After more than 3 years I finally had enough time and inspiration to process a freehand panorama photo taken at the volcanically and geothermally still active Krafla region in the northeast of Iceland »»

When magma, which is usually entirely covered by the Earth’s mantle, rises up to the surface and gets in direct contact with water, then experts are only speaking soberly about phreatomagmatic eruptions but the rest of the world gets confronted with an all too often catastrophic explosive power being that immense like a couple of Hiroshima nukes. Back in 1883 such an epic volcanic eruption happened in Indonesia, between Java and Sumatra Islands. More than 20km3 of rocks and ash got tossed into the air followed by an up to 40m high Tsunami that erased all villages framing the Sunda Strait. The old volcano got almost vaporised but its offspring is already waiting in the wings, the Anak Krakatoa; a place that gets reconquered by life under as well as over the waterline »»

Not many fishes are automatically having that cuteness factor anemonefish do have and at the latest after the Find Nemo film everyone knows them. Though anemonefish can appear in much more different ways than being only orange and painted with two white stripes. No matter how exactly they are looking like, mostly they are very small and the human eye can quickly miss them when they are hiding themselves between dozens of tentacles »»

Grandmaster John Digweed is a rarely seen guest in one of the world‘s best cities for clubbing and fellow Argentinian top DJ Hernan Cattaneo has seen Berlin only from an airplane when flying over it. Hence reading both names plus Trentemøller and Tiefschwarz on one flyer for a party taking place in Berlin let one look first for a hidden camera. However, when December began it became more and more clear that the Kuduro Live Sessions are definitely no end-of-year joke and that with the lovely Arena Club one of Berlin’s most pleasant clubs had been chosen to be the playground »»

Short summary of the latest photographical output taken on missions for German news channel Phoenix »»

Why seeking far afield when the good could not be any closer? More and more I am acquiring a taste for taking photos at my own doorstep. The series Impressions from Berlin consciously contains colour as well as black/white images. It is meant to provide a new perspective on already known things and quarry some surprising new insights, for example to reveal that the world’s tallest minaret stands in Berlin »»

The past year brought me two extra-ordinary travels, first through North India and later an adventure in the South-West Pacific; I think I don’t have to mention that those two journey had quite a photographical output :-) Both topics are not really combinable hence this year I will put you to the choice to get one of those or even both calendars as I’ll produce two annual photo calendars. »»

To many people the Pacific paradise of the South Seas islands was and still is one of the most exciting dream destinations. There is no question that experiencing typical advertisement-like stereotypes such as snow-white beaches, coconut palm trees and crystal clear blue-turquoise water in person is a lifetime experience par excellence. Though the South Seas true gem is a varicoloured dialogue taking place between the locals, their fascinating tribal culture and a diverse unique nature that is captivating above as well as below the sealine. That beautiful togetherness gets only disturbed when the Earth’s most powerful forces get unleashed, when at the Pacific side of our planet all things called tectonics and volcanism are literally setting the place on fire as Oceania is part of the highly active circum-pacific Ring of Fire »»

Rabaul, a settlement in the East of magic exotic Papua New Guinea, has literally one of the hottest chronicles worldwide. On the one hand the equatorial sun is frying everything at temperatures around 30°C and air moisture of ~90%, on the other hand during World War II. Rabaul was caught in the middle when Japanese and US Americans were battling against each other and for dominance in the Pacific Ocean. That’s only the most recent history though. The biggest imminence was and still is the forces of nature as within living memory they ever emerged at that remote spot of our planet. In particular the eastern end of New Britain Island is at the mercy of volcanism and tectonics; there Earth’s most powerful forces are clashing at top speed and get all too often fully unleashed. Earthquakes are a daily occurrence and being powered by a magma chamber located only 3 to 4 kilometres deep, even two fire mountains – Vulcan Crater and the pretty explosive beast of Tavurvur – are letting off their infernal steam. Although this sounds like hell on Earth life, nature and humans are always coming back to this place and in particular wildlife under water could develop to worldwide unique undersea beauty »»

The islands of Palau are an archipelago being located some 1500km to the east of the Philippines. Several thousand years ago a tectonic uplifting process elevated its 356 islands literally to the second storey making them now looking like as if a sloppy painter was at work somewhere amidst the turquoise waters of the Pacific Ocean and left dozens of green patches behind. The rock islands of Palau are forming a large lagoon housing a worldwide unique variety of submarine life. Doesn’t matter if going below the waterline by snorkel or scuba, unavoidably you’ll become eyewitness of toilet sized giant clams, sharks en masse and countless fish being painted in all possible colours. Palau’s most amazing miracle of nature is a small stand-alone pond full of thousands of golden jellyfish drifting around in time with the shining sun at the Jellyfish Lake »»