Traveling around Europe it’s hard not to be drawn to those fantastic castles found in virtually every country. They stand as a substantial reminder of a remarkable history. There’s a tour guide joke about traveling thru Europe called ABC – it has a dual meaning standing for Another Beautiful Church or Another Beautiful Castle. Following is a quick video tour of these remnants of medieval history.
In Europe I am like a kid in a candy store. I do love history and here it comes at you from every direction. Some time ago we were on a boat west of Vienna cruising the Danube and glided past the ruins of Durnstein Castle.
In European legends there are a number of romantic tales that reference historic events and are notable because of spinoff stories that remain in literature and legend to this day. Few are as significant to English history as the tales of Richard the Lionheart in the twelfth century.
Already a popular ruler, Richard answered the call of the Pope to free the Holy Land and make it available to Christian pilgrams. Richard marched off to the third crusade with a number of his trusted knights and soldiers.
Leaving England in the hands of his younger brother John, things didn’t go well at home. John set his sights on becoming the new sovereign of England and systematically replaced lords and knights with men loyal to him. As legend indicates he greatly increased taxes claiming they were needed to support the crusades while putting them to his own use. There are also historical indications that he attempted to later block the use of ransom to free his older brother.
One particular legend, that actually does not appear in literature for over two hundred years after the time of Richard the Lionheart, is that of Robin Hood. This legend grew out of a number of popular ballads regarding a highborn group of men that became outlaws in resistance to the rule of Prince John and in support of King Richard.
While many of these legends have little historical basis there was a historical crusader king known as Richard the Lionheart with a younger brother Prince John, and Richard was imprisoned for a ransom in Austria.
At the end of the third crusade Richard the Lionheart left the Holy Land in October 1192. The Third Crusade had been only a partial success and, after three years of fighting the Saracens, the Christian warriors were depleted by disease, desertion and death in battle. Richard was one of the leaders of the Christian forces and negotiated a three-year truce with the great Muslim general Saladin, where the Christians were to keep a thin strip of land on the Mediterranean coast and several fortified strongholds, and Christian pilgrims were to be given safe passage to visit Holy sights in Jerusalem unmolested by Muslim forces.
This agreement allowed King Richard to make plans to return to England, something that he badly needed to do. King Philip Augustus of France had been taking his holdings in Normandy, and his younger brother, Prince John had been steadily increasing his power in England, illegally taking and garrisoning castles with his own men and constantly undermining the authority of the officials put in place by King Richard to govern the country in his absence. King Richard stated he intended to return to the Holy Land, once he had settled matters in Europe and removed the threat to his throne from his brother, but events were to conspire against him.
King Richard I, the Lion heart had made many enemies during the Crusade. The French King Philip, once a close friend, now had designs on advancing his power by diminishing Richard’s authority and Duke Leopold of Austria, the leader of the German contingent of the crusaders had become a serious rival if not a sworn enemy. He had alienated Henry VI, the Austrian Holy Roman Emperor, by supporting King Tancred of Sicily against him. The Austrian Holy Roman Emperor controlled most of Germany, Hungary, Austria and much of the Italian peninsula, much of Portugal and Spain not in Muslim hands. Richard knew that he would have a problem getting home via land.
The whole story of Richard’s return is not entirely clear; the facts are fragmentary, and sometimes seem contradictory, but most scholars agree that Richard decided to attempt a clandestine eastern land route homeward. After sending his wife Berengaria by ship to Rome where she would be protected by the Pope, he took to the Adriatic and sailed north. The weather was bad, and after a couple of attempts Richard landed on the northern Adriatic coast at Aquileia, near Trieste in north-eastern Italy although some scholars suggest that this landing wasn’t planned and that he was shipwrecked there after bad weather. Either way that’s where the King found himself, on or about the 10th of December 1192, ashore, with only a small contingent, and hundreds of miles to cross thru hostile territory.
Legend says Richard traveled as a Templar knight, and headed north into the heart of Europe, making for safe territory controlled by his brother-in-law Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony. After an icy, grueling journey on poor roads, the King was apprehended by men loyal to Duke Leopold of Austria. He is said to have given himself away by his demeanor at an inn. It was on Christmas day, the weather was awful and the King was apparently sheltering in the road house on the west side of Vienna. Some stories suggest it was his companions’ practice of calling him ‘Sire’ that somehow gave away his royal identity.
