Autumn 2015 - first trip to Austria (Neusiedler See and Wachau)

Neusiedler See - Burgenland

Neusielder See, UNESCO World Heritage and world famous, is an area east of Vienna right on the border to Hungary. I often pass it on the way to Hungary and sometimes we spent a night there, but I never bothered to take pictures for professional use. Basically it is  flat area with a large brown lake, lots of vinyards and small villages. It is a landscape which is, at least for me, not so exciting.
This year however we had gorgeous weather when we drove towards Hungary and spent two nights in Podersdorf. I brough my equipment primarily for the Wachau stop on the way back from Hungary, but I could not resist to use it around Neusiedler See. It was a great and very productive day.
Podersdorf early morning and evening, the village of Rust during the day and Illmitz during late afternoon have been the locations. It was a great warm up after my office post processing work during summer and I enjoyed it!

Wachau

"The Wachau is a stretch of the Danube Valley between Melk and Krems, a landscape of high visual quality. It preserves in an intact and visible form many traces - in terms of architecture, (monasteries, castles, ruins), urban design, (towns and villages), and agricultural use, principally for the cultivation of vines - of its evolution since prehistoric times."

That is the introduction on the UNESCO world heritage web page. Much more is not necessary to write, it is just a pretty area with good food, lots of white wine and many interesting monuments and villages.

Erntedank - Thanksgiving in Spitz

I plan my photo location quite thorough, but it was not planned to stay in Spitz for Thanksgiving, it was just luck. This kind of photography is not my daily business and I must say the last time I took pictures of a religious ceremony was in Addis and Lalibela quite a few years ago. I just had one lens for my Canon body in my bag and that is first of all a wildlife lens (100-400 on an APS-C body...). My medium format equipment is not ideal for such kind of work, but somehow it was a good pair to work with.
I saw an exciting performance by the local dance group in a ceremony full of age old symbols and traditions. Have a look!

Thats all for the moment, tomorrow I will head to Regensburg and lower Bavaria for a couple of days.

Munich, October 2015