Summer Vacation, Day 18: Hindon

From Porthcothan we drove 270 km to Hindon over the A roads and the M5, staying the night at Martha’s Down.

Summer Vacation, Day 17: Porthcothan Bay

It feels unexpected to already write the seventeenth post about our vacation. Time is flying. On Thursday we have a ferry booked at Dover back to Calais. Nadine has been planning our return route and one of the last highlights is a campsite that’s only open two months a year, on top of a stormy cliff: Porthcothan Clifftop Camping.

Summer Vacation, Day 16: Perran Sands

Today we stayed at the campsite and, it being a rest day, we explored the beach.

Summer Vacation, Day 15: Perranporth

From Hayle we drove up the coast to Perranporth, where we are staying at the Perran Sands campsite.

Summer Vacation, Day 14: Hayle

Half an hour’s drive from last night’s stay in Penzance was St Ives. Nadine’s non-negotiable visit this vacation was going there and exploring the town.

Summer Vacation, Day 13: Penzance

We moved on from Heligan to Penzance today, we are staying at Ponsandane Farm Campsite close to the beach. Only 70 km. We made a short stop at Mounts Bay to see St Michael’s Mount.

Summer Vacation, Day 12: Heligan

We spent the day at the Lost Gardens of Heligan. It was abandoned after World War I as many of the gardeners never returned from their deployment. The gardens were rediscovered in 1990 and are continuously restored. Local artists donate sculptures and next to the gardens various themed areas for kids have been introduced.

Summer Vacation, Day 11: Heligan

We transferred from Whitsand Bay to the campsite next to the Lost Gardens of Heligan. But only after we had an obscenely large all-vegan breakfast at the Cliff Top Cafe: English breakfast, banana milkshakes, baked potato, avocado and sausage sandwiches. If you ever get there to see the beach, this is a non-negotiable stop on the way down the cliffs. Driving, even the short distance to the new campsite, was difficult being stuffed with all the nice food. Once we arrived and set up everything, we explored the area and stopped by the Lobbs Farm Shop next to the gardens. The latter we are saving for tomorrow.

Summer Vacation, Day 10: Whitsand Bay

We stayed another night at Whitsand Bay and spent the day at the beach. The pools during low tide are a magnet for the boys, we carved our own rivers to have the pools stay filled up longer before eventually drying out. Nadine and Tilian played board games at dusk. Right before she first heard and then spotted a young dunnock. I finished The Last Day of Creation, the ending was too abrupt and I am mad about how open ended it was and quick it was done.

Summer Vacation, Day 9: Whitsand Bay

From Ladram Bay we moved on to Whitsand Bay in Cornwall, around 120 km, through Plymouth and over the Tamar Bridge. The campsite is on top of an old fort but pretty run down.

Summer Vacation, Day 8: Ladram Bay

We stayed at Ladram Bay for the day before moving on to the next destination tomorrow. The kids spent most of the day at the beach, Nadine and I took turns around lunchtime as Aika had to stay off the beach, while I was with the boys, she went for a long hike with Aika towards the east. She spotted firecrest, goldcrest, coal tit, wren, blackcap and treecreeper. The Canon R5 has been doing a great job during our journey but the EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens stopped working reliably, after each picture the Canon errors out with a sync error between lens and body. It’s time for a service at Calumet in Leipzig.

Summer Vacation, Day 7: Ladram Bay

From Poole we moved on to Ladram Bay in Devon, around 150 km, with stops at the Spyway Dinosaur Footprints and Durdle Door. For the night we are staying at Ladram Bay Holiday Park.

Summer Vacation, Day 6: Poole

From Brighton we moved on to Poole, around 180 km. For the night we are staying at South Lytchett Manor in Lytchett Minster, a village a few kilometers west of Poole.

Summer Vacation, Day 5: Brighton

We packed up at Norman’s Bay and went once more to the beach for a swim. Kellin lasted for 30 seconds and Tilian could have gone on for hours. We went 50 km to the east to finally meet up with Jasper and Charlotte. For the night we are staying at the Brighton Club Campsite.

Summer Vacation, Day 4: Norman's Bay

From New Romney we moved on to Norman’s Bay. A short 55 km drive through narrow roads. Knock on wood, no misbehaving on the road today from my side - it feels like the drivers in the UK are very careful if they see someone with a foreign license plate.

