PHOTO STORIES
 

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The colorful pattern is created by a combination of leaves fallen down from the forests of the surrounding hills and various colored algae that grew massively during the summer. A fisherman makes his way through it to land shortly on the shore.

This unique sight is caused by the river entering a pond system in Southern Czech Republic and flowing through it for a couple dozen kilometers. On some places, like this, it's more water than lands...

An incredibly large flock of white-headed gulls was getting together right after the sunset at the largest Czech man-made pond Rožmberk.

Several species of birds have home on this pond.

The Nadějská rybniční soustava ("the Hope pond system") is a part of a large medieval man-made pond system in the Southern Czech Republic. In any time of the year, it's a spectacular location for aerial vistas. The Fall, however, is definitely the best time to come for a flyover.

The Nadějská rybniční soustava ("the Hope pond system") is a part of a large medieval man-made pond system in the Southern Czech Republic. In any time of the year, it's a spectacular location for aerial vistas. The Fall, however, is definitely the best time to come for a flyover.

The Nadějská rybniční soustava ("the Hope pond system") is a part of a large medieval man-made pond system in the Southern Czech Republic. In any time of the year, it's a spectacular location for aerial vistas. The Fall, however, is definitely the best time to come for a flyover.

The beautiful oak forest is spectacular in the late Autumn, when the leaves cover the ground entirely and the white branches of the trees create a fantastic contrast with it.

A structure of an unknown kind for me over a wastewater pond in an industrial zone.

The lake is a home to several small islands, some of them with houses.

South Bohemia is a region with hundreds of man-made lakes and ponds dating back to the medieval era. These ponds are scattered by many muddy islands, often providing home to many bird species.

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A place of a former Soviet military base during their occupation years in Czechoslovakia. Now the bush took over.

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The colorful pattern is created by a combination of leaves fallen down from the forests of the surrounding hills and various colored algae that grew massively during the summer. A fisherman makes his way through it to land shortly on the shore.

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The liquid waste is being dumped from the pipes on the bottom into a pond with already sedimented waste.

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A Dutch old-time sail ship cruising between the Croatian Islands of Brac and Hvar.

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That day, the weather was crazy even for Icelandic standards, with changes from sunny day to snow storms in less than 20 minutes. So I was quite lucky to capture this high-resolution panorama under just right light conditions.

That day, the weather was crazy even for Icelandic standards, with changes from sunny day to snow storms in less than 20 minutes. So I was quite lucky to capture this high-resolution panorama under just right light conditions.

The Zlatni Rat is one of the world's most famous beaches. This photo was taken very much right after the sunrise, when only a few people were there. Soon, thousands and thousands of people flock in.

The wonderfully chaotic sea bed of white sand, cliffs and sea weed makes a perfect backdrop for the little boat.

Many volcanoes have side openings near to them, from which lava flows (not erupts, or just very lightly) down in long lava creeks. This one was about 3 meters wide at a maximum, but the hot lava lasted for at least a kilometer or two down the valley.

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The white rocky cliffs of many Croatian Islands, including Brač, are an awesome snorkeling location... and due to the pristine clear water, also a fantastic place to photo from the top.

A part of a larger industrial area and a port.

This photo is one of my favorite examples how a totally mundane area - here, a nondescript backyard in a suburban country area near Prague - can contain true gems, if only you're lucky enough to spot them.

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Návarov is a little village in a foresty area on the way to the Krkonoše mountains. Not very touristy, it provides very nice hikes outside of the beaten path... and almost abandoned railway tracks.

Odkaliště Venuše (“Sludge pond Venus”) is probably the last place where you’d look for beauty in the Czech Republic. In the middle of a land destroyed by mining and industrial activity is a pond with a content you don’t even want to think of. Yet - here we are presented with a magically pretty flower… an acid flower, perhaps.

Odkaliště Venuše (“Sludge pond Venus”) is probably the last place where you’d look for beauty in the Czech Republic. In the middle of a land destroyed by mining and industrial activity is a pond with a content you don’t even want to think of. Yet - here we are presented with a magically pretty flower… an acid flower, perhaps.

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... further photo context coming later ...

... further photo context coming later ...

... further photo context coming later ...

... further photo context coming later ...

... more context about the photo coming soon ...

-- I was concerned that I may not get great photos, coming to the area so late in the autumn with most trees already having shaken their leaves down. However, some patches still could be found and especially in the bright sun of that day they created incredible views.

This particular region on the top of Krušné Hory mountains is hugely popular among cross skiers and many international competitions take place there regularly.

