New Images - Kitzbuhel

Here are some new images of Kitzbuhel from our trip there in early February this year. There are a few variations on some of these on my gallery website.

Kitzbuhel Churches

Kitzbuhel at Night

Kitzbuhel Hahnenkamm Ski Trail

Kitzbuhel Horn Ski Tracks

Kitzbuhel Horn Tree

Westendorf Ski Welt Area from Kitzbuhel Pengelstein

Westendorf Ski Welt Area 

New Images of the North York Moors

I'm just adding to the images of the North York Moors area on my web site. Here are some of the ones loaded so far with the permanent links to Yorkshire: Landscapes and Cities

Whitby Whale Bones and St Mary's Church

Staithes Harbour and Village

Robin Hood's Bay at Low Tide

Whitby Abbey and St Mary's Graveyard

Buxton Gallery in the Gardens New Display

I have changed my display of framed photographs in the Gallery in the Gardens in Buxton Pavilion Gardens. There is a strong bias to cities to tie in with my City Light book launch.
Locations now include Rome, London, Oxford and Paris as well as some local ones.

I forgot to photograph the display but here are a couple of the images, you'll just have to imagine what the narrow black frames and white mounts look like!

St Peter's Basilica and River Tiber at Night, Rome

Radcliffe Camera, Oxford

By the way, I will be doing a City Light book signing in the Buxton Tourist Information Centre on Easter Saturday.

The Cotswolds in Black and White

I have added some Cotswolds black and white photos to the web. Places include Castle Combe, Bibury, Tewkesbury, Lower Slaughter and Painswick. There's also a few of Gloucester.

Painswick Church and Pyramid

Tewkesbury Abbey Mill and Weir

Lower Slaughter and River Eye

Gloucester Cathedral

Rome in Black and White

Here are a few images from our trip to Rome in December 2012. There are lots more on the Dave Butcher Photography web site.
More to come when I find time.

Quite a few of these will be in my new book, City Light, due out in March.

Spanish Steps and Fountain at Night

Colosseum and Moon at Night

St Peter's Basilica from the Umberto Bridge at Dusk

Trevi Fountain at Night

Vatican Fountain and Fairground at Night

Statues and Rooftops

Roman Rooftops

New images of Oxford

We visited friends in Gloucester at the end of November and nipped across to Oxford for a few hours.

It was a good day for photos, although parts of Oxford were flooded after recent heavy rain. Nice skies.

I took 9 rolls of Ilford FP4+ 120, my first shots of Oxford. I have lots of photos of Cambridge as that's where I did my PhD and needed some of Oxford for a bit of balance in my new book, City Light, due out early March. Don't want to be accused of favouritism!

Here are a few examples, more on the web site Recent Gallery or follow the Oxford permanent links:

All Souls College and Radcliffe Camera

from St Mary's Church Tower

Christ Church College Puddle Reflections

Bridge of Sighs and Hertford College

Flooded Christ Church Meadow and Trees

Radcliffe Camera from St Mary's Church Tower

Ferry to Harwich

Clear blue sky and warm in Copenhagen this morning. Drove west to Roskilde for photos of the cathedral.

On way out went past harbour area and spotted some old boats. Stopped for a look and turned out to be Viking museum and the boats were reconstructions of Viking ships. Very impressive. This was mentioned in our guidebook but no idea it had such an extensive area as this.

From here we headed west over Storebaelt bridge and down to Egesund Slot (castle). One of the big attractions in Denmark, according to guidebook. Unfortunately it was closed (our info said it should have been open) and couldn't be seen from any access point outside the grounds.

Time was marching on so decided to head directly for Esbjerg and ferry home.

Now 3 hours into our 18 hour crossing having had dinner on board. Weather making it a rough crossing with winds of force 8 according to ships announcement. Will allegedly lessen to force 4 in few hours time. Yippee!

Roll on Harwich.
Dave Butcher

Snow and Trolls in the Mountains

We changed our plans once more. We woke to heavy rain and this continued through the day. No point in taking ferry for waterfall photos; weather too bad to even take camera out of case.

Decided to drive over to Andalsnes to see Troll Wall. We were almost at the top of the descent when we were stopped in our tracks by a barrier across the road. Jan acosted the driver of the council truck parked up by it. Turned out they had only just closed the road but still wouldn't let us through. Had to turn back and retrace steps. Wasted over an hour then went around the long way. Heavy rain continued.

Ended up at foot of road we should have come down if had been open. The visitor centre was shut but there were lots of Troll wood carvings. Took one for posterity with the Troll Wall shrouded in clouds behind.

At this stage we were still heading for Trondheim. As we followed up through mountains the rain turned to snow. Checked the BBC weather forecast for the area and it looked like the rain and snow was set for the week in this area. Further south and east though looked sunny. We decided to go south to Lillehammer.

Heading north to Sundsvall tomorrow.

Took just 2 rolls again today, At the Troll Wall and the Ringebu Stavkirche (wooden church).

Clear sky and cold in Lillehammer tonight. Feels like winter has arrived.
Dave Butcher

Waterfalls and Fjords

Staying in very nice hotel in Flam.

Weather mostly dull with a few hours of light rain from mid-morning to early afternoon.

Started the day with a steep slippery climb up to Flam waterfall. Large drop and huge volume of water. Used slow shutter to give streaky water. Lots of water spray so lined up shots with lens cap on (one of the advantages of rangefinder cameras over slr's) then removed lens cap just before pressed shutter. Had to wipe moisture off lens after every shot.

Back to car then west and north to Sognefjord at Vik. Raining here so carried on to Fresvik. Dry now so out for some fjord photos around the little village. Used jetties and boat sheds for foreground interest.

Returned to Vik to look for Stavkirk (wooden church). This one was larger and completely black. Long exposures needed, 4 seconds, or there will not be any detail in the woodwork.

Now heading across hills with lots of lakes and waterfalls everywhere.

Spotted another waterfall, this time with a huge waterspout as water hits a rock and is sent skywards. Next to no light so long exposures. So much water and it's not snowmelt; nust be lots of heavy rain on the the tops.

Gps has us arriving back at hotel after 7pm assuming no more stops.

Tomorrow we move on again, east and a little bit north.
Dave Butcher

Oslo Night and Day

Trouble accessing the web through my Blackberry earlier today delayed doing this.

Yesterday was a 2 new country day. I had not previously visited Sweden or Norway.

Reached Oslo just after 7pm yesterday, so lots of time for night shots. Wandered around taking photos of the fortress, harbour, palace and parliament.Tried different lenses here and there to pick out or include important areas.

One area on the harbour has been regenerated with lots of new buildings and interesting architecture. Keep an eye out for a shot of one with the front like the prow of a ship.

This morning wandered around taking photos at the same locations as last night, not necessarily the same tripod holes though as different viewpoints work in daylight.

Left Oslo late morning and drove west then north heading for Geilo then Flam. Stopped at Uvdal to see the Stavkirche (wooden church dating back to 12th century). Broken clouds and sunshine made for some good shots. Lots of photos of the church and the silver birches that surround it. Leaves well on the turn here and lots of different colours across the hillsides. Used a dark yellow filter to lighten all the turning leaves. If you are digital you can do this in Photoshop instead, just make sure that you take you photos in colour not grey scale.

Scenery in this area is similar to Scottish Highlands and Alps, perhaps more trees than Scotland.

Just passing through Geilo, quite a large ski area, but quiet at this time of year.
Dave Butcher.