Summer Vacation, Day 3: New Romney

From Orcq we drove 140 km to Calais, took the ferry to Dover, 1 hour and 40 minutes across the Channel, and continued 40 km to New Romney.

Summer Vacation, Day 2: Tournai

From Baarlo we moved on to Orcq, a village just west of Tournai in Belgium, 260 km in three hours with two breaks along the way. Tomorrow it’s only about 130 km to Calais, the ferry is at 12pm and we’ve got the flex ticket - we can board any ferry within a few hours before and after our booked departure time.

Summer Vacation, Day 1: Venlo

We finished packing the California this morning without any rush, we are traveling light; no big awning tent to assemble, no bikes, no roof box, just the pop-up tent that is with us again.

Woodpecker

I spotted a woodpecker couple roaming around my favorite tree outside of the village, the same place I photographed the young kestrel. I sneaked up behind a bush and held still for a few minutes until the male woodpecker landed 3m in front of me. Shots like this make up for weeks of dissatisfaction with my own photos.

Sparrows

Work is occupying much of my time. The morning walks are getting shorter, I met this Sparrow on one of them. Vacation is approaching fast and coincidentally the ROSE came back from repair. The experience with the local bike shop in Leipzig and the bike being sent to the ROSE HQ to get fixed went very smooth, all within warranty, but I haven’t had the chance to take it out yet - August at the earliest.

Bowl

Nadine did this delicious Asian-style bowl. She didn’t like it as much as I did, so when I said I love all of it, her reaction was rather skeptical. But I meant it! It contained a half-boiled egg from our hens, we wouldn’t otherwise eat eggs.

Flight

First time I managed to take a picture of a flying barn swallow, not decent but it’s a first! It’s been a challenge keeping up with daily posts, in the background work occupies a lot of time, mentally I am thinking about the road trip we are going to do starting next week. We’ll be visiting South England with a surprise stop at Jasper’s. I’ve been getting version 1.15 of Hypo ready, with real user feedback included, after it took off a bit when I posted to a Threads community.

Dive

Nadine did some great shots after the meadows have been mowed down in front of our garden. It attracts swallows, starlings, red and black kites, storks, to catch the rodents that have been surprised by the chaos of the tractor mowing it all down.

Spring Stone

After two days, and in the end two extra pairs of hands, to get the 300kg spring stone into place along with its water inlet and pump, countless trips to the hardware store, concrete, pipes and hoses later, everything is finally in place. I’m glad software development isn’t as hard as this.

Sandbox

Aika is spending more time sleeping in the kids’ sandbox than the kids themselves, luckily the thing is big enough.

Strawberries

Nadine’s vertical strawberry farm. We have two of them. I asked Nadine to comment and provide a nice fact: No comment was provided.

Clarity

It’s been 2 1/2 years since I started not drinking alcohol anymore. I don’t believe in moderation, as it’s either all-in or nothing for me. The taste of alcoholic beverages is great, the effects more so. Eventually I had to decide for mental clarity over taste and effect. Without regret. For taste, I am happy with non-alcoholic alternatives these days. Pictured here: a virgin Lemon Gin Tonic.

Scratch

Now in my phase of taking pictures of birds in funny poses.

Wander

It’s the first time I’m publishing a photo taken on my phone, as I forgot to bring the camera to Tilian’s class end-of-year party for his second school year. We ordered 30 pizzas and spent the afternoon at the local lake. Kellin enjoyed the water and wandering around on his own.

No one knows yet, but this will be my last year as the chairman of the parents council, both for Tilian’s class and the school board. I feel I am more administering the parents group than contributing value to a better school environment. There’s a high chance other parents, more engaged and creative, will create lasting changes for the school. I am happy to make way.

Swans

A photo from two weeks ago, when Nadine went to one of the larger local ponds to scout for kingfishers. No kingfishers to be found, but a pair of swans bathing at dusk.

Burger

Every weekend, Saturday or Sunday, is Burger Day. We’ve been on a plant-only diet for 15 years, last year we got chickens and a by-product is eggs. So that’s the only time we eat animal products. Burgers became a weekly tradition and we’ve nailed the recipe, it’s fun to prepare and a treat when friends are over.

Heat

Poor Aika is suffering with the heat. The hot ground will turn her feet to little stumps of coal, and the usually cold floor in the kitchen is climbing up to 30°C too.