On 25 December 1192, Leopold captured King Richard at Vienna while he passed through Europe on his way home from the crusade. Duke Leopold must have been delighted to have his great enemy the King of England in his clutches, and he promptly locked up Richard in Durnstein Castle, a stronghold on the Danube fifty miles to the west of Vienna. He also informed Henry VI, the Holy Roman Emperor, of his windfall, and a letter still exists from Henry VI to Philip Augustus of France, which has the Holy Roman Emperor gloating about the capture of this royal pilgrim. Seizing King Richard was technically an illegal act, as Pope Celestine III had decreed that knights who took part in the Crusade were not to be molested as they travelled to and from the Holy Land.
Still the negotiations for Richard’s release took the best part of a year, and after strenuous diplomatic efforts by Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, a ransom that included 23 tons of silver, twice the domestic product of England at the time, was agreed to. 12 tons went to Louis VI of France for facilitating the transfer and 11 tons to Leopold with Richard being released in early February 1194. Both Emperor Henry and Duke Leopold were later excommunicated by the Pope himself for Richard’s illegal detention.
Another legend that came out of this historical event is the story of Blondel. This story relates to King Richard’s imprisonment in Europe, and his loyal friend Blondel, which was a nickname for anyone with blond hair at that time. The legend says that Blondel searched across Europe for his king and friend, playing his lute outside the walls of castles all over Germany in an attempt to find his lord. While singing a song under the walls of Durnstein Castle, a song he had written with King Richard during the Crusade, Blondel was rewarded by a familiar voice singing the second verse from a small cell in a tower high above him. The loyal trouvère had found his King.
Although this legend has many highly improbable elements, there really was a Blondel, a famous trouvère from Nestle in France who lived at the time of the Lion Heart and, if he didn’t actually seek his King by playing music under castle walls in Austria, at least he has been immortalized with some twenty-five written songs preserved in French museums and libraries.
If you’re a hiker the old ruins of Durnstein castle overlook the entire town and occupy the highest rocky elevation overlooking the Danube River and the Wachau Valley. The view is spectacular, providing an impressive view after a steep hike. The castle ruins are free to visit. It is a major uphill hike so be sure to wear good hiking shoes and plan on 30 minutes each way starting at the Abbey sitting on the river in the town of Durnstein.
From the river the entrance to the hiking trail up to Durnstein Castle is perhaps a ten-minute walk. Head off to the right from the Abby and the trail begins at the stone archway of the old town wall. In town check with locals to point you to the trail entrance. The trail is well marked and signs along the way provide interesting information telling about Richard the Lionheart and the stories of the capture and ransom.
Partly based on notes by Angus Donald, July 2011
It’s All About The Light
One of the biggest steps you can take to improve your outdoor photographs is to start seeing and paying attention to what the light is doing to the scene. Just as important as the subject of your picture is the light and how it adds (or subtracts) from the environment.
The light in your photograph directly affects the mood and can add drama but it can also damage your expected results. It doesn’t matter if it’s natural sunlight or an artificial light source – you need some type of light to produce an image. From the beginning, from photographic film to todays digital pixels the only thing that is being recorded is the light. It reflecting off the scene or emanates directly from it or a combination of both. Between the scene and your camera there are a number of things that can also interact with the light. Fog and mist can diffuse it, smooth surfaces, like water, can add reflections to it and environmental conditions and the time of day can alter its intensity and the lights color.
Here’s a secret. With the exception of an assignment shoot with a team managing the placement of reflectors and diffusers, most of the time, when dealing with natural light and outdoor scenes even the best photographers aren’t sure what the results will actually be. Learning what to expect under different lighting circumstances is a process that requires the taking of hundreds and hundreds of photographs and studying the resulting images. Taking notes about time of day and conditions helps with the learning process.
Years ago in photography every one of those individual shutter clicks had a price attached to it and it wasn’t inexpensive. A couple of times I had jobs where the film and processing costs were paid by my employers, but even then my results were judged against those costs. Today we live in an age of miracles where those pixels have no real costs associated with them. We can now shoot hundreds of images, view the results instantly and keep only the pictures we like. Considering this there is no excuse to not shoot, experiment and play with all sorts of lighting situations. Especially when the environmental conditions are unusual – shoot those pictures.
The best natural light for outdoor photography appears during what are referred to by photographers as the golden hours, which is that hour after sunrise, and the hour before sunset. Most photographers will look to shoot during the golden hours, as it often produces the most stunning outdoor images.
