Chasing the Light: Where Matthias and I Spur One Another On

Some time last autumn, I spotted a photo of one of my local sites (not really a surprise, I live about 15 min from one of Bavaria's most photographed lakes) in one of the Olympus User FB groups and I got to chatting with the photographer, a young German guy living up near the Czech border. We seemed to have quite a bit in common in terms of the style of photography we were interested in and so I suggested that we should get together for an afternoon if he was ever in the neighbourhood.

Mill Race at the Pöllat Gorge || f5.6, 1/2 s, ISO 64

Towards the end of September he was travelling back home through Munich and so we arranged to meet up for an afternoon photoshoot at the Ammersee, a local lake with a few great spots for late light photos. We had a great afternoon, chatting about favourite YouTube photographers and filling in gaps in the other's education as we hiked up to Kloster Andechs, taking the occasional snap in the autumn woodland.

Autumn at the Ammersee || f8, 1/800 s, ISO 200

I left Matthias to shoot the sunset at the lake alone with the promise that I'd be in touch later in the autumn to show him a couple of my favourite local spots, the Pöllat Gorge at Füssen and the Stuiben Falls just round the corner in Reutte.

Now I'm not a great fan of my own company and so when Sharon planned a weekend visit to our kids who are both studying in the UK it seemed like a golden opportunity. I'm not usually one for sunrise shots, but somehow Matthias pursuaded me that it would be cool to catch the sun coming up down at lake Hopfensee, so we were out of the house by 5.30 on Saturday morning, chasing the light down to Füssen.

Hopfensee Google Maps

QUICK SUMMARY

Best Conditions	sunrise or sunset, pretty much any time of the year
Challenges	avoid windy conditions, also, as mentioned below
Parking	all along the promenade (ticket required) or at the far end of Hopfen am See (limited parking)
Where to Stop	any of the cafes or restaurants along the promenade
Links	-

Sunrise at the Hopfensee || f7.1, 1/2000 s, ISO 200

We parked the car at the end of the village whilst still in the blue hour. Normally, the northern shore is lined with jetties poking out into the lake and providing photogenic leading lines into the water and on to the mountains. Apparently, they take the jetties in for the winter, leaving only a couple for us to scrabble over. Not only that but the lake was far from still as were struck with a warm south wind, the dreaded Föhn.

So it was tripods and filters at dawn, playing around with long exposures and bracketing, things that I knew about in theory but little hands on experience with. Even though he's quite a few years younger than me, Matthias is a lot more experienced than me with these technical aspects of photography and it was good to have him on side with tips and advice.

Early Morning Light at the Hopfensee || f9, 1/60 s, ISO 200

With dawn wrapped up we headed back to Füssen to tackle the Pöllat gorge under Neuschwanstein. 

Pöllat Gorge Google Maps

QUICK SUMMARY

Best Conditions	essentially any, can get busy in the summer / carry on to the Marienbrücke with a view out over the castle
Challenges	only open in summer / avoid direct sunlight
Parking	€7 in Schwangau (10 min walk), €1/h at the Tegelberg cable-car (20 min)
Where to Stop	any of the places along the Alpseestrasse, our go-to restaurant has been the Alpenstuben
Links	Pöllatschlucht (German), Schwangau Website (German)

I'm sure there used to be a small car park at the beginning of the Pöllat gorge for hikers (as distinct from the mere tourists flocking to castle Neuschwanstein), but not any more. These days you're funnelled into the €7 mega carparks. From there you have to follow Pöllatweg along the bottom of the hill to get to the beginning of the gorge. Do check whether the gorge is open before you go. Unfortunately this isn't shown on the Pöllatschlucht website, but you can find the information by searching the (German) website for Schwangau, which caught us out. The gorge really is worth a visit, but we got to the gate only to find it closed for the winter.

Closed for the Winter

We were about to give up and head off to our next location, but the bottom of the gorge is always worth spending a few minutes on. First and foremost there's the wooden mill race that leads to the sawmill by the Gippsmühle. I personally find this channel extremely photogenic and always worth building into a composition, either as the main element or a clear leading line. Even as a backdrop, the trestled trough is interesting, partly because it's not completely water-tight and is always dripping. But there's also something very special about the water and rocks here in the eastern Allgäu. Due to the minerals in the ground, the water has a distinct green cast, something that you'll see even more clearly in the photos taken at the Stuiben falls.

Green on Gold || f14, 1 s, ISO 200

Here at the mouth of the Pöllat gorge there was also a pool at the bottom of the last falls. Unfortunately, there were no clean shots to be had from our side of the river, partly due to the mill race. Matthias ended up soaked because he squeezed through under the leaking trestles. I ended up soaked as I had chosen to go the long way round and cross lower down. The rocks were predictably slippery and I ended up on my ass in the water.