Downstairs

The rooms under the roof have been hitting 35°C, so we moved the boys downstairs into the cold playroom that stays shut all day. It is funny how a different sleeping spot sparks this much joy and excitement in them. At 35°C upstairs, I might just sneak down and join them.

Climate

Temperature and oxygen management of the house has become our side gig. Not sure if I should be happy that the inside temperature only gets up to 28°C throughout the day.

Stop Gap Swallow

Recovered my streak with a Swallow I met in the wee hours.

Munich

Two-day office visit at the roadsurfer HQ in Munich.

Fort

We love a good pillow fort.

Sandbox

All the work around the sand pit and removing the old pond paid off. It hits 35°C during the day at the moment, so water is allowed in the sandpit too.

Good Night, Swallow

Swallows, swallows everywhere. Impossible to photograph when flying, easy when they are sitting. I caught these at sunset.

Mixed Bag

This post is a bit of a mixed bag: more kestrel content, Hypo 1.11, a Sigma USB dock, and barn owls.

Excursion

The local NABU chapter called me late in the afternoon, out of the blue, asking if I wanted to join a trip in their “Treffpunkt Naturschutzdienst” format, this time to the grazing project at the “Aufschlussgraben”, Werben. It is a closed-off area meant to restore local wildlife and serve as a compensation area for the heavily farmed fields around it. The big tease was the breeding ground of 50 bee-eater couples, a bird I aspire to photograph.

Sponsor Post: Nadine's Morning at the Pond

Nadine visited the “magical” grey wagtail pond yesterday and was greeted with a variety of birds: red kite, grey wagtail, red-backed shrike, common redstart. She walked from one end to the other, chasing a golden oriole and a cuckoo, but neither sat for a photo.

Hypo is Live

Hypo got its first public release and goes live with a website. Grab Hypo for free there.

Sit-in

Today I did my first sit-in at a pond. Nadine had reliably seen a grey wagtail on her commute over several days, so while Tilian was at sports, I used the time to settle down by a quiet stretch of water, with dead trees and slightly flowing water.

Warming Up

Spent last night fine-tuning the settings of the Canon R5 and I see myself getting more out of it compared to yesterday. The Sigma telelens combined with the RF-EF dapter seems to have issues with AF. I learned there are likely two issues, first AF pulsing and second a desync between the body image stabilization and the built-in lens one. Before trying out further I’ll update the firmware of the Sigma telelens, yes lenses have firmwares these days - what a time to be alive, and disable the body image stabilizer.

First Steps

I did the first steps with the R5: firmware upgrade, settings, sooo many settings. Overall this is a new setup to learn and it will take a while to master. Especially the Sigma seems to behave slightly differently with the EF-RF ring.

R5

I finally settled on an R5 I. After a lot of fun with the 1D-X II, I had been thinking for a while about how to get around the limitation of its 20MP sensor, and shooting the Sigma at f/8, where it is sharpest, I kept hitting the limit of how much detail I can pull out of a single frame.

Archive

I am consistently one day behind in posting a daily photo. This is from a second tour I made to see the kestrels in the barn across the street, this time with the Sigma TC-1401 1.4x teleconverter on the camera. My original plan was to find Nadine’s old BlackBerry Bold. I wanted to charge it and try it out after watching that BlackBerry movie which surprisingly wasn’t too bad. Liked it more than The Social Network. Taking daily photos that inspire me and feel genuine became a chore, I am forcing myself to keep doing them.

Resting

Kellin is home sick with a fever, spending his days resting on the couch. He is the most cute and grumpy when sick, and it’s sad when you can only do very little to make him feel better.

Sandbox

At 8pm 3.5 tonnes of sand finally arrived for the sandbox, and by 10:45pm 3 tonnes of it had disappeared into the hole. Finally we can see the end of the project. From here it’s fine work: filling the edges, irrigation, a lid for the cistern, lawn edging and plants, lots of plants.

Bumblebee

We found an exhausted bumblebee in our house, and Nadine used the Beevive kit I had brought back from my trip to Jasper in April to revive the little one. For the next hour the bee did not want to leave her side.

Mushrooms

Nadine grew her first mushrooms, and they were good.

Kestrels

We spent the whole day in the garden on the old pond area, the sand pit is now officially fenced in with robinia logs and all the uneven ground around it is filled up with topsoil, and on Monday I order the next 1.5 tonnes of sand for the sandpit itself.

