I have been fascinated by this very unique and magical place in Andalusia from the very first moment I set eyes on a photo. And after my first visit I realized that - like so many other artists and photographers before - I have caught the Virus called "Tintomanía", a notion shaped by the grand Spanish master of nature photography Antonio Camoyán. Everytime I come home from Spain and look through my pictures there is this overwhelming wish to return and continue working on my photographical approach to this kingdom of colors...
Since the Rio Tinto offers a huge variety of of themes, subjects and techniques I tried to sort my pictures into (so far) 9 different categories and galleries respectively:
Centuries of opencast mining have left traces in Minas de Rio Tinto. The British, in particular, who were awarded the rights to exploit the mine from 1873-1954, modified the territory completely by applying the new methods of the Industrial Revolution. Ruins of buildings and rusty trains can still be seen today. Photos by drone and by camera
"Natural landscape" means riverscapes (by drone and by camera) of the three acid rivers, Rio Tinto, Rio Odiel and Tintillo in areas that are not being used for industrial purposes or directly poisoned by industrial toxic effluents. Of course, the whole region is influenced by the deposits of iron, copper and sulphur and by the mining activities and thus only partly "natural"
The toxic waste of the mine is collected in special ponds partly "natural", partly artificial. This series shows how the natural surroundings of the ponds are being infiltrated and intoxicated
A collection of pictures of dried mud taken by camera and by drone. Depending on the chemical compounds the mud assumes different hues and structures
This type of picture is called "trampantojo" in Spanish which means "deception" or "delusion". A trampantojo plays with the imagination of the beholder offering a surrealistic landscape to dive into...
Residuents from a copper mine in the province of Huelva form ephemeral paintings in the pond of toxic waste. Colours and patterns change with the compound of the waste, precipitation and the wind. Heavy rainfall destroys these paintings forever and it needs the sun, new effluents and a period of dry weather to let grow new "paintings"
The spray on the river forms imaginary characters and with a longer exposure floating patterns
Details of the Rio Tinto -mud, seaweed, reflections, moss and geologic structures
What do you do when you’re on a family vacation, when you’ve promised to spend time with the grandchildren and NOT with your camera and totally unexpectedly you almost stumble across some very photogenic caterpillars on your way home from the beach … READ MORE
The description of the workshop sounded very promising:
"Minimalistic macro photography, high keys and low keys of plants, insects and structures with natural and artificial light sources..."
And that's what it proved to be: a very inspiring workshop right up my alley 😊.
This was another workshop by stefan-imig.de with whom I've done numerous excellent workshops before.
During the workshop " Light and Shadow" I had the wonderful opportunity to get to know stag beetles a little closer. They live on old oaktrees and belong to the biggest beetles in Europe. They spend most of their life - 3-5 years - in the ground for the larval devlopment. After the beetles' hatch they live only for about 6 weeks on the trees to reproduce. I was very lucky to witness a rival battle between 2 male beetles at the end of which the loser was being thrown off the tree.
First Pics
When I talked to my friend Silvia on the phone a week before our trip to Minas de Rio Tinto she had everything ready for our arrival in Andalusia - the cozy little holiday house and a freshly cleaned and filled pool were waiting for us and the sun was shining at very pleasant temperatures... READ MORE
This time it was only a short trip to the Dalmatian Pelicans but it was - like always - so lovely to stay in Kerkini and meet all our Greek friends again. We had four gorgeous sunrises with the pelicans waiting for us on the lake and just a wonderful time... READ MORE
Lots of rain and thousands of nasty mosquitoes accompanied me into the Swedish woods when I did my first serious attempts at photographing fungi. The Swedish woods were full of fungi - the edible kinds like porcini or chanterelles which we loved to prepare with pasta or as a risotto 😋😋😋 and the inedible and poisonous kinds. I soon realised that they all had in common that they are rather big, too big for the kind of photos I had in mind. It's the really tiny ones that grow on moss that bring the best photographic results. Here's a collection of older pictures mostly of slimy beech caps and of my new fungi photos...