On the top of Krušné hory, you can find many meadows with highland bush and vegetation. It’s also where many creeks originate, join each other and perhaps disappear somewhere in the woods again. When adjusting contrasts of this image, the reddish color of the ferrous soil became immediately visible.

-- The Slapy dam - created to protect Prague from previously devastating floods - is another popular destination for my photo trips. Both the water surface as well as surrounding hills and forests and almost an endless source of surprises.

-- I found this place by a pure coincidence - as is the case of quite a few other photos here - when flying from a site that actually didn’t prove to be as appealing as I’d have guessed from the online “satellite” maps (this also happens quite often). But I’m glad I did. And after seeing this photo in large prints, I understand why people sometimes take this part of the forest to their homes!

The large agricultural country area of South Moravian hills is quite difficult to photograph from above - but when you get to the right place, it literally flies. I I spent a lot of time with this photo sailing on its waves, because it contains several almost optical illusions (sometime due to eroding surface due to removed trees, which is nothing great actually), at the same time the colors of the South Moravian spring are difficult to interpret, let alone when you want to extract the spirit you feel there.

The large agricultural country area of South Moravian hills is quite difficult to photograph from above - but when you get to the right place, it literally flies. I I spent a lot of time with this photo sailing on its waves, because it contains several almost optical illusions (sometime due to eroding surface due to removed trees, which is nothing great actually), at the same time the colors of the South Moravian spring are difficult to interpret, let alone when you want to extract the spirit you feel there.

This mining area - including long abandoned surface mines and other mining operations - is a surprisingly fantastic location for admiration of a truly hidden beauty. From the land, the country seems beaten, broken or even destroyed - and it actually quite is. From the air… there’s a whole new world opening, given some hope to this hard tried area. This little pond didn’t look so intriguing on the map, but I thought I wanted to take a bit of a relax at its side while driving from a day of shooting. I almost didn’t want to take the drone with me - and glad I did.

-- There are actually many visually attractive areas around this part of Labe near Kolín, but I got most intrigued by the many stories that this tree is telling us.. when looking at it from the right angle.

-- I came to photograph this fascinating view several times, but it proved to be very difficult to retell the story of what you’d see there on a late autumn day like this. It was only when I made the red colors really stand out that I think you can experience it in the same way like I did from the air - as a wild dance of reds and blues to the tones of coming winter, death and rebirth.

This day of shooting at the volcano resulted in many other fascinating views like straight from a Tolkien book. In these late phases of the volcanic activity, the lava eruptions occurred just every other 10 minutes or so. You could very well anticipate them, as the air filled with a strange hissing sound for a few seconds before the eruption, which then lasted no longer than about 10 seconds. I found the smoking volcano more intriguing though!

The canyon was until recently "undiscovered" by people - a very strong river used to flow there and the area around the eastern inland highlands is very inhospitable even for weathered Icelanders. But 13 years ago, the river level dropped by almost 9m due to a nearby power plant and a completely unsuspected canyon full of basalt columns appeared. The canyon is now on side 2, may be 3, of all Icelandic tourist catalogs, less so this waterfall.

-- Often I love driving to a tourist destination only to find out that its surroundings are often just as interesting. This was the case - I was driving to the very popular Stokksnes beach, but this caught my attention. I parked on the side and spent about 1 hour there, actually missing the Stokksnes at all due to bad weather coming very shortly. I don’t regret it!

Sometimes people don’t believe this isn't photo manipulation in Photoshop. And I always reply with my mantra: what you see was really there. No editing of shapes or adding stuff to my photos. Let’s just agree I was very lucky to have spotted this black heart. It did bring some rather dark symbolism for me in the following weeks so I don’t have an easy relationship with this photo, but I guess what else to expect from a heart that intense…

This island isn’t man made - nature presents us here with a torn mind of this complicated island. The January morning freeze painted the trees white, while it wasn’t cold enough to make the water freeze and hide the sand and mud texture of the island “lagoon”.

This Canary beach was actually a man made lagoon, which made the see completely flat, especially in the early morning.

This was actually a little urban beach in a little bay in an originally fishermen village, with a road for cars being right next to it. Still, the few beach goers over there definitely didn’t mind and enjoyed their time.

-- A very early morning. You can imagine that later in the day, the beach got filled by very lively murmur of people. And yes, it was on the Christmas!

The river that flows from the Alps to the lake brings in all kinds of messages from the mountains - should it be trees or various colorful sediments. Of all the rather more complex images I took at this area this one strikes out clearly… a combination of happiness vs endings, tranquility vs. strong currents, merry colors vs. the blackness of decay. It really depends on what you want to see in this and there’s definitely tons more stories than what the simple view would tell.