The highlight of my month was four days in Berlin, Germany, which went by in something of a blur, but produced many good photos from some great experiences. It really is true that time flies when you’re having fun! As my final yield of photos from this trip was just under two hundred (from an initial take of over eight hundred!), picking the ones to show here wasn’t easy, but the selection should give a good idea of the photographic appeal of Berlin and its surroundings.
My first day was more of a half day by the time I arrived in Potsdam, the first on my long list of sights I wanted to see. As a small town on the outskirts of Berlin, it has a lot to offer in the way of tourist spots, but my focus was on the Park Sanssouci and the many different palaces, buildings, gardens, avenues, and pathways that it holds within more than 740 acres, which provided ample interest for photography.
The star of the show is the namesake Schloß Sanssouci, which despite being quite small for a palace, is enhanced greatly by its surroundings. These include the set of deep terraced gardens which it sits at the top of, as well as the large pond at the base of these, which is apparently graced by a fountain later in the summer.
Although it lends itself to symmetrical shots very well, as shown in the top two photos above, I pushed myself to add some variety with the quarter angles, as seen in the bottom row above. The longer shot on the right is one I am particularly happy with, as it gets all of the palace as well as one of the garden columns, though I have oversaturated it a little in editing. This location was my start and end point, so I got to see it at two different times of day, which was very much worth it. My first view was around midday, when it was in full sun and swarming with people. I managed to wait for some clear shots, but as I wanted to make the most of my time, I thought carefully about the potential of the view and left some shots behind. My second visit was at half past three, but even by then the park was quieter, and the quality of light had changed with the angle of the sun. Having fewer people about gave me new views to work with, such as that on the bottom right above, and I made as much use of it as I could.
Between my two visits to Sanssouci, I walked all the way to the other end of the park to see the Neues Palais. This building is much larger and in a different architectural style, overwhelmingly red rather than yellow, and offered far more photography angles. The rear of the building was more accessible than at Sanssouci, and had a pair of similar-style buildings associated with it (below top right). In one place, these offered a good frame through to the palace itself, which I worked hard in the moment to get just right and really thought I had, only to learn whilst editing that I was that little bit off that makes all the difference (below bottom right).
The long walks between these two locations showed me a good portion of the rest of the park, though I am sure that I only saw half of what it had to offer at most, and a lot of that from a distance. I would love to spend a whole day exploring everything properly, preferably without toting my luggage and heavy coat!
Below top left: The Orangery Palace. Below top right: The Temple of Friendship. Below middle left: The top lantern of the Picture Gallery of Sanssouci. Below middle right: The Chinese House. Below bottom left: The Picture Gallery of Sanssouci viewed through the Östlicher Lustgarten. Below bottom right: Ruinenberg, seen from the back of Sanssouci palace.
Day one did have a lot of walking, and most of it in the midday heat, but it was definitely worth it for the views offered. The second day was similarly tiring, as I seemed to walk from one side of Berlin to the other! Starting at the Fernsehturm in Alexanderplatz, I made my way west towards the Brandenburger Tor, but spent most of the time looking backwards to get different views of the Fernsehturm. With the sky cloudy and bright, and the subject being so thin, having it as the sole object in a picture was quite underwhelming. Therefore, I thought it best to add something else to create more interest.
Trees were my main framing devices, but as in the photo on the top right, there were other conjunctions to be had. This one involves the Berliner Dom, which thankfully has the crowning cross at a good angle to make this view particuarly photogenic! Some views were best focused on the ‘ball’ portion of the tower, whilst others worked better when the main column and/or top mast was also involved.
Despite being just one building, I managed to get a lot of photographs of it that I was happy with, and that was only the morning session. I found myself back in that district when the sun was dropping towards golden hour and sunset, and having some different sky conditions and a better, warmer quality of light really added to the pictures.
There were more things to add to the shots as well: below, the rising half moon, and to the right, a pair of flags, of Berlin on the left and Germany on the right. Very topical!
Between these two visits to one of my favourite buildings, I did see quite a few of the city’s other sights. Nearby in Alexanderplatz was the Rotes Rathaus (below middle) a very impressive building which defintitely lives up to its name, and walking across Museuminsel and down Unter den Linden bought me to some buildings of the Humboldt Universität (below left). It was a short time after seeing that that I happened to see the alignment of the Fernsehturm and the Berliner Dom.
I struggled to get good photos of St Marienkirche (right). Even at the time, finding the building’s symmetry spot wasn’t easy, and whilst editing I discovered that not a single one is actually aligned properly. As you may imagine, this left me quite annoyed! Also, as with the Fernsehturm, the sky was much brighter than the subject, which put the contrast balance off and took away much of the beautiful green of the weathered copper.
