Thursday, February 25, 2010

More Blue

fence posts in perspective in the south of the Czech Republic

snow covered fields near Lipno Lake in Southern Bohemia

a snowy road back to the pension in Kovarov

Driving into Kovarov in Southern Bohemia
More pictures in blue. Every step closer to our pension on this walk made me feel I was a step closer to being warm again, and the pictures definitely said the same thing to me.

About the blue - I've been trying all winter to take an evening shot of the snow and capture the blue of night fall. In Prague the city lights turn everything yellow and I thought that I'd need a filter to find my blue. But no, all I needed to do was drive south to the border and take a walk in the countryside as the sun faded. A friend of mine (also a camera buff) walked with me and we decided that taking a walk in the country wasn't just good for pictures. I'm glad I live in the city but I love being able to get out into forests and fields when we can.

These pictures are all taken in the south of Bohemia, just below Cesky Krumlov and a few kilometers from the Austrian border. We stayed in a little lake-side pension there and spent the weekend cross-country skiing and visiting Cesky Krumlov in the snow. More pictures tomorrow!

17 comments:

Mary said...

Wow Julia - I adore the warmth of the lit rooms against the cold blue of the snow

Julia said...

Thanks Mary! I love that picture too, and I know I'm such a nerd, but I have actually been trying to figure out how to capture that contrast since last year. When I finished downloading all my trip pictures yesterday, I was so happy to see those I think I skipped in my chair ;-).

lizardek said...

I love these. We have had a lot of the same blue here, and I love how the windows glow against it.

Anonymous said...

I've read novels set in your neck of the planet and I imagine that is looks like this. Your photos are so beautiful and I'm glad to see I guessed right!

marja-leena said...

Oh, so lovely and amazingly brilliant that blue and the warm golden glow from the windows! Brings back memories of early years lived in winter climes. Great job capturing these, Julia!

Anonymous said...

Such beautiful photos!! I can't wait to see more!

Ellen said...

And there I am always trying to get away from the inherent blue in snow photos... Hoping for more snow photos with you this year!

countrypeapie said...

Oh, I love that row of fence posts in the very first one!

Roderick Robinson said...

There must be some chromatic relationship between the blue and the yellow/orange that causes the latter to become intensified. Perhaps it's the visual equivalent of a triad. Whatever it is, it is (or was) a great reassurance to me as a skier. As night fell the blue seeped into the background, blotting out the tawdry posters, the special offer signs and the rest of the ski-station trash, providing a frame for those warmly lit windows and signalling - hospitality! Proof that I'd survived another day on the pistes. The Germans might well call it gemütlich.

Rouchswalwe said...

Oh ja! Quite gemütlich indeed!

Julia said...

Orange and blue are opposites on the color wheel, so I think you nailed that one BB!

eurolush said...

Sounds like a fun vacation. Love the photos! The glow from the windows look so inviting.

Nimble said...

What beautiful snow pictures. X country skiing sounds very appealing.

Julia said...

X country skiing is a more fun than I ever imagined. Several of our friends told us it was just hard work and not a lot of payoff, but I think it is just as fun as roller blading and about the same amount of effort.

Lucy said...

Tomorrow never comes!

I love these.

Eleanor said...

Just popping by to say hello. I was thinking of you today, your sketch of C is hanging near my desk so I think of you quite often!

E xxxx

Roderick Robinson said...

If this were Britain this could be an all-purpose post. We had heavy snow yet again two days ago, mainly in Scotland, and a school bus setting off for a trip to a theme park (!) went off the road and one of the kids was sadly killed.