiling all the way back to my apartment. I had an amazing time shooting over my 8 day trip and I can't wait to go back...although it might be awhile this time.

More photos to come!


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Thank you so much for your views and comments! If you have specific questions or need to get in touch with me, please be sure to send me a message via flickr mail, or feel free to contact me via one of the following:

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Tags:   Plitvice Autumn October Croatia

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When I decided to head back to Europe again this year, I had to stop and really think through what it was I wanted to shoot. A good many landscape photographers think it's sacrilege to include any man-made structures in your shot. I remember years ago I posted a shot to some random reddit page and was summarily screamed at for including a cabin in my shot. And many landscape photography contests will emphatically state that as well.

So...maybe this makes me less of a "landscape" photographer, but the one thing I was dying to shoot this year in the alps were the little churches and chapels that dot the countryside throughout Northern Italy, Austria and Slovenia. There's just something about the juxtaposition of these tiny, man-made structures surrounded by so much incredible majesty and grandeur in all directions.

After scouting for locations before I left, I had somewhere between 50-100 pins for chapels on google earth, but this one had been at the top of my list for several years. It's definitely one of the more iconic spots for photographers, and as such, many of the more serious landscape and travel photographers might pass on it. But I couldn't. I spent two evenings shooting this particular chapel from just about every conceivable angle, and had a wonderful time doing it. Interestingly, I didn't see ANY other photographers at this location on either night.

I meant to post all of my autumn shots last month, but I started teaching a new online class this year in addition to my choral groups, and things got pretty crazy. Now that my concerts are done, I'll be trying to post a bit more regularly as I've got quite a bit to catch up on.


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Thank you so much for your views and comments! If you have specific questions or need to get in touch with me, please be sure to send me a message via flickr mail, or feel free to contact me via one of the following:

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Tags:   Dolomites Chapel Autumn

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I had been waiting for quite some time for the movie "A Hidden Life" to show up in the theaters. I had seen a trailer at some point last year and I instantly recognized every scene in the montage as it appeared. Epic scenes of some of my favorite spots in South Tyrol rolled across the huge screen along with an obligatory shot of those falls in Lauterbrunnen. I couldn't wait for this film to come out!

Apparently, the film was released in January, but I never saw it advertised and it didn't seem to be showing the theaters around me. Instead, I was surprised to find it on HBO last week and have since watched it three times in a row. The premise of the movie is that one life, even if it is "hidden" can make an incredible difference. In this particular instance, a simple, unknown Austrian farmer refused to take an oath to Hitler in the face of overwhelming opposition from his neighbors, from the government, and even from his own church. He had to choose between taking the oath and joining the German army or to be sent to prison and killed, leaving behind his wife, their three young daughters and their farm in the alps. Their refrain throughout the film is "No one will know you did this. Your sacrifice is worthless." This "nobody" searched his heart and had the courage to stand by his convictions.

While looking through my Autumn shots from last year, this one suddenly jumped out at me. This valley appears only for a brief moment in the film, but I recognized it as the valley where I had spent most of a soggy afternoon waiting for something to happen. I remembered a lady walking by as I was shooting on a very wet and dreary day and she smiled sadly and spoke in German as she passed by. I couldn't quite catch all of what she said with my zwei jahren of high school German, but she seemed to say something along the lines of "Such a shame that the sun isn't out today." It was definitely a gloomy, miserable day of non-stop fog, drizzle and rain.

And then it happened. A moment of light. A moment of clarity. A moment of hope. In that instant, the entire dark landscape was transformed into something truly beautiful.

Franz Jägerstätter's neighbors may have told him that no one would remember him, but that's not quite how it turned out. In 1964, his biography was published and in 2019 his story was premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Millions have now seen this film across the globe.

Interesting how when everything grows dark, the light seems that much brighter.

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Thank you so much for your views and comments! If you have specific questions or need to get in touch with me, please be sure to send me a message via flickr mail, or feel free to contact me via one of the following:

Instagram | Blog | Website | Facebook | 500px | Twitter

Tags:   Dolomites Autumn Storm Church

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