Most of the afternoon of the second day was spent walking around the Tiergarten, a park right in the centre of the city which sprawls across more than 1250 acres. A comprehensive network of paths take you through the forest, around waterways and lakes, to different gardens and areas of planting, and past various statues and memorials, as well as occasionally intersecting with one of the major roads which run right through the park. The meeting of these is at the Großer Stern roundabout, which has at it’s centre the Siegessäule.
As well as a museum, this is also a viewpoint from where you can see the Tiergarten spread at your feet like a carpet and the skyline of the city. The Fernsehturm, Berliner Dom, Rotes Rathaus, and other prominent buildings are grouped in one east-facing view (top left).
The viewing platform right at the top gives good overviews, but the lower-level gallery adds a little height to more ‘usual’ shots such as the one in the middle below, looking down Straße des 17 Juni towards the Brandenburger Tor, which was a favourite of mine for the framing with the trees. I took this a step further after my visit by walking down the central paved section of that road and getting a super low-level shot, which even took in the heat ‘pooling’ on the road (below right).
Whilst within the park itself, away from the popular sights and bustling tourist areas, I changed my focus to the resident wildlife and nature. Although the park was not yet in full bloom, there were still plenty of plants which I wasn’t familiar with, as common as they may be in that area, and some city-bred garden birds who weren’t very afraid of humans, and were quite willing to sit for a moment for a photo.
When night fell properly, I went back to the Brandenburger Tor/Unter den Linden area, starting in Pariser Platz aiming for long exposures involving the Tor. Unfortunately, my main takeaway from that exercise was that not all that many things with lights actually travel through the gate on an average night, being only the odd bicycle or e-scooter, and with the small tripod I had available, I couldn’t get a high enough angle to catch traffic on the other side (below left, 5s, f/22, ISO 1000). I did, though, find an angle where the rising moon sat perfectly above the famous statue that tops the gate, which made me feel as though I had at least got something out of the session (below middle, 1/60s, f/4, ISO 2500).
After a couple of middling pictures of the gate, I moved further east looking for views, and quickly found one, featuring guess what? Of course, what else but the Fernsehturm. When that alone proved, once again, to not be the most engaging picture, particularly at such a distance, I remembered my initial traffic idea and included that in the foreground. As vehicles were sparse, I used my camera’s inbuilt double exposure tool to strengthen the red lines of the brake lights. The final picture (above right, 10s, f/22, ISO 800) is one that I am very happy with, and which made it worth perching my tripod on a bin for ten minutes setting up the shot. Completely tired out, I then called it a night.
Day three had a bright and clear start, much more promising than the day before. I started at Alexanderplatz again, but this time moved east, stopping first at the world clock. During my second visit the previous day, I had noticed a good alignment between it and the Fernsehturm, but the sunset light had not been very helpful for capturing the detail of the clock, and besides that it was very busy. The next morning, it was still early enought that there were not many people around, and the sunrise lit the view perfectly.
As well as lining that up freehand, I also had to time my shots perfectly if I wanted to include a good amount of both the S-Bahn and the tram in the background, as they made it practically the perfect picture of Berlin in my eyes. My patience was rewarded with the image on the right! I also caught it at a moment when the model of Saturn wasn’t getting in the way of the tower, a frequent complaint. My only issue is that the clock isn’t exactly centered, but it’s a nitpick. The sky, the framing, and everything else is perfect.
Walking further east, I found the Cafe Moskau building (above left). This was particularly interesting to me not only because of the essentially Soviet style of the architechture, typical of the eastern part of Berlin, but because of the model Sputnik spacecraft above it. The surrounding buildings, such as the Kino International, were in the same vein, and the rapidly greying skies added to the atmospere.
My next stop was the Gärten der Welt, which was quite a long ride out of the city. I would have liked to be able to spend more time there, but due to the timing for my next planned visit, I only got about an hour and a half in the gardens. Some of that time was spent riding their cable car, though, which goes right over the gardens and the adjoining park, and offers great views over the surrounding area too. Of course, you can see the Fernsehturm on the horizon, but I shall spare you any more pictures of that…for now.
I mainly visited the Japanischer Garten, as I wanted to see the cherry blossom trees in full bloom (above bottom left), but also found that the nearby Chinesische Garten had may buildings and a lake which made a number of good compositions (above top left and above bottom right). The other areas of the garden that I walked through also presented a lot of beautiful areas of planting, which I captured in the intermittent sunlight. I didn’t have as much time as I wanted, but enough to make it count, and I’m happy that I at least got something out of my long courney from the city centre.