One of the things that more experienced photographers always say when you're concentrating on a composition is: "turn round" - don't be so focussed on what's in front of you that you forget your surroundings. I'm so glad that I bore this advice in mind as I was looking for my shots, in the branches above us there was this verdant scene: 

Green on Green || f7.1, 1/50, ISO 1600

There was a particular image I had in mind and was keeping my eye out for; gyrating autumn leaves in a waterfall pool. The beech forest was particularly generous with the leaves at this time of year and I found a suitable pool, but to the naked eye, the leaves were not really moving much. Fortunately we both had our filters and tripods with us (yes, this time even I resorted to a tripod). A 10 s exposure with the Panasonic Leica f2.8 8-18 mm revealed that not only were the leaves gyrating, there was a double-centred flow and I ended up with an image that I was really happy with.

Orange on Green || f14, 1 s, ISO 200

Stuiben Falls Google Maps

QUICK SUMMARY

Best Conditions	all year
Challenges	avoid direct sunlight
Parking	free at the Wanderparkplatz E-Werk
Where to Stop	-
Links	Stuiben Falls hike suggestion

We grabbed a quick lunch in Schwangau before driving round the corner to the Stuiben Falls. I never knew this place existed even though I've lived nearby for over 15 years, but last year I happened on the website of a local photographer who was showcasing some images of the location. Even knowing where they are, it's extremely difficult to find the falls, but utterly worth it. The road to the parking spot feels like you're driving through a factory premises and even when you do find where to leave the car, it's not immediately obvious where the falls are. Once you've been there once it's relatively easy, but finding it the first time is a complete pig. The crazy thing is, once you've found them, you realise they're only 5 min from the road. Talk about easy access!

Upper Falls || f22, 5 s, ISO 64

Whilst not particularly high or spectacular, the falls are an absolute delight to shoot because of the colouring. The rock is light and varies from grey dolomite to golden where it's been in the water and the water is properly emerald green - no tone enhancement necessary! The gorge is deep enough to cut out direct sunlight for most of the day but open enough to catch plenty of light. We started at the upper falls, a short 5 min up the trail, and worked our way down from there.

Middle Falls || f10, 2 s, ISO 200

Middle Falls Detail || f20, 5 s, ISO 200

There are a couple of spots where it's worth crossing the river (provided you can do so safely), so bring wellies or river shoes, depending on the season. Working our way down from the top, we got a handful of solid images. There's a viewing platform for the bottom falls, but you have to be extremely careful shooting from here with a tripod if there are other people around as every footstep shakes the platform. The very best angle means placing the tripod the other side of the fence so it's balanced on the rocks, but make sure it's tethered somehow so you don't lose your gear into the pool below.

The Lower Pools || f16, 5 s, ISO 200

Matthias Making the Ultimate Sacrifice

At the very bottom, it's worth crossing the river again for close ups of the bottom falls, but be aware that you won't be able to catch the main flow from here unless you're prepared to take some crazy steps:

Lower Falls Detail || f20, 5 s, ISO 200

Hopfen am See Revisited

The light looked like it was closing down on us as we finished up at the falls. Not only that but we were tired - we'd been up since the wee hours and shooting all day. The forecast was inconclusive. Should we or shouldn't we swing by the Hopfensee to catch the sunset? We decided that we'd take the detour and keep our options open. The closer we got, the more interesting the sky was looking and whilst we didn't necessarily get the colours we were hoping for, there was definitely some magic in the sky. We piled out of the car with all our gear, eager to set up again at the head of one of the few remaining jetties only to find a photography workshop in residence. Each of the pontoons already had a cluster of eager photographers crowding for the optimal spot. We finally walked far enough that the crowds petered out and found ourselves a little jetty almost to ourselves. Several curious passers by asked what was going on, whether there was a special event that they weren't aware of? After carefully explaining that we were there to see the volcano erruption (oh yes I did!), they mostly scurried off on their evening perambulations, leaving us to shoot in peace.

The Competition Hogging the Jetties

Elusive Jetty || f20, 15 s, ISO 64

My usual photography style is to vaguely plan a day out and take the camera along to spontaneously catch the good views as they come. I think most people are like this because for most of us, our photography started as a way of documenting where we'd been. This day out with Matthias was very different, the first time I'd ever been out where everything was planned around the photography. Having another more experienced photographer to hand was great in terms of learning some new tricks. We also spot different compositions, which is mutually beneficial. The day out stretched me technically and was a great learning experience. I'd definintely recommend going out on a shoot with a fellow photographer as a way of continuing your mastery of the art.

What experience have you had shooting with another photographer? Leave your comments below.