The Mountain, Snow, and a Palace

Today was cold, wet, and rainy with bouts of ice and snow. I really blame this on the curse I inherited from my mother, but I digress. Even though mother nature was being moody, we carried on like the postman or like determined tourist.

At the top of Mount Zugspitze we look so European

Our first stop was Lake Eibsee, which was pretty except for the fog and the rain. We might of walked around it was raining and slowly turning into slushy rain. It also did not help that our traveling companions did not pack rain gear. So we headed up the mountain. We took the cog railway up to the top of Mount Zugspitze, which is Germany’s highest mountain peak. There is a gondola that will take you to the top in 10 minutes compared with the trains 30 – 40 minutes, but the gondola was undergoing maintenance. The only down side of the train is you spend about 20minutes in a tunnel and pop out right before the peak. At that point you get out wander around a bit and look at the glacier then take a 2 minute gondola ride to the peak. On the train ride up the mountain there are some beautiful views of the Lake Eibsee and you can watch as the terrain becomes more and more snow covered. I ended up having the snow song from a White Christmas stuck in my head because of the snow. At the top of the mountain, where they didn’t clear the snow away it was about 2 feet deep and still snowing. Sadly it was so cloudy at the top of the mountain all we go were pictures of clouds and a few birds. On a clear day apparently you can see out about 150km or more. So we headed down the mountain, and of course as we headed down the mountain the clouds cleared. From the mountain we headed over to Cloister Ettal, mostly so I could pick up brandy, since that is what it is known for.

Looking at the back of Linderhof Palace

The last event of the day was a private tour of Linderhof Palace, which is where Ludwig II (Mad King Ludwig) actually lived. (Mad King Ludwig also built Neuschwanstien, the model for the Disney World Castle, and the most famous of his three residences.) The guide was very informative, lively and fun and pointed out many of the palaces interesting features like the 300 vases and the dinner table that disappears into the floor so the servants never have to enter the room. The place is small in place terms with only 6 main rooms however those 6 rooms have a total of 13.2 lbs of gold plating in them except for the silver room which is of course plated in silver. We then exited the place and walked up to the mobile house (if you call 300 pieces mobile) with the bejeweled peacock and then to the grotto. The grotto is one you always see in pictures with the swan boat in the underwater cave. Well the whole grotto is man made with tiny iron bar nets covered in plaster and stone. It is impressive. That ended our tour of Linderhof Palace and thus our day. Tomorrow we head up to Munich for the day.

You can see pictures from Zugspitze here and from Linderhof Palace here.

Cobwebs Everywhere

On October 7 th , I did a studio spooky session with Coralinx Cosplay . The central theme of this shoot was a pretty goth girl who had a fondness for spiders and decorating with cobwebs, making it a perfect Halloween session. Note: Cobwebs are defined as abandoned or old spiderwebs that have collected dust. Many cobwebs are the result of comb-footed spider (i.e., black widows) that make irregularly shaped webs. Spiderwebs are active structures built to catch prey. (Source: Western Exterminator Company) For these sessions, I used: Photography Equipment Other Equipment Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 Westcott FJ400 2 Phottix Strobes 2 strip boxes 2 rectangular soft boxes 2 c-stands 3 light stands Backdrop stand Black seamless 2 Westcott silicon gels Tether cable Laptop Laptop holder Sandbags A-clamps Spyder Color checker Fake cobwebs Table ...

2025 Year in Review and Looking Forward to 2026

This year was a bit interesting especially since during the day, I’m a government employee, which resulted in a lot of stress and a 42-day furlough. I didn’t attend as many cosplay events with the D.C Cosplay group, now Costume and Camera, as I normally would have, due to schedule conflicts. However, I traveled up to Poughkeepsie, New York for two photo events, one of which I was a featured photographer. I attended two conventions, one of which didn’t turn out as expected and the other just confirmed my decision to take a break from it. Though happily I did a lot of studio work this year, which I enjoyed. But on the other hand, I lost my dear “studio supervisor”, my dog Teddy. He liked to great clients and then “supervise” while lying/sleeping in his bed. I also started to work on the business side of my photography work, by investing in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) site to manage bookings, schedules, and payments. No more trying to juggle...

Spooky in the Morning

On October 5 th , I did an on-location spooky session with Rebecca at Claude Moore Park. The theme was Victorian ghost; however, it is hard to be a ghost at 9:30 in the morning on a bright sunny day. I did my best to get a spooky look. For these sessions, I used: Photography Equipment Other Equipment Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 Cannon Speed lights 1 30-inch umbrella Light stand Assistant Smoke Genie The setup The set up was relatively easy. I mounted a Canon speed light on a light stand with an umbrella. My assistant then held the light in the appropriate spots as we made our way around the park to different locations. Camera Settings This session was held outdoors in bright morning sun and was intended to look spooky, so I tried to keep the images dark. Thus, I used ISO 100, which is great for sunny conditions. I wanted to maintain a soft background as much a...

The Munchkin's Notebook

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