One of my favorite place for taking seascapes photos is the island Rügen at the Baltic Sea. Only 4 hours away from my hometown Kiel it is a great place for a short trip.

It is a bit tricky to reach the more interesting spots on Rügen because the tourist industry won’t let you in the way I need to take photos. There are no places to stay in a Van. It is hard to come near the beach without spending a fortune on parking fees. So backpacking and sleeping at the beach is the key for great photos.

For such small trips I have really small equipment with me: Only cold and dry food, no tent, only a sleeping bag, a biwi bag, one or two lenses.
Especially in the summer months you can work quite a long time in the evening or in the morning.

So during the night I walked along the shore and shot as I found something that was waking my interest. During the day I slept and confused tourist laying down there in my biwi bag snoring the escargots away. A landscapes photographers pleasure. Of course, not the escargots…

For taking pictures of coastlines it is good to have some knowledge of geology because different stones are producing different sediment and colors. In Germany white sand formed and colored out of shells is really rare. (is there any?) To have pure greenish sea you have to work in the near of chalk rocks, which are on the island Rügen.

Of course during the night there is less green for my visions. The rocks transformed to black. This black works great with the white of a time exposure of the water.

As you can see there is a clear sky and the sun is really set.

I found the separation of the tree from the earth really interesting. For me it symbolized a strong longing to the light and a separation from the dark.

To cope the losses of sharpness from foreground to background I had to work with f 11. On my old travel wide angle lens (Canon 17-40mm) this aperture is critical to produce a good sharpness. A prime lens would have worked better.

To define the sky I put on a 2 hard stop Singh Ray Filter.

The photo was published on several calendars as far as I know. It is one of my best selling photos.