Taking Marco to the "GREAT LAKE"

Marco owns a house in Sukhothai. Any time he comes for a visit we meet for a coffee and a chat. I told him about the great lake about 60 km away from Sukhothai and of course he ask me to take him on a tour.

We went very early to be there when the sun will rise and I had a big boat organized.

To bad the boat driver did not show up. You can not rely on anybody in the countryside.

Luckily the water level was very low which had clear a path to a little peninsula and offered us happy shooting.

and that´s what Marco says:

"Following complaints from myself and Robert Collins that the "mountains"Andreas Minge takes you to when on a photoshoot around Sukhothai are not much more than bumps in a road, Andreas is scouting new locations and I must say I think he's come up with the goods here. Granted, we are not in the Himalayas, but for Thailand this ain't bad at all. The problem with shooting during this season is that the rice farmers burn the old fields and this creates a flat light haze that the best photoshopper can't penetrate. So we got up at 5am to get to this place and we managed to catch some reasonable light before the haze washed everything over again. If you want to know where these are taken get in touch with Andreas and he will be happy to take you there (for a well deserved fee obviously!)"

Shooting EDELSTERN at Beelitz Heilstätten

Have a sneak peak behind the scene while I was shooting the german band EDELSTERN in Germany near Berlin.

Every year I am going to Germany I usually do a photo shoot with my brothers band. Before I went to settle down in Thailand I used to do a lot of photography on stage and concerts. Coming to Germany basically once a year the family is the main focus and it leaves me very little time for this kind of photography. The year before we worked hard for a single image with a great result for EDELSTERN. The location was the nostalgic freemasons Grand Landlodge in Berlin Dahlem.

We somehow wanted to tie up with this concept and organized the former Sanatorium Beelitzer Heilstätten near Berlin as the new location for the shooting this year. The band had decide to switch to color. Costumes where already ordered.

Built in 1898 the sanatorium became a military hospital for the Russian Red Army after World War II before it was shut down in 1994. The unique facilities are a great photo location even as a subject of its own.

Bastian Lee Jones did most of the motion picture capture. Thank you so much buddy. I just wish your camera would provide a better picture quality. Resolution is not everything...;) Anyway you did a great job to absorb the feeling at the set. We all appreciate your good work.

I also wish to thank my associate Antje Liepold who did a great job to support this shooting.

Not to forget the delicious catering provided by the Krenz family. Good food is so important indeed. Thank you so much.
Thanks a lot to the make up artist  Armin Otto who made everybody look good. Even if a single eyelash of the lead singer lady was not straight which has need to be fixed in Photoshop. Never mind Armin, I am pretty sure you are used to this kind of girls behavior ;)

We picked up the rental gear at Foto Hess in Berlin Charlottenburg and reached the location in the late morning.While the band got in the costumes and received a new face from the make up artist I had the time to inspect the location. Soon I figured the stage with its Gothic window in the background as the most impressive spot. There was an old piano abandonment in the hall. A prop I did not want to miss.



I was shooting with a fixed composition from my tripod and did one shot of the scene without people in addition. This gave me the opportunity to change persons ore faces from another captured frame of the same session. It ai´nt easy to get 4 people looking perfect at the same time.

For the group shot on stage as well for the portraits I changed my tactic. Free hand with the longer lens was more appropriate. Standing in a group everybody of the band members was busy to arrange its hair or straiten out the costume every once and a while. With the moving going on for this reason it would have been impossible to shot from a tripod and keep the approximate distance between each subject all the time.

The same applies for the portraits.

Since EDELSTERN has been working with photographers many times before they did a very professional job. It was my pleasure. We looking forward to our 2015 photo shoot at the middle of the year. A new concept is already worked out with several locations in mind and I am previously excited.

Contrary to our last year shooting the band was in need of more then just a single photograph. So it became a hard working session for everyone since we were shooting on 3 different sets.. Still we achieved great results again. With such a long session over the whole day quality suffers at the end. Nobodies fault but humans have their limits.

Finally I do not want to detain the final results. I would say: "great shots after such a jumbled day."

Laos with Markus and Jimmi

It almost has become a habit to go on a tour somewhere in Asia with Markus once a year.

To go on a tour driving a 35 years old truck may be a different experience for someone to look at. Either fear the risk and possible loss of time while traveling on a tight schedule. Or love the adventure and master the challenge of such a trip.

I consider Laos a very unique country. Somehow a 20 years time travel back in history compared to Thailand. Supposedly this will not remain for too long. The roads where in very bad condition at some sections of our trip. The worst was a construction side with a 100 km length.

The weather in the mountains has been freezing cold. Temperature sometimes dropped down to 0° at night. Not only the farmer where burning there rice and sugar cane fields but every household was making a fire in the morning and evening. The pollution was terrible.

Laos is definitely a great country for landscape and people photography. But maybe not at this time of the year. I am really looking forward to go back alone on a motorbike to enter some remote spots in the mountains.

The "great lake" in Tung Saliam

Since the hill top idea will provide some time to become a serious option for my tours I was remembering the beautiful landscapes in Tung Saliam. An area about 60 km out of Sukhothai City but still in the province of Sukhothai. I had passed it several times on my way back from the north but never found the time to explore this region and mark some spots.

There are bizarre mountains, caves and a bigger lake with another 2 small water reservoires some 20 km away from the lake. In fact a little bit too much for a single day to find out. I focused on the lake and went cross country on my way to find some nice spots for photography. At about noon time I reached the garage of my friend Damm located at the edge of Tung Saliam town. Very closed to his place is a temple at the top of a hill and he thought it would be nice to show me. We went on his four wheel truck and I believe good old Jimmy (my 35y old Datsun truck) would have a bit of a problem to master this steep dirt road. The whole top was crowded with trees and there was not a single chance to get a good photograph up there. Nevertheless it is a nice view.

Next destination was a cave. This time we jumped on my truck. Some steps on a rotten concrete staircase and we where ready to enter the cave. A small hall welcomes us and several small hallways where leading in to the cave. It was completely dark and the floor covered with thick moss. The LED torch was down in the truck, very clever. I had a little inflammation in my knee and did not feel keen for this adventure this time. I would not take the risk to lead some guests in here anyway.

So the lake it is. And it really is a highlight. It looks easy to find on the map. But if you do not know the tracks through the fields there is not much of a chance to find it. I wanted to go on a boat to do some test shots and check out the island. Damm was calling a fisherman on the phone and while we where waiting for him to arrive I was wading into the water to do some first photographs.

We found the three of us in a shaky little canoe. The lake is beautiful, the panorama perfect and many trees stick out of the water. A paradise for photography. Since I had the intention to check the area I did not focus to get the best shots but was observing where they would be. The boat went quick and it was already late again. So it happen I did only see half of the lake area.

When we arrived at Damm´s mother´s place dinner was already prepared. I definitely have to come back another time to fulfill the mission. The fisherman told me he can organize a bigger boat but I have to see it. I also do know too resorts nearby but I have to see the rooms and talk to the reception. And I do need some more spots to shot for the second day. I do want to see the other cave and the two little reservoir. There is another even bigger lake about 30 km in the other direction which must be beautiful too. Well I will be back very soon.

Back home I got the idea of building a raft from empty 200 l tanks. I could leave it at Damm´s place and it would be nice to go out there by myself or with guests sometimes...