Once you begin to understand the value of the golden hours, you should start planning how to often take advantage that remarkable lighting.
Just as the day has times for the best light there are also times for the worst. Often natural light can be the photographers worst enemy. Bright midday Sun, especially in stark environments, like the beach or in snow can be a severe challenge. High contrast scenes with deep shadows next to bleached out areas in direct sunlight. If you are taking portraits in direct, midday Sun try and shade your subject and if that isn’t possible another trick is to turn your flash on and set at manual. That can help soften the scene and fill in some of those deep harsh shadows.
Direct sun at midday is a very difficult environment. Not only is there direct sunlight but there is also light reflecting off light subjects from all directions. That reflected light can negatively impact the scene and increase harshness. Probably the best trick you can put in your arsenal for just such times is a polarizing filter*.Putting on the filter and rotating it can cut the intensity of reflected and scattered light by almost half. It causes the sky to darken, enhances colors and reduces the harshness of the sunlight reflecting off the scene. Try carrying just a small sheet of polarizing film that you can just hold in front of the camera lens. I carry a small sheet in an envelope slipped in with the camera.
Night photography is actually my favorite because of the stunning effects produced by the play of illumination on buildings, lit up cityscapes, night sky’s and nighttime events like fireworks. There is often something magical about night lighting that you just won’t see in daytime. Night photography works best if you can keep the camera rock steady. Steadying the camera on a solid surface or carrying a pocket tripod will greatly improve those night pictures.
My Camera Gear – When I travel I carry a compact camera in addition to my cellphone. Considering the quality of the newer models of cameras and the capabilities of the new cellphones, I just can’t see hauling around a larger camera. While I have to admit lately that my cellphone takes incredible pictures, often handling unusual lighting situations better than my Nikon camera, I still carry the camera because it has more control of shutter speed and aperture and it has a really good zoom lens at 35X.
*Polarizing filter – Because of the small size of modern cellphone and compact camera lenses all you need is a small piece of filter. Since there is no convenient filter holder for phones and compacts available I simply carry a small sheet of filter in an envelope and simply hold it in front of the lens. You can buy a large sheet of optical grade film from Amazon (link below).
Nikon compacts are my favorite cameras. They’re really compact with lots of control over how you take photographs and with a 128 SD card it will store thousands of images or forty minutes of 720p video. Find it on Amazon HERE.
Polarizing film comes in a large sheet you can cut down to a number of smaller filters. To buy on Amazon click HERE.
The bottom line today with those virtually free pixels is – look, see, shoot. You can always erase the picture if it didn’t work out but if you don’t shoot you’ll never know.
Available now is our guide to Taking Better Pictures so download your free pdf copy now by clicking here.
Composition Rules For Taking Better Photographs
I’ve spent most of my life in photography and long ago I learned a few things about composition. What turns an okay picture into something really good. When to follow the rules and when to break them but most of all how important it is to be aware of just what you’re seeing
My education also included a lot of time studying the masters of the craft and I had the privilege to meet and talk to a number of them and it has influenced my approach to taking photographs ever since. Here I like to offer some ideas on what to look for to help make your photography more compelling.
Don’t Just Stand There – Very few great photographs were actually taken from five feet above the ground. That’s the height of a camera held in front of your face while standing. It may be the most comfortable position for taking pictures but it is also the most often used, the most ordinary. I had a Nat Geo photographer once tell me that if he isn’t in the dirt or hasn’t climbed something to get the shot he just isn’t doing the job he was hired to do. Simply put, changing your point of view and your perspective changes the picture for the better. Consider the Adam’s image Mount Williamson from Manzanar above.
The Time Of Day Matters – It’s hard to take a Sunrise if you don’t get out of bed and Sunrises usually provide the day’s best lighting.The golden hours. Get out there when the world is just waking up and you’ll often see some remarkable sights. The same holds true around sunset. Late evening and nighttime scenes have their own special magic. Photography is a function of light and contrasts and it’s all about the light.
Look For The Geometry In A Scene -Composition can speak directly to the subconscious causing the eye and mind to be drawn into the flow and depths of the image. Have you ever seen two images of pretty much the same scene where one is just flat while the other draws your attention? It is elements of composition that make the difference. Consider a few simple tricks.
