Edge Of The World

Rügen, Germany. August 2010.

1st picture: 15 seconds; F/10; ISO 100

2nd picture: 30 seconds; F/22; ISO 50

3rd picture: 6 seconds; F/22; ISO 50

In my opinion, Rügen is not only the most beautiful spot in Germany, but amongst the most picturesque in all of Continental Europe. I'm gonna have to exclude the UK of course, because there's some beaches in Dorset which outshine those of Rügen. The Baltic Sea is in the background. The chalk cliffs have been made famous all over Europe by 18th century German Romantic artist Caspar David Friedrich.

If you want to visit Rügen, I suggest you watch the sunrise down by the cliffs. Listening to the best album for driving in the dark, Bat Out Of Hell, I left home around midnight and arrived in the parking lot closest to the cliffs just before five o'clock on Saturday. You can walk along the coast for many miles without seeing another person.

Have a nice weekend!


- Dom

Radio Nowhere

I was tryin' to find my way home

But all I heard was a drone

Bouncing off a satellite 

Crushing the last lone American night

(Bruce Springsteen)

Somewhere 10 miles out of Lüneburg, Germany.

August 2010.

250 seconds; F/10; ISO 800

The Beatles arrived in Hamburg 50 years plus one day ago. They played at different venues such as the Star Club for a couple years before finally moving back to Liverpool and becoming the superstars they're known for. Those first years most have been very exciting because back in those days, Hamburg was the place to be and the so-called Reeperbahn was probably one of the most dangerous places in Europe.

Goodnight.

- Dom

City Of Lights

1st picture: 60 seconds, F/14, ISO 320; 2nd picture: 30 seconds, F/14, ISO 4000; 3rd picture: 35 seconds, F/10, ISO 6400. The blue lights in the last picture are from some disco in another town. All pictures taken in and around Lüneburg, Germany. August 2010. 

Title of this blog post taken from a song by Runrig, a Scottish folk/rock band who's been active since 1973. I've been to their 30th anniversary concert at Stirling Castle, Scotland, in August 2003. Gonna see them again at the Barrowland Ballroom in Glasgow this December. I got tickets for the show, which I gotta pick up at the box office half an hour before the gig because they don't post outside of the UK. Apart from the tickets, I have nothing else booked so far. I guess I'll be flying from Hamburg to Edinburgh via Amsterdam because that seems to be the cheapest route available. Then I'll get to Glasgow via National Rail. I love Edinburgh more than Glasgow so I'll spend only the night of the concert there, then get back to Edinburgh and check out the pubs, go shopping for a kilt or a few more tartan scarves to  add to my collection, and do some more tourist stuff. I'll be in Scotland for a couple days but I reckon I won't rent a car. Maybe for one day to visit Loch Lomond, the famous lake I've been to on every one of my previous holidays in this beautiful country.

The fourth week of digging is over. We only worked four days though because both the boss and the supervisor had to attend some meeting. I signed up for another week, after which I'll take a week off to finish writing another essay and go on a little trip somewhere. Not sure where, I'm gonna decide between Rügen - one of Germany's most beautiful islands - and southern Sweden. The week after my week off I'll continue working at the excavation, and except for one week I'll work throughout all of September and the first half of October. Summer holidays are supposed to be a time when you hang out in the garden and read a good book, but working out there in the field - digging up stuff that no human before me has touched in the past nine or ten centuries, drawing maps of the site, seeing the progress you've made every day - all of that is so awesome that I wouldn't want to waste my time doing something else.  I've been interested in archaeology since I was a kid (I got this book about archaeological sites in Britain), and what I'm doing now isn't falling short of what I imagined it would be like. It's great that there's something else I'm good at other than photography, so once I've graduated I might work as either an archaeologist or a photographer or both of them.

Hope you have a nice weekend...

- Dom

At My Most Beautiful

The following picture was exposed for 790 seconds at F/18; ISO 1000. The building isn't illuminated at night (except for during Christmas) - all the light comes from street lamps and the night sky. That's the reason why I chose a higher ISO number than usually (I prefer to shoot at ISO 50 or ISO 100), along with the fact that I need to get my sensor cleaned professionally before / if I go on holiday in England.

Click here to check out what this place looked like during Christmas time last year. Both times I was lucky that a car drove through this tiny street, which adds some nice lights.

I've mentioned it in the paragraph above - "if" I go on holiday in England. The third week of digging is over, and I've signed up for another week. I might add a fifth week. Then I'm gonna take a week off which will be dedicated to writing an essay which I gotta hand in early next month. My best friend's going to be in the area too, so we might do some stuff together. I definitely want to work some more weeks at the excavation site (preferably beginning early in September until right before the start of the winter semester), so I might postpone my planned vacation to another semester break.

As much as it is a shame that I won't be going on one of the road trips that I love so much this year, I think it's a great sign that working as an archaeologist is more important to me than going on holiday... this is the best proof that I've chosen the right job for myself.

Have a great weekend, and (hopefully) gorgeous weather.

- Dom

The Ocean Road

Still the ocean rolled round this smallest sphere

Through an endless void, to fade and disappear

("The Ocean Road" / Runrig)

Ludlow; Essex; Santa Monica Beach. California. June 2009.

One night on my road trip through the American West last summer, I left the interstate and turned onto historic Route 66. I was too tired to continue driving and the world surrounding me was absolutely dark and silent. Not a light was to be seen except for my own headlights. I pulled over, parked the car and got out to take a look at the perfect night sky. I heard a coyote somewhere close to where I stood so I got back inside instead of taking a long exposure. The next morning I woke up to one hell of a noise... one of those endless freight trains was rattling through the desert and I realized I had parked just a couple yards away from the rail tracks.

Driving along Route 66 means travelling through the glory days of the long ago... seeing the remnants of dreams lived, and lives lost... the abandoned houses, burned out cars, empty beer bottles and coke cans, and a pair of boots left on a dusty fridge... memories and stories never told, soon to fade away like the twilight.

After this Route 66 experience, I found my way through the L.A. traffic until I had reached the shore of the Pacific at Santa Monica Beach. I took pictures of the pier before checking into an over-priced motel close to Redondo Beach.

Have a nice day.

- Dom