Drone photograph of an autumn forest.

Tags:   autumn fall forest trees colourful nature drone photography

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I never really realized how large the forest was that I've been photographing from underneath the tree canopy for the past 10 years. A week or two ago, during the peak of the fall season, I chose to explore it from a different perspective. I should have done this a decade ago!

Tags:   Fall Autumn Fall colours trees colourful nature landscape photography drone photography

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Before our summer vacation, we filled a large gardening bucket with rainwater, intending to use it for watering our indoor plants. Upon returning home after three weeks, we noticed a thin, colorful layer on the water's surface, displaying varying bright colors depending on the viewing angle. It looked different than the shapes typically formed by iron bacteria, and I'm unsure of what else could have caused this layer. Nevertheless, it made for an interesting photography subject.

Tags:   bacteria gogh abstract nature

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For our 2023 Summer holiday we travelled to a remote group of islands in search for some well-deserved rest, relaxation, and pretty pictures. The first two days on the main island were filled with sunbathing, fighting over the air conditioning button of the car, and exploring the island. One of the sights on our list was a dormant volcano where I was planning to take some abstract images of old lava flows.
Upon our arrival, things looked mysterious with a lot of white steam venting from the ground. According to the locals, this was a normal occurrence, nothing to worry about. After some exploring and photographing, we slowly made our way back to our rental house, had dinner, and turned on the tv. First thing we saw was a live report on the news of an erupting volcano… the very one we visited earlier that day. Realizing this was quite a rare event, we jumped into the car and drove back up the volcano.
Several roads had already been closed off, but fortunately, we managed to reach a viewing platform that offered a good view into the crater. The glowing rivers of lava created a stunning spectacle of vivid orange lines flowing down the crater. For me it was a bucket list item I could unexpectedly check off my list.

Tags:   hawaii volcano volcanic eruption Kilauea 2023

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Back in July, we were driving along a busy road when, all of a sudden, I had to make an emergency stop for seven little ducklings. The little ones were attempting to cross the road, without a mother duck in sight to lead them. We quickly pulled over, guided them to safety, and started looking for the mother duck. Unfortunately, it appeared that the mother duck had met with an unfortunate accident. So, what were we to do with these seven tiny, fur ball orphans?

Without a second thought, we decided to become their temporary foster parents. We brought them home and created a duck haven in our garden and pond, ensuring they were well-fed, safe, and had ample opportunities to annihilate the pond plants that their new parents had worked so hard to grow.

After an intense six weeks of duck-sitting and poo shoveling, it was time to release them into the wild. Watching them swim off into their natural habitat was truly awesome. In the following weeks, we visited the ducks whenever we started to feel the empty nest syndrome – so, at least once a day, we checked in on them and made sure they weren't getting into any trouble with the local swans. Every time we arrived at the pond, they came racing towards us (we brought snacks).

Due to our upcoming summer vacation (more pictures to follow later...), we had to leave them to fend for themselves without our daily visits. When we returned from our vacation, there were no more ducks to be seen, and we could only assume they had taken to the skies to find duck happiness elsewhere. In the days that followed, we frequently returned to see if they had returned, but still, no ducks to be found. A few weeks ago, we gave it one last try, and upon our arrival, we saw a group of ducks flying in the distance. These turned out to be our seven ducks! They came flying towards us and seemed to be inviting us to share the skies with them. Unable to fly ourselves, all we could do was to loudly quack back at them and enjoy seeing that they were doing so well. After about ten circles above our heads, they flew off into the distance, as of yet, not to be seen again. #DuckParents #DuckLivesMatter

Tags:   DuckLivesMatter DuckParents duck duckling bird photography

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