The timing I was trying to make after the gardens was at Tempelhof Airport, and the one tour that they were running on that day. The airport looks very impressive from the outside, but, as I discovered, is just as impressive on the inside, if not more so. Though I didn’t find it leant itself to photography very much, as we kept moving a lot and I was focused on the tour, the visit was definitely worth it. My only improvement would be to be able to go outside at the back, where the aircraft used to arrive at their gates, which was not possible on the day I was there.
Below left: The grandeur of the arrivals hall at Tempelhof. Below right: The best view onto the rear area of the terminal building, showing the only complete example of a Focke-Wulf Condor.
The rest of my day was spent wandering through the city centre, as I had ticked off all the main places that I wanted to visit. I made my way slowly back to my hotel- and was just in time to miss a massive hail storm! When I ventured out for dinner some time later, the clouds were still clearing, and looked very impressive (below left). The hail stones were equally so, each being at least a centimetre in diameter. I stayed out through the dusk, capturing silhouettes such as that of the Brandenburger Tor (below right) against a colourful sunset, then, when it was fully dark, I continued my pursuit of long exposures.
On this night, I helped myself by going to the Leipziger Platz and Potsdamer Platz area. Both of these are heaving with traffic at any time of the day or night, being the meeting of several main roads through the city, but this among other traits gave the locations their one major flaw: there were now too many light sources. Signs, windows in the surrounding buildings, street lighting, and of course the cars themselves. With just my small tripod, I was often right on level with them, and particularly in Potsdamer Platz, it was more blinding than artistic.
Below top left: A floor-level shot across to the Bahnhof entrance. The lights from the traffic cross the entire shot, and it would be more acceptable if the station itself wasn’t out of focus. 5s, f/22, ISO 800, unedited. Below top right: A wider shot from a higher angle, better but still out of focus and with the white lights on the left grabbing the attention with their overexposure. 5s, f/22, ISO 800, unedited.
I had more luck when I moved just a few feet away on the same street corner to be in Leipziger Platz, where I captured the shot on the left. It’s perhaps not in my usual style, but I still like it for the strong colours and amount of interest it holds. I was lucky to catch the bus going through, leaving the higher light trails on the left of the shot, and avoid a lot of the light coming off of the U-bahn entrance I was perching my tripod on. 5s, f/22, ISO 800.
On the final day of my trip, I made the lengthy journey out to Gatow, primarily to visit the air museum there. Apart from the indoor exhibitions, there were a great amount of aircraft, military vehicles, and other pieces of equipment such as radar installations spread on the hardstanding outside, which were more interesting than photogenic, though there were some nice compositions to be had.
The F-104 Starfighter that they had on display (below left) was particularly interesting because of the rocket-assisted launch pod mounted underneath, a modification which was only ever made to two aircraft of that type. I also enjoyed seeing the museum’s resident night fighter Meteor (below middle), and the large number of aircraft in their original East German liveries, such as that on the right. Not entirely unexpected, given the museum’s location, but definitely adding to the atmosphere.
Despite having gloomy skies for most of my visit, the architecture of the control tower building still looked good beside the twin domes of the main radar installations (top left), and these also played their part in other views (bottom left). I’m glad that I decided to come here, despite the long journey, as it was a good way to round out my trip.
Four days seemed to fly by, with the second day particularly feeling like I did a week’s worth of activities in a handful of hours, and I loved every moment of it. The photography opportunities I had were brilliant, in terms of locations, subjects, weather, and the time available, and I can’t wait to go back to Berlin- or maybe, next time, another destination…
A weekend of hiking in the Peak District provided some excellent views, making the climbs worthwhile. The first day was focused in the Kinder Scout area, and I managed to get a few good shots despite the trip not being planned around photography opportunities. Starting at the Kinder Reservoir, my group headed around the north shore to reach Kinder Downfall- which, due to the incredibly strong winds, was actually an upfall!- before heading south to pass the Kinder Low trig point on our way to Jacob’s Ladder. From there, it was a fairly flat or downhill run into Edale, and a very nice pub.
Below top left: A view south across the Kinder Reservoir, taking in the old pumping station in the foreground and Upper House Estate nestled in the trees in the background. Below top right: A cockerel running wild at Upper Booth Farm. Below bottom left: A windswept passageway between rock masses just off the Penine Way. Below bottom right: A landscape outside Edale.
One of my favourite features of the route we took was the various rock piles that we came across, which ranged in size from a few pebbles to a small hill! I made use of them as focal points in landscape shots which otherwise lacked a particular subject, making them the ‘focus’ without losing the context to create a more interesting image overall. Even when the background is out of focus, as with the image in the middle below, it still adds to the overall picture.