Soapbox Race

Tilian had his yearly soapbox race, and over the past weeks he and Nadine built a rather good little cart together, light, with wheels that roll well and quick to steer, but they had no chance to field test it, and on the day it turned out the cart did not handle gravel well, which is what the loop around the kindergarten is made of. Bummer. With everything they learned this year it should be enough for a podium spot next year.

Hike

I went on a 15 km hike, I had the day off as it is a public holiday in Bavaria and I follow that schedule rather than the local Saxonian one. Half way through the hike Nadine picked up Aika, she deserved a break and I hadn’t had a single good shot on the Canon anyway - So I had to continue.

Stork

Saw mother stork watching over her chicks on my morning tour with Aika, someone local, can’t remember who, shared the fledglings already leave the nest for a few minutes at a time. That would make a great shot.

Rose

The battery of the Rose Reveal would not charge anymore, the same dead brick on wheels I wrote about earlier, so I finally brought it to a Rose service partner in Leipzig. I had not expected the verdict to be “there is nothing we can do here, here are your pedals and attachments”, the bike gets sent in and then we will see.

Water

I felt dizzy all day, so Nadine kept reminding me, loudly, to drink more water, and Tilian joined in by parroting her, slipping me secret notes that read “Mer Wasser!!!” (more water).

Markfest

We went with Nadine’s parents to the Kulinarisches Marktfest in Groitzsch, where the Kellin made it straight for the bouncy castle, had no interest at all in the clown show, and Tilian set off on his own little tour.

Starling

Tilian had another Nature Detectives day at the NABU, learning about herbs and finishing around the campfire with Stockbrot (bread baked on a stick). I used the time to photograph the local starling family while the everyone were busy. It took a lot of patience (which I am not very good at), but I caught the mother flying in to feed her young every minute or so. She lingered only a moment each time before setting off again.

Blackcap

An early start at work and a late finish. Before work I took a long walk above the meadows, hoping to find the red-backed shrike again. He kept out of sight, but a blackcap sat still long enough for me to photograph it instead.

Fledgling

It is a good day when I manage a sharp picture of a bird, even better when Jasper and I send each other sharp wildlife photos on the same day.

Shrike

The battery of the Rose e-roadbike is dead, it has turned into a heavy brick on wheels. Why did I opt for an e-bike again? We’ll never know.

Poppy

After weeks of searching I finally found the male pheasant. Whenever I am out on a morning tour I can hear him without ever managing to locate him, and today I found out where he likes to roam, though he vanished into the tall grass just as quickly as I caught a glimpse of him. Next time I’ll get you. So a poppy for today instead.

Lazy

We had a lazy day. Nadine went for a photo walk but it did not yield any good photos. It gets more and more difficult to spot birds with the dense foliage. The boys and I visited my parents down the village, and we spent the rest of the day watching movies.

Knights Games Trebsen

Went to see the annual Knights Games in Trebsen. We left Aika at Nadine’s grandmother and drove to Trebsen, west of Leipzig. We had been there four years ago over Pentecost but didn’t make it to the actual joust back then.

Nuthatch

The nuthatch was as surprised as I was. Neither of us was prepared to be so close to each other. A quick burst shot later with the Canon, and we went our own ways.

Breakfast

Two guys enjoying their breakfast. It was a usual Friday. More pond work ahead this long Pentecost weekend, and fingers crossed for a successful photo walk in the forest to break the series of mediocre pictures. I can hear a woodpecker from the kitchen window.

Overcast

The weather is beautifully erratic, it just swings between sun, wind and rain all day.

Sparrows

Sparrows are both fidgy (difficult to photograph for me) but also plenty here, so it’s an easy target for a daily photo if you are patient. It was raining most of the day yesterday so sparrows sought shelter in our garden in the large pine tree and under the swing. I wonder if they realize how goofy they look.

Bounce

Took a lucky shot today of a fox jumping 500m away from me through the tall grass. Too far away, too blurry, too dark; yet I am delighted that I caught the moment by accident.

Cliché

Nadine and I were joking today, as we are approaching our 40s, that we start spending money on typical things: cameras, road bikes, coffee machines, birding stuff, sourdough and furniture in millennial grey. So here we go, we got a new coffee machine and I have been fiddling around with it for two hours already to realise the espresso beans we have are actually not espresso beans. I promised Nadine she will have her light-as-water coffee also with this machine. The clock is ticking against me on this one.

