Mont Blanc, meaning “White Mountain”, is the highest mountain in the Alps and the European Union. It rises 4,810 m (15,781 ft) above sea level and is ranked 11th in the world in topographic prominence. It is also sometimes known as La Dame blanche, the “White Lady”.
Dutch Ski- and Snowoardtest
Client: Wintersport Magazine
Les Arcs, France
A 360-degree panoramic view over Rotterdam, taken from the northern pylon of the Willemsbrug. Rottedam South and centre can been seen clearly. The Erasmusbrug is in the far back with the Oude Haven almost in the middle.
© 2008 www.rudgr.com.
Follow my work on Twitter or Facebook! Or check my most interesting shots at Flickriver.
These images were taken for a report on the Belalp, Valais, Switzerland region for Wintersport Magazine #16 (Nederlandse Ski Vereniging). Hanging under a paraglider at a few hundred feet height in one of the most stunning regions of Switzerland is a treat unimaginable. If you love heights this is something really worth doing – Life’s good!
Many thanks go out to Airvolution and The Hamilton Lodgefor the amazing flight!
Client: Wintersport Magazine
Canon EOS 5D Mark II + Canon EF 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye
Rare photo of the Chicago skyline as seen from the top (425ft/130mt) of the famous Wrigley Building (yes, from the chewing gum), one of the oldest skyscrapers in town. Through a friend we got access to the top of this magnificent building right in the heart of the town. All the way on the top the city opened up to us on a perfectly blue day. What a treat! Photo is stitched from three 15mm fisheye images.
In 2009 I went on an extensive trip for ANWB REIZEN Magazine to discover Vancouver Island. One of the treats, besides insanely good weather, was a roundflight by Tofino Air. As most of my friends know I’m totally crazy about flying (even though I get more than my fair share of it) but this one really was one of the best ever. Taking off in a floatplane from Tofino and cruise over the wilderness below is a sight to behold. I can only recommend everybody to do this just once, it’s worth every penny!
The 50+ years old trusty DeHaviland Beaver getting readied for departure
Interior of the DeHaviland
Birds… two kinds
Lennard Island Lighthouse by floatplane
Flying over Paradise Lake before landing there, watch video!!!
Paddle out from Paradise Lake
Tofino coastline by floatplane
Water, trees and mountains….
Doing some whale watching, Tofino Air style
And back to base
One night.
One full moon.
In an amazing place,
on top of Belalp, Switzerland.
Taken from a balcony with a view,
in the Hamilton Lodge,
with a Canon 1DIII with a half full battery,
Working fine at -20 Celsius,
for over 15 hours….
A 1500+ image timelapse shot over one night and a small part of a morning from the balcony in the Hamilton Lodge in the Belalp Skiregion in Switzerland.
Music: Haute Culture – Chordial (freemusicarchive.org)
View from the Roque Nublo [Gran Canaria, Spain].
Google Earth.
One of my favorite views has got to be the top of the Roque Nublo, or the “Cloudy rock”. One of the highest parts of Gran Canaria, one of the Spanish Canary islands west of the Moroccon coast, can be reached with a pleasant 45 minute hike. Just stepping onto the plain top with the two massive volcanic remnants is amazing. They still look so small but after walking the last bit you just are in awe because of their sheer size.
I hope this photo does it justice.
The start of the route
A place to love, Roque Nublo on Grand Canaria
Continue reading »
Bales of Hay mark the month of September in Scotland. This photo was taken in the Borders, near Melrose. The hills in the back are “The Eildons”, a landmark in this region.
While driving around in the area we came upon this beautiful landscape on the A7. I quickly managed to park my car on a small bit of dirtroad and walk back to the best angle that I could find.
Basically this was a pretty much straightforward shot but it really needed a panoramic touch as the scenery was simply too wide for a normal photo.
This one was composed of 8 portrait photos, shot at f13 in order to get enough depth of field for the hay and the Eildons. At 100 ISO I needed 1/125th of a second to get a normal exposure. Due to the many gray tones I deemed no over- or underexposure necessary. Taken with a Canon 5DmkII and a 70-200 f2.8 USM (set at 110mm).
The panorama was stitched with Autopano Giga 2 and resulted (after cropping) in a 54 megapixel image, reduced to an 8000 pixels wide one here.
