Situated in the midst of Europe, Austria offers a wealth of experiences in nature. Large parts of the country are located in the Alps, a region seemingly devoid of humans and their intrusions. Of course, this is not entirely true, and there are human settlements even at high plateaus. Sill, nature in the Alps, it seems, has enough place to roam and flourish freely.
The European Alps have countless valleys, plateaus, mountain ranges, and lakes. It is a vast landscape covering large parts of Central Europe. In between this, streams make their way through the gorges and passes. Some of them, such as the Sigmund-Thun-Klamm close to Kaprun, can be visited. Wooden walkways span this gorge, surmounting several waterfalls. The network of walking trails in the Alps is rich and far-reaching. It traverses all the different terrains, so the region can be experienced from all different perspectives and habitats.
The surroundings of Zell am See are characterized by diverse natural habitats, reaching from the lake itself to a wide array of swamps and grasslands. The higher you go the more nature is changing as well. At around 3.000 meters, eternal ice covers the mountaintops; like white rooftops, they stand protective over this magnificent land.
The blog is up and running again!
It was pretty silent here this year and a good part of 2020. For a short time, the website was down altogether. There are a couple of reasons, many of those in connection to the COVID crisis. Most importantly, though, I had no creative energy left for photography. The circumstances are changing, and as the world is beginning to open up again, my motivation for attempting creative endeavors is also coming back slowly but surely. A more hands-on reason for updates is new gear. I switched from a Canon 70D to Sony. A Sony C7, to be precise. It has some advantages for travel and landscape photography because of its handiness. For now, I just have one travel lens, so it is a new experience and a little bit of a challenge to focus solely on photography with one particular lens (although the range is quite broad, to be fair). Anyway, the point is that http://www.michaelhoffman.at is back and will be updated regularly. I will try to stick to a once-per-week update scheme, but we will see how things go.
I want to start with a trip to Zell am See and Kaprun, which I will cover in separate albums. The first one is dedicated to the town of Kaprun, which is lovely by itself. Situated in the midst of the Austrian alps, it offers fantastic views of the surrounding mountain ranges and the characteristic charm of a traditional town in this region of Europe. Although the weather was unusually cold and cloudy at our time of visit in May, the few rays of sunshine were sufficient to shine a light on the beautiful nature of the region.
Thailand, for sure, is the most accessible country to travel to in South East Asia. It is very safe, has a pretty good infrastructure with many low-cost airlines, and you can discover it on a budget quickly without sharing your bed with cockroaches. Also, it can be visited best during the winter in the Northern Hemisphere when there is generally a dry season in most of Thailand, and the conditions for traveling and enjoying the beaches are very favorable.
At the same time, Thailand is also a country with a long history and a lot of cultures, being an independent Buddhist kingdom that has never been colonized by the Europeans (sharing this honor with Japan, by the way, is not the only similarity between these countries). When obeying some strict rules like respecting the king, who can be seen everywhere in pictures, you can pretty much roam freely in Thailand, and the people are pretty open-minded. Being transgender, for example, is not a big issue over here; the sight of so-called ladyboys is pretty standard. Thais are very friendly to tourists, and of course, some will see an opportunity to sell you something, but you are not a walking dollar bill like in other parts of Asia and Africa. Unfortunately, the level of fluency in English is not very high among Thais, especially the older ones, but it changes, and some kind of communication is always within reach, maybe with a little bit of imagination or the help of Google translate.
The sun is unique during the winter time at the polar circle. First and foremost because it is scarce. Depending on the latitude, our home star disappears for a couple of months, and the world remains dark. Slowly, the sun rises again every day a little bit more; shy in the beginning, it dares go higher with the weeks passing by. At this time of the year, the few hours of daylight are encompassed with a very particular light, and it provides little warmth in a bitterly cold and hostile (though beautiful) environment.
Michael Hoffman Photography 