Scouting

Trying out different paths in the morning to scout new places to take pictures of the local birds. Aika is getting more careful each tour and starts to sneak alongside me.

Cistern

Nadine and I have been crushing it on the pond excavation site. After yesterday’s placement of the cistern we finished plumbing and started sculpting the space. We moved a ton of sand today.

Big Friday

After a busy week I had Friday off. I went out early to get pictures of the local foxes and a pheasant I have been hearing every now and then. Couldn’t find either. Rest of the day we continued removing our old pond. We got the new 500L cistern in place, which is a big step forward. Plumbing next.

Tradition

Back home after a reliable five hour drive. Picked up as the tradition requires a book for Tilian and toy car for Kellin. Received a self-made father’s day from Tilian in return. Soundtrack of the drive: Vanna - A New Hope.

Offsite

Spent twelve hours in a meeting room. The countryside venue helped.

Hotel

Back in Bavaria close to Munich for a two-day strategy offsite. When I joined trivago in 2016, and ever since at Appsfactory, Delivery Hero and now roadsurfer, I have been routinely traveling inside and outside of Germany.

Nadine's Birthday

It’s Nadine’s birthday. We talked about it last week. We spoke about it on the weekend. This morning the boys and I forgot about it and left the house without saying anything. What a terrible family. We don’t deserve her.

Guided Bird Song Hike & 840mm

Last week left me feeling that even a good camera kit doesn’t guarantee inspiration or good photos. I was looking forward to today’s trip to break the loop of dissatisfying pictures.

The Jury Experience

Nadine and I got to spend the day in Leipzig all by ourselves.

Fox & Wagtail

Contemplating to get an used Sigma TC 1401, could bring details I just don’t have during post-editing cropping.

Puddle

Nadine went out with the boys.

Greenfinch

Nadine got a shot of a greenfinch.

Forest Stroll

Went with the boys and the dog to the forest.

Sparrows

Sparrows. Sparrows Everywhere.

Canon Selphy

Got the Canon SELPHY CP1500 to print our favourite daily photos for the photo wall at home. I printed the first batch of postcard-sized prints from last week’s trips today.

Saros

After a long day in the garden, arguing with the PayPal chatbot about why my claim from when I was scammed has been denied (but I am not giving up yet), I was ready to get back to Saros’s first boss and beat it. It’s a great game and a more accessible version of Returnal, except for the difficulty level.

Stork

One of the two local storks looking for small rodents and amphibians shortly after the meadow had been freshly mowed.

Blackbird

Got today’s daily photo. A blackbird sitting on our garage, 2 meters away from my office window. Easy and convenient.

Long Day

Long day at work in Munich and going back tomorrow at dawn to Leipzig.

Big Day

Twenty-four hours later, I am back on a work trip in Munich for two days. Took the Canon 1D X Mark II for the first tour in our local forest: a fox cub, a group of deer, a Eurasian jay, a starling, a barn swallow and a long-tailed tit.

England, Day 4 1/2

Back home after a great time with Jasper and his family. Will be coming back during the summer holidays with our campervan. With the risk of repeating myself, flying has become a very smooth experience, 20 minutes from touchdown to the train at BER.

England, Day 4

We strolled through the Brighton Car Boot Sale. In many ways things are similar in Germany and the UK. Car boot sales are one of them. Saw an N64 (they guy wanted £50!) and a Sega Mega Drive.

England, Day 3

Jasper and I wanted to see the windfarm close to Brighton since a while. We went there today.

England, Day 2

The day nicely separated into three activities and peak busyness: we went to the RSPB Pulborough Brooks to take pictures, visited Dan (Hi Dan!), Jasper’s business partner, and went to the movies to see Project Hail Mary (second time).

England, Day 1

Arrived safely in Brighton, Jasper and I went out straight for a photo tour through the hills above Rottingdean.

Departure

Going to visit Jasper & family for a long weekend, back on Monday. Not sure when we started this tradition but keeping it alive by taking turns every year became a big part of our friendship. The flipside: getting up at 4am tomorrow.

Rolling

Went with Tilian and Aika on a stroll through the fields and the local forest. Encountered a Heron, a Magpie and a pair of Starlings. I would love to get a good shot of a Magpie, one day!

