Meteora by EiriniGallou1

Posted on December 28, 2015 by birdmanps

Sunset at Meteora

Church on the Perch by hpd_fotografy

Posted on December 21, 2015 by birdmanps

One of the many churches perched on the edge of the cliff in Santorini, Greece.

Thanks for your visit. If you like my images, stop by at hpd-fotografy or follow me on 500px, Instagram, flickr and Facebook.

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St. Blasien Cathedral by Julien-Foto

Posted on October 10, 2015 by birdmanps

The Abbey Church, home to the then third largest dome in Europe was consecrated in 1783.

The St. Blasius’ Cathedral was destroyed in a fire in 1874, less than 100 years after its consecration.

200 years after its first consecration, the cathedral underwent a complete restoration and the church obtained the current interior design: the white marble rotunda, in contrast with the dark benches and organ at the end of the monks’ choir.

The perimeter of the dome with a diameter of 36m matches exactly the distance between the floor and the apex of the vault. The 18m high towering columns carry the hemispherical dome (with a radius of 18m), which encircles the inner side of the vault and acts as a sort of inner shell. The chancel also measures 36m (2 x 18m) in total.

This harmony is also mirrored in the external construction of the building: the width of the facade, 50m, matches the height of the main dome.

Towering above the cathedral’s dome is the golden Imperial Orb with its cross acting as a reminder of an age when St. Blasien used to be an imperial abbey.

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Memory Peak by AlisterBenn

Posted on September 9, 2015 by birdmanps

By any standard, this is a remote place. Yading National Park in Sichuan Province, China (at the time of my last visit, was a two day drive from anywhere.

When we used to drive up there from our home town in Yunnan, it was tortuous on terrible mountain roads, with dizzy drops into nothing. Three beers to stop shaking was my mantra!

On this particular day, we had hiked many hours up into the mountains and back. A huge thunder storm thrashed the mountains as we got back to our room with a Tibetan farmer.

We sheltered and watched the craziness.

At sunset, the storm began to clear and I ran up a hill behind the village to shoot the mountains again. The village itself is at 4000m.

The peak in this image is over 6000m and is one of three holy mountains in the national park – sacred to the Tibetan people who live there.

I often thought of Galen Rowell at those times, remembering his words, adventures and ethics. Whenever I shoot Himalayan peaks, for some reason I think of him.

He was a huge inspiration to me and is sadly missed.

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