Wedding pictures
I had the opportunity to shoot some wedding pictures for the production design of a movie that is currently shot in Cologne. The images will be part of the interior decoration in one of the houses that are used in the movie. The movie itself is a family roadmovie starring among others Corinna Harfouch, Meret Becker and Karl Kranzkowski.
Scorpius and the planets
Scorpius and the planets Mars (brightest dot in the upper left hand corner) and Saturn (bright white dot almost straight below Mars) one day after full moon. The image was taken with a special diffuser filter to highlight the colors of the stars and planets.
Wide-field view
Finally El Niño gave us a break and we had a spectacular clear night, which I used for some wide-field images of the Milky Way. The bright red dot above the Milky Way is the planet Mars, the fainter red dot below it is Antares (the main star of the constellation Scorpius), and the brighter dot to the left of Antares is the planet Saturn. The images were taken with
Transit of Mercury
On May 9, 2016, the planet Mercury passed directly in front of the sun (visible as a small black dot on the sun's face). The whole event lasted seven and a half hours. However, in this part of Chile the initial stages (first and second contact) took place shortly before sunrise, and were therefore not visible. We had quite some clouds on that day, but I was lucky and could
Nightsky observer
Enjoying the beauty of the nightsky in the Salt Cordillera in the area of San Pedro de Atacama. The band of the Milky Way stretches from Alpha Centauri (left) to Orion (right), with the Large Magellanic Cloud featuring prominently close to the center (the fuzzy spot below the Milky Way).
Culinary walking tour
All the other wonderful tours and activities in San Pedro de Atacama notwithstanding, this was the absolute highlight for me. During a leisurely stroll you get to sample the distinct flavors of the region, and learn a lot about Andean history and food culture. Nora, the founder of this new venture, is not only a true foodie but also has a wonderful way of sharing her passion with her guests.If
Oficina Humberstone
Humberstone was the biggest "nitrate town" in northern Chile, producing salpeter that was used as fertilizer as well as for the production of explosives. Humberstone was deserted in 1960 and has been a ghost town since. In 2005 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Today Humberstone is open for tourism and parts of it have been turned into an outdoor museum. Interestingly enough many of the deserted houses
Polloquere hot springs
The Polloquere hot springs are located at 4318 meters in the Salar de Surire in northern Chile (Parinacota region). This is a very remote area that can only be reached by offroad vehicles on rather precarious roads (don't forget to bring extra gas and lots of water). The thermal water is moderately to very hot, and thus perfect to warm up in cold temperatures. During our stay at the hot springs
ALMA
I was very lucky and could to join a daytime visit to the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). ALMA is located at 5000 meters altitude on the Chajnantor plateau in the Atacama desert. It consists of 66 high-precision radio telescopes, that have a diameter of 12 and 7 meters, and that can be spread over distances of up to 16 kilometers. ALMA is used to study light from some of
Rolling hills
Inspired by the enchanting landscape of the "Norte Chico". Click to view larger picture.