Split

Three days to my trip to the UK. The week is nicely split between wrapping up work and packing for it. Surprisingly it is also the busiest work week. I guess you can’t plan for that.

Rooster

Rainy day in the garden and our mechanical rooster doesn’t mind. It spins like a windmill in any breeze, so I shot at 1/2000s to freeze it (1/250 would have worked too). It’s been raining all Sunday and it’s my first daily photo in the rain. Next Sunday I hit 100 daily photos.

Nature Detectives

Once a month Tilian is joining a program called Nature Detectives. It is organized by the local NABU chapter.

Alpha

Switched from the Sony RX100 VII to a Sony Alpha 6400.

Station Visit

On the feet from 4am to 10pm. The founders of roadsurfer and us non-founding executives spent the day at the Nürnberg station.

Redstart

Saw a young black redstart this morning on our roof.

Blossom

Spring is in full swing and I am ready for it. I got my new travel passport and ETA for the UK. 1 1/2 weeks to go.

Back to Back

All day back to back in meetings - high season is coming and we are setting goals for the last push before summer peak. Rushed out between breakfast and first calls on the go with Aika and capture a heard of sheeps chilling in the rain.

Jump

Tilian testing gravity. Almost forgot about today’s daily photo, that’s a first.

Mufflon

A Mufflon. Nadine’s nick name for me was mufflon when we got together. This year it will be 15 years since then.

Artemis

Jasper send me earlier a nice video about the Artemis II photos: ‘Explaining the Most Important Artemis II Photos’, conincidentially I got for Tilian, ok for myself, one of the LEGO Artemis sets. Nadine and I went out on a short photo walk, today’s photo is sponsored by her with post editing by myself.

Scammed

Last week I did not pay attention and entered my personal data with pictures of my travel passport into a fake UK government website to request my ETA for my forthcoming trip. Call me an official idiot.

Milestone

I have been using the Sony more over the last days. The Canon’s softness and zoom distort my perception of how good the Sony actually is, especially the finer and sensitive grain adds a nice character to the Sony. Switching between both is fun.

Star

Back to running a birder website. I got lucky this morning with a Stork and a Starling

Flyby

A red kite passed a few meters above us on our Easter walk today. It was stormy, so the large birds stayed low.

Loop

Working on Hypo and immediately using new features in my photo workflow is instant gratification, and it becomes a self-reinforcing loop.

Two Cameras

I went out this morning with both cameras, the two bird shots from the Canon and the frost on the bridge from the Sony.

Dissolve

One of the new windmills north of the village, dissolving in the mist. If you’re looking for something to read, Jasper published a good reflection about AI and his craft, and sent his March recap newsletter. And I successfully avoided any April fools jokes today.

Low

The last few evenings went into building Hypo and the Dragon Touch setup. Agentic coding is a different kind of effort: the cycles from idea to working product are so fast that you barely notice how much you are putting in.

So I Built a Mac App

Nadine and I shoot a lot of photos. A lot in the sense that we are still beginners and have quite an amount to sort through every time. But the amount of pictures is not what this is about.

Village Walk

A walk through the village with friends. Spring was showing up everywhere, the light has been so good again.

Green

I picked this one at random from today’s shots and liked it for the framing and the minimal colors, and for the fact that there are no birds in it for once.

Blue Sky

A starling on the roof, a sparrow on a cable, and a red kite overhead, all three on the same blue day. Nadine caught a great shot of the red kite. I think we are both pushing what we can get out of the 90D and the 250mm lens.

Dodge

My father restores vintage cars as a hobby, and today we did a photo shoot together. The car is a 1932 Dodge Eight Series DK, fully restored by him.

Fog

A quick morning tour with Aika trough dense fog before a full day of building furniture. Writing this just before 9pm, still not done, lights next and then putting everything back in.

Dusk

A great tit on the evening walk with Aika. Low light, but it still worked out.

Blackthorn

A photo of a blackthorn, just coming into bloom. I am finding more and more enjoyment in dialing in settings manually, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and seeing what comes out.

Pigeon

Spent most of today’s energy on a new blog post. But the light outside was too good to ignore, so I grabbed the camera and tested different manual settings for aperture, shutter speed and ISO. Not a fan of pigeons, but I am happy with the sharpness on this one.

Monday

This is what a successfull Monday looks like: Booked my flights for April to see Jasper and his family. Decided to go for a Sigma 600mm lens. Fell asleep 8pm with the kids during bedtime routine.

