The Great Red Island

April 2018

The Pale Mountains

August 2018

For a week in August a friend and I rented a car from Venice and camped across the Dolomites. Each morning we had glowing sunrises followed by sunny days of hiking. By late afternoon the daily storms had rolled in, giving us the chance to capture some exciting scenery changes and also some near death experiences…

For generations there have been many legends shared among the inhabitants of the Dolomites always routed in the beautiful vast valleys and mountainous terrain surrounding them. These mountains get their name from the carbonate rock dolomite, but the name “pale mountains” comes from local folklore stories describing the white/grey colour of the dolomite stone.

My favourite of the Folklore stories tells of a Prince who was stolen by inhabitants of the moon, and who later fell in love with the Princess of the Moon kingdom. He brought her to earth as his wife and she was delighted with the colours of the mountain lakes and the meadows. But the dark and dismal hue of the peaks was such a burden on her soul that she fell seriously ill. The Dwarf king and his people suggested an answer and the king agreed. The following nights the dwarves caught the moonlight ray by ray and laid it over the dark rock of the mountains spreading happiness to the Princess and the realm of the Dolomites. Adapted (shortened a lot) from the “Dolomites Sagas” by K.F. Wolff

Land of Fire & Ice

November 2017

At first thought, hiring a 4x4 and camping in Iceland at the end of November sounded mad, at least that's what all the forums were saying. However we set our course and wrapped up warm. 

Flying into Iceland we drifted through a layer of clouds revealing a diamond landscape sparkling in the morning sun. By this time of year sunrise was 10am and sunset 4pm due to the low lying winter sun. This is almost a bonus for me as it gives more dark hours to search for the northern lights and offers the golden hour nearly every hour of daylight. We came with the aim of finding the aurora and some breathtaking scenery.

The landscape in Iceland is some of the most amazing and versatile I have seen yet. The scenery is vast and wide, creating never-ending sunsets filling the sky as far as the eyes can see. With large slabs of ice in the foreground and sunsets in the background you can see why they call this the Land of Fire & Ice.

With frosty nights of -15 Celsius revealing the Aurora for up to 6 hours at times we embarked on our hikes and walks to our desired locations. I hope you like the video and the shots in my gallery.

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