4.30am
the alarm went off…. Ugh….. this is hard today! Poor Steve
didn’t cope well with todays early start.
Luca
is sick as a dog, so we demanded he stay behind – I think he was
very grateful to have the sleep in – but not before he was up and
dressed! But its ok….he went back to sleep!
Tim
drove us up the mountain - Sass De Putia in the dark. It was 0 degrees at the top
and the ground was very frozen with frost. The skies were crystal
clear and the stars were beautiful. As we were soooo early, we had a
nap in the car….well…. no one did. Hyperactive Tim lasted about
5mins before getting out his phone to play some zombie game, and
Scott with ADHD was also on his phone! Funny!
Eventually
the horizon looked a little brighter, so we put on our big down
jackets and headed out into the cold morning. We all went in
different directions. I lost sight of Steve in the dark. I headed
out into the middle – I wanted the middle of the mountain in the
middle of my image (as much as I could). I also headed up as high as
I could.
I
could see Scott way down below in front of me, but he was right at
the base of the mountain. Eventually Scott made his way up towards
me and we saw the sunrise in together!
We
got some really lovely images! No clouds again, and the sunlight
didn’t actually hit the mountain face at all, so we thought this
would be better for sunset.
Behind
this image was a very large drop off and that went into the lower
valley. We waited till the sun started to hit some of the hills.
Tim
and Steve found us – they had been shooting down on the road with
the fence as a leading line. We all took some more pictures, then
called it a morning before heading back into town for breakfast.
We
spent the morning lazing about. Tim and Steve went to Bolzen to a
big shopping centre to get some supplies. And as I had broken our
international travel adaptor (oops), we needed a new one of those!
By the time the boys came back it was getting well into the
afternoon.
With
the boys out, Luca and Scott went back to the little church to take
some daytime images, so I went with them. Not the most ideal time to
photograph anything, but we had to try at least as it was our last
day! It was nice to be out in the sunshine in the middle of the
day. The sun was very warm.
Tim
gave Steve and I a quick photo processing run-through on this
morning’s image when they returned about 2pm. Steve and I need to
just get Photoshop out and start using it. We’ll get the hang of
it eventually, but we never will if we just talk about starting and
never doing it!
The
time hit 3.30pm and it was time for us all to jump into Tim’s car
and drive back up to where we were this morning. Only this time we
stayed out on the main road to shoot the mountain with some more
foreground interest.
We
noticed that the council men were out putting out the snow markers
along the roads. It is fine and sunny all week, but by the weekend
they are forecasting 45cm of snow to fall on Saturday, and from there
winter might be setting in. The markers are really tall – makes
you realise just how much snow they get in these parts.
Whilst
the sun was setting, it was too contrasty in the harsh light of day
to take any really good images of the mountain, but once the sun
dipped, it was really lovely.
Finally after we finished shooting, we
drove the 50m up the road to the large German guesthouse for some
dinner. We arrived just as they were closing, but they let us in
for dinner. We had to order straight away, but the appenglow on the
mountains (the very last of the sun light) was amazing and I REALLY
WANTED that fence shot that Steve and Tim got this morning…. So my
Steve took the car and drove me to the location, whilst the others
ordered dinner on our behalf.
I
have never taken photos so quickly in all my life and I was hoping I
was in the right spot with a good composition and in focus! I
rattled off some images and then we jumped back in the car and raced
back to the restaurant! God bless my Steve for doing that for me!
Love you babe! xxx
We
all ate pasta for dinner – Steve and I had Spaghetti Bolognase
which the boys ordered for us – it was delicious – even Steve ate
it with visible tomatoes in it (what a good boy!). Then for dessert
I had Apple Strudel and custard & Ice-cream – OMG – real
german strudel – doesn’t get any better than that! Steve had
vanilla ice-cream with raspberry sauce, which I ended up eating most
of due to the vast amount of fruit! (I think I have already put on
5kgs so far!)
It
was superb – a lovely way to finish off in Villnoss!
The
drive back down into town along the very windy roads was nothing
short of hysterical! With Tim at the wheel driving like a maniac on
the road which was only wide enough for one car – OMG – poor Luca
in the front ended up taking a video as he couldn’t believe it!
Scott & Steve in the back seat on the widow sides with me in the
middle – I was the meat in the sandwich. With each sharp hair-pin
turn Tim took, I was flung from Steve’s lap then onto Scotts! It
was hysterical! We were screaming and shrieking and laughing our
heads off at every turn. I guess you had to be there!
We
all decided, once we made it back alive to the apartment, that there
was no real use getting up at 4am to shoot sunrise here as there
really wasn’t much else to photograph, and with such fine weather,
and no clouds at all, the locations we had already photographed would
not look any different. So tomorrow we get to sleep in – YAY!!
We check out at 10am tomorrow, and from there we head towards
Cortina. Tomorrow night we camp near a lake, and then we pack up and
move and camp the following night near another lake and from there
the next night we stay in a hotel. Then the BIG hike happens which
coincides with the bad weather, so that might end up being cancelled
due to the storms predicted, but the others remain hopeful. Me –
I don’t really care, I am really happy with the images I already
have, and we still have a few more days of lakes and mountains
without too much strenuous hiking. (We are hoping for some clouds –
any clouds will do at this point in time!) lol
Time
to catch up on writing the blog and processing some images quickly
for the blog before hitting the bed for the last time for a few
nights – best we make the most of it!
Ciao
Buono
Notte
Ciao