Drone pictures from my Easter tours to Minas de Riotinto in 2022 and 2023
In March 2022 I visited Rio Tinto for the first time. I had seen pictures of this Mars-like landscape on Instagram and was immediately and totally hooked. What I did not know then, was, how difficult it actually is to find one's way around in this mountainous arid and torrid region... READ MORE
Summertime - time for butterflies and other tiny beauties. It also means setting up the alarm for around 4 o‘clock in the morning which is definitely not my favorite time to get out of bed….it’s still dark outside and usually cold... READ MORE
A collection of early flowering plants - hepatica, pheasant's eye, wood anemones and pulsatillas I took over several years partly during workshops with Stefan Imig and partly on my own in the Tauber Valley and in several nature reserves in Bavaria.
Since my first visit in Kerkini in January 2018 I’ve come back 6 more times to this tiny village that is situated nestled in between the mountains on the shore of Lake Kerkini to the north of Thessaloniki... READ MORE
Pictures of the Dalmatian Pelicans taken during my visit in December 2021 READ MORE
My second drone tour to Iceland and altogether my 10th trip to this incredible island in the North Atlantic Ocean...
Pictures taken with my "normal" cameras during my drone tours to Iceland in October 2020 and October 2021
There are basically two different ways of photographing wildlife in Costa Rica: the classic way is to visit National Parks, take a guide and hope for the best... READ MORE
The Tauber Valley between Wertheim to the North and Bad Mergentheim to the South is well known for its existence of rare wild orchids. You can find lady's slippers, bee orchids, early and late spider orchids, lizard orchids and many more. Most of them have their peak blossom period during the month of May, some of them a little later.
Due to the long duration of sunshine, warmth and dryness above average the hills of the Tauber Valley are very suitable for cultivating fruit trees such as cherries, apples and pears. In springtime a sea of blossoms is covering the hills and the rape fields are shining in bright yellow - what a wonderful sight!
A collection of my chess flower (Fritillary meleagris) pics from two workshops with Uwe Hasubek on two different locations in the surroundings of Hamburg. There are only very few locations in Germany where you can find both the red and the white kind. These pretty flowers are highly endangered and specially protected in Germany.
Pictures of the Dalmatian Pelicans from my visit in Kerkini in February 2021. READ MORE
Pictures of the Dalmatian Pelicans from my visit in Kerkini in December2020/January 2021
I’ve been to Iceland 8 times so far always en route in all kinds of wind and weather with wanderlust, a thirst for adventure and my camera to catch special moments in this absolutely stunning country. But this time - the ninth time - was going to be a very different trip: for the first time I had brought a drone... READ MORE
There’s a little forest in the Allgäu where you can photograph curious and rather tame squirrels as well as nutcrackers from a very close distance “in the wild”. During the week and outside school holidays there’s a good chance to do that in peace... READ MORE
Although I had read a pile of books and travel guides about Japan before I boarded the plane to Tokyo, the “Land of the Rising Sun” just took my breath away…being so completely different from what I’ve seen before. We were extremely lucky in having perfect winter weather conditions – softly falling snow for the ballerina-like courtship dances of the Red-crowned cranes... READ MORE
Pictures of the Dalmatian Pelicans from my visit in Kerkini in December2019/January 2020
Rügen is the biggest German Island situated in the Baltic Sea. It's famous for its impressive white chalk cliffs, beautiful sand beaches and lush natural beech woods. I only spent a couple of days here with Stefan Imig wandering along the shores and through the colourful autumnal woods.
There are basically two different ways of photographing wildlife in Costa Rica: the classic way is to visit National Parks, take a guide and hope for the best... READ MORE
Pictures of the Dalmatian Pelicans from my visit in Kerkini in December2018/January 2019
Pictures from a very rainy and still very good workshop in the Swiss Verzasca Valley with Radomir Jakubowski. There had been a really bad storm with so much rain only few days before the workshop so that the Verzasca had swollen quite a bit and the biggest part of the beautiful rocks were still flooded - really difficult conditions...
As soon as I had set eyes on some photographs of Dalmatian Pelicans on the internet I knew that I was going to visit them, I was so deeply enchanted by them. Half a year later I was standing on the shores of Lake Kerkini ...
Or: If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you!
To tell the truth: I’m not a real winter type, I don’t like it too cold, I hate slipping on icy ground and I’m afraid of getting lost in the dark. But I love the soft winter light, so I plucked up all my courage and decided to do a winter trip to Iceland... READ MORE
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