Click here for this image as a dual screen wallpaper.
Sandstone and water erosion created this Bastei view a million years ago.
Views fit for the 19th century romantics…
While en route from Prague to Dresden by bike for this article we just had to make a full stop before entering the latter city. A couple of hours (by bike) before the town lies a fantastically hidden place called Bastei: remnants of water erosion that happened a millions years ago.
What was left is an incredible landscape of 300 meter high rock pillars in what is now appropriately called Saxon Switzerland. It is actually one of the oldest mass tourist attractions on the continent and it’s easy to see why. You really cannot prepare for the vistas that are to be expected when taking the 45 minute walk to the top.
Hi-res Panorama of Bastei
In 1824 a wooden bridge was built that had to be upgraded to a sandstone one: the Basteibridge that is still in use today and is a monument to the building qualities of that day. Not surprisingly the place was highly favored by the romantics of the period like Casper Friedrich and Hans Christian Andersen. Going there is literally stepping back into the 19th century. That is if you can avoid the crowds by going up in a light drizzle, which also helps getting some spectacular low clouds in the picture. Stay in the village of Rathen if you’re not into rushing it, nice views and plenty of little restaurants which aren’t too packed after dusk sets in (and the tourbusses are gone).
View from the 150+ year old Bastei Bridge.
Slideshow, browse it fullscreen!
360 Degree super Hi-res view over the Grand Canyon from Sab Bani Khamis.
It’s called Jabal Shamss, which translates to “Mountain of Sun” and what a fitting name it is. At an altitude of approximately 3.000 meters (10.000 feet) it’s majestically situated under an almost allways blue sky with the intense Arabian sun shining above it, casting it’s deep shadows into the depths below.
The hiking path of Jabal Shams.
Jabal Shams is not really a mountain as you’d expect, it’s a mindboggling crevasse of immense proportions, therefore the name “Grand Canyon of the Middle-East” is way more fitting. Not only is the viewpoint [Google Earth] at the road through the Al Hajar Mountains range one of the nicest stops in the region: an actual hike through the Canyon is even better as the path is situated halfway up the cliff face of about a thousand meters.
Tiny village 600 meters below us.
In order avoid the worst shadows we leave early for our hours-long trekking, the sun will be nice above us for most of the trip so we’ll be able to enjoy the best of the views. And boy, are those views amazing! From the early start till the final bits it’s hard to keep your eyes on the small but pretty manageable path. At points it gets close to the edge and one viewpoint is just simply breathtaking when we can see a tiny village more than 600 meters below us. Even with my biggest telelens it’s hard to get it fully visible. Apparently the few kids that live in the dozen or so houses are picked up daily for school but it’s just hard to imagine living there.
Mill stones in the deserted village of Sab Bani Khamis.
Even harder is imagining living in the deserted village Sab Bani Khamis [Google Earth] that we come across after an hour or so. It was abandoned after a dam closed off their water supply that made it possible to live there. Just simply imagine a rocky ledge of no more than thirty meters wide with a deadly drop to the depths of the canyon. A couple of terrasses where they managed to grow crops and a few mud houses underneath a hanging ledge that towers above for hundreds of meters. Now that’s remote living!
Fresh water in a hidden lake near the deserted village of Sab Bani Khamis.
After hiking through the tiny place and visiting a fantastic small mountain lake it’s time to hike out: not by going back but by taking the Via Ferrata [Google Earth]. Definitely not as simple as hiking to the village is this climb out while being secured to metal ropes which are placed so falling down is not an option anymore (while scrapes and bruises still are though!). The climb under the deep blue sky is exhilarating: not too easy but not too technical either. And what a great feel looking over your shoulder or between your legs: the massive stone canyon that goes on to the horizon. This is truly one of my favorite vies of the world.
Out of the Grand Canyon through the Via Ferrata.
The Amazing high-altitude sunsets at the Jabal Shams Resort (at 3.000 meters/10.000 feet).
Click here for the full photo-gallery on Flickr (27 images).
Links: Oman Tourism, Jabal Shams Resort (Great sunsets!)
More on Oman at Fotograferen.net here.
More Favorite views of the World on Fotograferen.net here.
