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Certainly one of the most impressive days out Liz and I had during our holiday in Austria last summer was the drive up the incredible 'Hochalpenstrasse' (high apline road) to the mountain peaks surrounding Grossglockner, with its majestic glacier.
As usual in this part of the world, the weather was decidedly mixed on the day of our trip, but as the forecast had this as the best possible day for quite a while to come we decided to take the chance.
The drive itself was fantastic, passing through various bands of different scenery as we gained altitude, and right at the top we were met with the amazing sight of the glacier and mountain, sporadically lit by bands of sunlight sweeping accross the scene as the clouds streamed over just above our heads.
This was the most dramatic of many photos I took of the glacier and surrounding peaks, and I was just blown away by the play of light across the scene.
Shortly after I took this photo we retired to the restaurant (there's quite a complex at the top of the Hochaplenstrasse) for a meal as it was by now teatime.
When we emerged satiated we found ourselves in the middle of a cloud, unable to see anything, and that's how our journey back down the mountains was played out - no visibility at all.
I'm sure glad I took the photos I did when I did, otherwise I would have had nothing to help me remember this amazing place.
By the way, the tourist brochures for the Hochalpenstrasse show lederhosen clad locals enjoying a beer in the blazing sunshine surrounded by majestic peaks. I don't know how many trips it took to get those photos, but the photographer must have been pretty dedicated!
Filename - mountain glacier 01.jpg
Camera - Canon 5D
Lens - 50mm prime
Exposure - 1/1250sec @ f11, ISO200
Location - Hochalpenstrasse, Austria
This image - 800x640px JPEG
Conversion - ACR & PS-CS2
Comments - Shot was taken hanging over the side of a high wall over the glacier.
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