Images from our trip to Bavaria, Germany, in August 2011. Among other places we visited the Kehlsteinhaus (also know as the Eagle’s Nest) in the Bavarian Alps. This mountaintop retreat of Adolf Hitler played a prominent role as the main unit objective in HBO’s mini-series “Band of Brothers.” The allied bombing and battles of World War II left the building intact and today the Eagle’s Nest remains in its original state. In the years after the war, the Eagle’s Nest and the surrounding area of Berchtesgaden remained a part of US Armed Forces property in southeastern Germany. The US military set up a recreation center where servicemembers could hike in the summer and ski in the winter. The US military returned the area to Germany in the 1990s.
The Eagle’s Nest is a chalet-style structure erected on a subpeak of the Hohel Göll known as the Kehlstein. Construction was completed in 1938. It was built as an extension of the Obersalzberg complex erected in the mountains above Berchtesgaden. The Eagle’s Nest was intended as a 50th birthday present for Adolf Hitler to serve as a retreat, and a place for him to entertain visiting dignitaries. The last 124 meters up to the structure were reached by an elevator straight down through the mountain and linked via a tunnel leading to a parking lot. Today the building is owned by a charitable trust and serves as a restaurant.
To see the images larger, and for more images please visit the gallery.
Today was the first total lunar eclipse in two years. This eclipse fell on the same day as this year’s winter solstice, which is an rare occurance, with the last time that happened being 456 years ago in the year 1554 according to NASA. The eclipse lasted 72 minutes.
Here is how the lunar eclipse on December 21st 2010 looked seen from Iceland. Click the image to view it larger.
P.S. Ruriksson.com wishes everyone happy holidays and a happy new year
This week “I went on the internet and found this” website IconicPhotos.Wordpress.com. Iconic photos, which is one of my favorite websites at the moment, is a photoblog dedicated to famous, infamous and iconic photos throughout history and the history behind them. Currently on their frontpage are several posts about the Atomic bomb, and the dropping of it on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Below I’ve included a slideshow from my travels to Japan in 2008 where I went all around the country, visiting Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Okinawa, Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo to name a few destinations.
Dr. NakaMats is very well known in Japan. With more than 3300 patents he is the world record holder of patents. He is about to celebrate his 80 year birthday, but feels younger than ever with an enormous energy. In fact he is certain that he will become 144 years old. But how will Dr. NakaMats accomplish this? The film follows this extraordinary japanese celebrity on his mission to elongate life. All the while he is creating new inventions.
Dr. NakaMats is an avid collector of cameras. He has an interesting way to determine if a camera is good or not. “One of my hobbies is collecting cameras. Normal people will check lens or mechanism. But, I have a special method. I smell. Smell camera. Good smell is good camera. Bad smell or no smell, that is bad camera.”
Will you be using Dr. NakaMats way in choosing your next camera?
The website golden-hour.com is especially useful for photographers who want to find out what time the sunrise and sunset happens. Sometimes referred as the “golden hour” or “magic hour”, the first and last hour of sunlight in the day produce a special quality of light which (weather permitting) can yield the optimal conditions for making particularly beautiful photographs.
I included some of our sunrise and sunset images in a slideshow below.
Interested in making a panorama of your own? You could go for the Gigapan system to make those huge gigapixel panoramas, which is available for a variety of different sized cameras, from a “point and shoot”, to a large DSRL. The system comes supplied with a parorama stitching software.
I haven’t been really active in posting new stuff on my site for some time now and I’m hoping to change this for the better, being more active from now on. One part of that is establishing this new weekly feature, “I went on the internet and found this”, (hopefully) every Sunday starting today.
I’ll post something interesting and photography related that I found on the internet.
This week I saw this webinar with photographer Tim Mantoani which I enjoyed very much and recommend you go see as well.
PhotoShelter presents photographer Tim Mantoani in a highly engaging interview. Tim talks about how self-initiated projects not only help him create meaningful work, but also leads to commercial success with figures like Drew Brees and Lance Armstrong. Tim’s personal battle with cancer also helped to shape his approach to life and photography. He shows work from his latest personal project which is 20″x24″ polaroid portraits of famous photographers with their iconic photographs like Jim Marshall, Michael Zagaris, Harry Benson, Nick Ut, Bill Eppridge, Nick Vedros, and more.
There have been some misconceptions in the world media about the situation in Iceland following the recent volcanic eruption in Eyjafjallajökull glacier. This is how the situation really is. Watch the videos and come visit Iceland!
Iceland is literally bursting with more energy than ever before. It’s not only the nature – it’s the arts, culture, night life. You can feel the energy on the streets of Reykjavík, in the highlands, in the thermal pools, at concerts, in bars, everywhere. If ever there was a time to visit, now is the time.
Iceland is a country packed with amazing things to see and do – things that can really inspire and take your breath away.