The two photos below are a good example of framing making all the difference in a photo. With little more than a step to the left between taking the image on the left and the image on the right, the rock pile is now more of a framing device than a focal point, as the visibility of the interesting valley floor has been maximised over the plain hillside. I will admit, though, that the addition of some more sun also added to the visual appeal of the image on the right, and that it could bear the foreground being a little lighter.
The second day was spent at Derwent Reservoir, doing a short there-and-back walk along the eastern shore from the Derwent Dam to the Howden Dam. This location is one I’ve wanted to visit for quite a while, so it was great to see it on a fine day and with a friendly group. The going was easy even if the good views were a little harder to come by due to the bushes and trees growing between the reservoir shore and the path.
At the time when I was there, the Derwent Dam was in a period of ‘overflow’, a normal occurrence when the reservoir is at its fullest, which produces a cascade of white water all along the front of the dam wall as shown in the photos below. It certainly made my visit a little more special, and may have provided some good long exposure shots had it been a little later in the day.
The dams and their associated structures provided surprising variation in shots once I really looked for them, including the shot above on the left through (and almost missing) the iron barred gate to access the walkway. I particularly liked that view because of the cutout the castellated arch created, and for the contrast between light and shadow. Shortly before that, the shot on the right was composed with the objective of putting the tower in the centre, whilst also getting a good amount of detail on the water and the bank on that side. I feel that it worked quite well; it can be the case that the tower is literally in the centre of the photo but looks to be slightly off, but in this picture it is centered both visually and literally.
But as well as these, there were of course the natural views of the valleys to see. Though these were plentiful, many of them were not the most interesting compositions to my eye, so many were not used, but I did pick out a couple that I liked. The day being quite grey and threatening rain, the light and contrast were not the best, and any interest in the sky was broadly lost, but it was worth trying if only to confirm my thoughts.
Below left: Looking north from the Howden Dam whilst graced by some rare patches of sunshine. Below right: Looking south towards the Derwent Dam. If you squint, you can pick out the two towers showing the dam itself.
The wind was still up whilst we were around the dams, and the overflow was frequently blown back up into the reservoir before it even got to the bottom (left). Trying to capture this really drew my attention to the towers, which were of the same design as those at the Howden Dam (below), and whos extra colours added some more interest to my pictures.
Overall, this was a great weekend, with a surprisingly good photography yield- and I definitely learnt more about working in adverse conditions!
I caught some of the flying activity at North Weald, mainly usual visitors but with an unexpected new sighting: a UH-1 Huey. I had not seen one flying before, so this was very exciting, despite it not doing anything much other than circuits when it was in the airfield’s airspace. The shot on the right was the closest it got to me, and in the best light, with many of my other photos being merely silhouettes.
One of the other arrivals was not unusual in itself, but it did arrive in an unusual manner: Westland Lynx G-NCKS landed with the starboard side main door open, and a figure behind the GPMG mount, which was excellent to see. Despite this, some of my best photos are from when the aircraft was on the ground shortly after landing, and one of the rear crew members was doing some observation. I experimented with shutter speeds and close framing to create the pair of images below, which each have their merits, although I prefer the one on the left for the interest in the figure and the accurate colours. One of the last things I have to get a grip on with longer exposures is not losing the original colour profile- it’s my main stumbling block at the moment.
Below right: The rear crewman shortly after disembarking. 1/640s, f/6.4, ISO 320. Below left: Watching the blades go by. 1/30s, f/22, ISO 320.
For airborne shots, the GIF on the left shows my best one from this occasion, before and after some careful editing. It was initially marred by a light twin-prop aircraft on the other side of the runway and a couple of pedestrians walking to their aircraft, but thankfully neither of these touched the Lynx and were at least partially in the engine exhaust ripple, which is the easiest to work with when editing
The final visitor was another Westland helicopter, a Scout. Whilst making its departure, I managed to catch it with one ‘foot’ on the ground- in the image on the right, the back tip of the port skid is still on the concrete! Other than that bonus, I was happy with the tail rotor disc in this shot, just long enough to capture but not long enough to overlap. 1/60s, f/22, ISO 320. Below left: moments before take-off, with a tail rotor bow tie. 1/125s, f/20, ISO 320. Below right: Now as a departure.
This month’s handful of sundry shots are a mixed bag; wildlife, cars, and astronomy. They serve as a reminder of my range of photographic interest, and that though my main passion is aviation, I am more than willing (and able!) to turn my hand to a number of other subjects. Just don’t mention portraiture…that thing still scares me!
