Ethereal Vevey

This photo was taken on a stormy morning in Vevey. To the right of Place de Marché is a set of three statues of seahorses that are near or in the lake. They can be magic in the right light and conditions. I was lucky on this morning.

I used a 10-stop Neutral Density filter to allow me to take a time exposure of 30 seconds, which gives the water that milky ethereal feeling. Fortunately, the sun chose that moment to envelope the statue in light. Sometimes the light just works.

A sleeping castle with an interesting historical link and a safely moored ship

I had the opportunity to find some time free last week, which inevitably meant I got out with my gear to capture more images of the beauty around this region.

The first image is one I have been planning for some time - to capture the sun as it rises over the Aubonne castle. The castle was built in 1680 for Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, an early visionary of the opportunity in Indian Trade. Interesting historical tidbit (Thanks to Wikipedia), M. Tavernier was the individual who discovered and sold the 118 carat Hope Diamond (as it was known when it was re-discovered after a theft in London) to Louis XIV. This was taken from a secret vantage point I identified near the Arboretum...

The second image was taken on a sunny morning of the CGN ship, "Lausanne". This ship, part of the fleet of the Compagnie Générale de Navigation sur le lac Léman (CGN) who operates the steam ships on Lac Leman (Lake Geneva) is one of the modern ships of their fleet, commissioned in 1991. Here, we find it safely moored at its home in Ouchy, a district of Lausanne in the Canton of Vaud. Taken with an ultra-wide 10mm lens to emphasize the texture and color of the mooring rope and chain.

Thanks for reading! I have a bunch of new interesting photos from an outing to La Salève, a mountainous outcrop overlooking Geneva, Les Rochers-de-Naye overlooking Lake Geneva and others, but I need some time to select the best ones. They should be up soon!

Wade

la-Creux-de-Van, in Neuchâtel, Switzerland

Recently, I took a hike up to a formation I had heard about but had not yet seen. I have posted this elsewhere, but I will include it in the blog to ensure we can get this out there, as it is really impressive to see.

Satellite View, courtesy of Google Maps:


View Larger Map

Essentially, this is a near-perfect semicircular cliff face in the country side...I say countryside, because this is back in the sweeping Swiss fields, and inevitably. Cows graze directly on the brink...

My wife and I hiked up to it this past summer. It was an easy hike along a road, which was a bit of a surprise...what was even more of a surprise was to learn the road led directly to a nice restaurant stocked with good food and cold beer only about 300m from the formation itself.

View from restaurant - that horizon line is where the world ends...

Following our heavy but delicious meal of croûte de fromage at the restaurant, we walked through the grazing cattle to the brink, and were honestly struck dumb. Being there was better than expected. The cliffs are almost perfectly vertical and the formation itself follows a very smooth circular track. The view wasn't so bad either :

Again, sadly this is a small image, so the resolution isn't great...but you get the idea. My panoramic files end up being HUGE (500 MB+) so have to cut it way down for the blog...

Another view, just to give you an idea of the height of the cliff face and the impressive structure of the rock, here's a snapshot of my wife and our savage hound. She always comments she ends up as speck in my photos while the landscape sweeps majestically out behind her....as if she thinks I am focusing on the landscape and not her...

Stay tuned for my next posts!

Wade

New Panoramic of Fall colors near Fèchy

Autumn moves on and the colors just keep getting better. Fortunately, the vineyards have not yet suffered from the strong windstorms we normally have by now, which usually eliminate most of the leaves. Autumn this year is the gift that keeps giving.

Below is a new pano I took of the area. It is a 1:7 panoramic, so I hope you have a wide screen!

Photo Contest result

Just received word today I won second prize for overall quality of images in a local photo contest, with the subject of the 2011 Tour de Romandie bike race. Below are the images I submitted.

Images By Wade Walker Landscapes and Icons

I created a photobook as a tool to demonstrate my photographs for potential customers.

It is available at this link for viewing, and is available also for purchase.

Images By Wade Walker Photobook




Enjoy!

Wade

Autumn in the Arboretum near Aubonne, Switzerland

Autumn is here in Switzerland.  Already a country renowned for its natural beauty at any time of year, in autumn Switzerland's forests take on rich reds, golds, yellows and oranges, further enhancing its gorgeous landscape.


Being fortunate enough to live near the Arboretum (http://www.arboretum.ch/) which is a large natural park, I try to get down there now and again for a walk and some photos.  With the fall colors in full swing, the drive to use my camera overcame me recently during a visit from my mother from Canada and we spent several afternoons surrounded by Switzerland at its best...

The area around where I live is thick with vineyards, producing red, rosé and white wines.  Living in wine country has all sorts of benefits.  The diminutive, unassuming and delicious chasselas grape takes on shades of red and brown in addition to its native green when ripe.  It is not used for wine anywhere else on earth than Switzerland, where the climate is perfect for its growth.  The white wine is fruity and sweet, and excellent with cheeses, which of course, are legion in Europe.  The aesthetic benefit of the vineyards is one of intense interest to the photographer, and recently, I took my gear out to nearby Féchy on top of a convenient berm that some enterprising farmer had erected no doubt to prevent flooding from the tiny stream that ran across his property.

Unfortunately, I had to reduce the size substantially to upload it here, so any pixel-peekers out there may find some substantial loss of quality...click to enlarge.

First post

Just opened this up. Finally pursuing the ideas I have had all these years of sharing my experiences, my photos and my thoughts on the beauty around me

.