Sunset over Lödensee

Lödensee is one of four small lakes in a valley that connects the two Bavarian cities of Reit im Winkl and Ruhpolding, close to the Austrian border.

Daylight along with the sun's warmth disappear early in this narrow valley, one reason why this lake is always refreshingly cool though it is only 6 metres (6.6 yards) deep. This is a pleasant thought when you hike one of the surrounding mountains on a hot day.

It is normal to find cows grazing here during the day, I guess they are back in their stable now. As you can see, some of the grass is underwater, so it must have rained not too long ago. Masses of water may stream down from the mountains carrying trees and rocks during strong rainfall. Aside from this danger, this and the adjacent lakes constitute an important reservoir so that the nearby city and village are protected from flooding.

You could say this is truly a peaceful place... although only a week after I shot this idyllic panorama, a large group of policemen and policewomen had to search the area for the body parts of two murdered individuals.

To give you some idea about the distances: the camera is mounted on a small tripod, the lens is only 25 cm (nearly 1 foot) above water level. The lake itself is only 100 meters wide and about 1000 meters long. The peaks on the northwestern side (where the sun just sets) are up to 1000 meters above our standpoint.

Europe / Germany

Lat: 47° 41' 39" N
Long: 12° 35' 56" E

Elevation: 750

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: Unknown / Undeclared.

• Voigtländer Bessa-L with 12 mm Heliar, Self built Nodal point adaptor on Novoflex PanoramaPlate and BasicBall (Mini tripod)

• Two rows on negative film plus handheld nodal shot

• Full 16 bit workflow with SilverFast, PTMac, enblend, Photoshop