Mühltal

Nadine was away for the last weekend of her Wildnispädagogik training. The boys and I spent the morning at the Mühltal.

Tilian's Favourite Spot

Tilian got the task from school to choose his favourite place where he lives. Nadine went to take a picture of it with him. To my surprise, it’s the same spot I spent a lot of days as a kid.

Aika

We had parents’ evening at school. I asked to go on the school’s roof to take a picture of the historic water tower. It was dark, all images were blurry. So here is picture of Aika isntead. Nadine said there will be the time for a good shot of the water tower. It was not today.

Stork

I am trying really hard not to let this website become a bird-blog. But the storks are back!

Night Shot

Inspired by Jasper’s night shots and a video I saw on youtube last week that had a nice segment on post-processing night shots I tried to see what I can get out of the Sony RX100 VII.

Honeybee

Heard a swarm of insects humming and was surprised to find a bunch of honey bees on a willow catkin that early this year.

Buntspecht

Got a shot of a great spotted woodpecker. Almost gave up getting a good shot of anything today.

Rime

I walked the dog this morning, same as every day. The world feels caught between winter and spring right now. There’s still frost overnight, double digits by afternoon. How am I supposed to decide what jacket to wear?

Perpetual

Went for a walk in the woods with the neighbors and their dachshund, and Aika. Spotted a pheasant, a fox, a red kite, and a few deer.

Moon

Nadine and I shot the half moon tonight. Otherwise an ordinary day, looking forward to a packed Friday and weekend. I asked her for a text for the post, she said: This is the moon. Sometimes you see it when it’s dark, sometimes even when it’s bright. Sometimes you see it never at all. (very SMRT)

Deer

Managed to capture a young deer in the nature reserve yesterday.

Woods

I went back to the woods looking for the white albino deer, and found a white albino doe instead.

Weir

Nadine and I went out on a photo walk today. We spotted a few animals but couldn’t get any good shots. We ended up at Weiße Elster weir (51.124943, 12.236676).

Dawn

I took Aika for a long walk at dawn this morning, carrying Nadine’s Canon with our new Canon EF-S 55-250mm F4-5.6 IS STM tele lens.

Winter Vacation (Pt. 7)

Last full day in Mayrhofen. A round of Hus, a Mario Kart World cup, three groups heading in different directions and Tilian finally spending his pocket money.

Winter Vacation (Pt. 6)

Mountain day for everyone. We rode up the Penken together, Tilian took second place in his ski school race, Aika had her five minutes of fame and we closed out the evening at Goldkind.

Mayrhofen at Night

Nadine and I had an evening out in Mayrhofen. On the walk home, we stopped for a few neon sign photos.

Winter Vacation (Pt. 5)

Kellin was back on his feet. We spent the morning walking along the Ziller, rode the Zillertalbahn home and ended the evening at an escape room.

Winter Vacation (Pt. 4)

Kellin woke up with a fever, so my father-in-law and I stayed back with him while the others hit the slopes.

Winter Vacation (Pt. 3)

Up at 5. Getting better.

Winter Vacation (Pt. 2)

Day two started at 4:30 in the morning. The older one couldn’t sleep anymore. Great start to a vacation day.

Winter Vacation (Pt. 1)

We made it to Mayrhofen. Around 600 km, about 7 hours on the road with two short breaks. The drive was smooth, nothing to complain about.

Wolf Tracking

Nadine went wolf tracking last weekend and took great shots. It took place across the Czech border and was organized by two wildlife academies: Funkenflug and Heidefeuer.

Pheasant

Went for a long walk and did some meetings from the phone while the light was great outside. Saw a pheasant, a young buck and heron.

Two Dorks

Two dorks outside in our garden. Photo courtesy of Nadine.

Blue

I have been trying to be more active in the last days, averaging around 16.000 steps each day, both treadmill supported but also more walks with Aika. Today I came across this blue net hanging ourside of a barn and I just could not figure out what it’s supposed to do.

Kohlmeise

I thought this is a decent picture of a Kohlmeise (google the english name yourself - not going to use it here) but then remembered Jasper’s pictures of birds (1, 2) he took and felt ashamed.

Frost

Last night’s frost laid a soft film over all surfaces.

New Camera Day

The Sony RX100 VII is here! I took it out for a spin with the kids to the forest and the garage of my father. There is so much to learn about it.