The S Curve – Famous landscapes are often examples of the S Curve but it can be incorporated in a number of images. A photograph that has a flow to it usually has graphic elements that wind back and fourth through the frame in an S shape. Start looking at images and you will find the S shape often. It tends to cause the eye to start at the back of the scene and travel through the scene following that S curve. Ansel Adams photograph of the Tetons and Snake River is a perfect S Curve.
Frame The Scene – A sense of depth in a photograph actually draws us into the image and makes it more meaningful. Again the appeal is often subconscious but that too adds to the impact of a photograph. The easiest way to add depth and appeal to a scene is to include near objects in a distant shot like tree limbs or near rock formations. Conrad Hall was the cinematographer on Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Paul Newman and the cast thought that there was so much filming from behind bushes that at one point they tied bushes around their waists to cover part of their faces as a joke.
Use The Rule Of Thirds – Either in taking a picture or later cropping it consider the Rule of Thirds. Divide a scene into thirds horizontally and vertically and that produces four line intersections. Place the most important element in your scene at the points where they intersect. These are called power points and the most significant one is the lower right. Most right handed people are drawn to that location first in a scene. The more muted the rest of the composition the more powerful the image.
First and foremost, the take-away for improving your photography is don’t just shoot the scene in front of you but take a moment to appreciate it and the elements that make it interesting along with its surroundings. You are about to create a two dimensional graphic representation of your experience – make it as interesting as you possibly can.
Download our short guide to taking better pictures. Our pdf guide is free to download use and print.
Looking for Jesus in Jerusalem
Gethsemane, a garden across the Kidron Valley on the Mount of Olives, a mile-long ridge paralleling eastern Jerusalem, where Jesus is said to have prayed on the night of his arrest before his Crucifixion. Though the exact location of Gethsemane cannot be confirmed, Armenian, Greek, Latin, and Russian churches have accepted an olive grove on the western slope of the Mount of Olives as the authentic site, which was regarded to be the location by the empress Helena, mother of Constantine, the first Christian emperor, in the early 4th century AD.
Walking the solemn path Jesus took to his crucifixion along The Way of the Cross – Via Dolorosa, with pilgrims and tourist wishing to step closer to ancient history and religion. Twist and turn your way through narrow stone paths lined with shops, following the nine stations of the cross marking Christ’s sacred journey to his crucifixion. There are a couple of versions marked as the city has built up over two thousand years burying many of the old streets.
The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, also called the Church of the Resurrection or Church of the Anastasis by Eastern Christians. It is a church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. The church contains, according to traditions dating back to at least the fourth century, the two holiest sites in Christianity: On the hill in the upper level of the churec is the site where Jesus was crucified, at a place known as Calvary or Golgotha, and below Jesus’s empty tomb, where he is said to have been buried and resurrected. The tomb is enclosed by a 19th-century shrine called the Aedicula. The Status Quo, an understanding between several religious communities dating to 1757, applies to the site.
One of the more significant rooms in the religious world is located in the southern part of the Old City of Jerusalem up on Mount Zion. History and tradition claim that it was within this room where Jesus had the Last Supper and later it was here that the risen Jesus made visible his wounds to see and touch by the disciples, and the room where Thomas accepted Jesus as divine.
The Upper Room, also known as the Cenacle in its current structure dates approximately from the fourteenth century and is adorned with Gothic-era columns and a golden olive tree statue representing the tree of life. Muslims consider it to be a mosque and the Israelis consider the lower level of this structure to be the Tomb of David. On special occasions, Christians are permitted to celebrate Mass in the Upper Room, but it is not common and is done only with permission.
The Wailing Wall, also referred to as the Kotel, the Western Wall, or Solomon’s Wall, and whose lower sections date to about the first century BCE, is located in the Old Quarter of East Jerusalem in Israel. Built of thick, corroded limestone, it is about 60 feet (20 meters) high and close to 160 feet (50 meters) long, though most of it is engulfed in other structures. The wall is believed to be the Western Wall of the Second Temple of Jerusalem (destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD), and the only surviving structure of the Herodian Temple built during the reign of Herod Agrippa (37 BC–4 AD).
Here’s wishing every friend, visitor, subscriber and fellow blogger a very happy holiday with best wishes for smooth sailing in the coming new year. May the wind always be at your back, the sun upon your face and may the wings of destiny carry you aloft to dance with the stars. Safe travels all…
The Intentional Travelers 