Every now and then, even your front garden can be impressive.
You don't always have to look far afield for highlights. This weekend was my first free weekend without any plans. The weather forecast was excellent, autumn is currently at its most colourful, so it was clear: I had to take my camera out into nature.
But, where to go? There were three spots to choose from, for two days.
The first option, and the one that is most obvious for hiking in the Dresden area: Saxon Switzerland. The second option, a place that I haven’t visited for years, is the Rabenauer Grund (a river valley near Dresden). And the third option, a place I mainly consider as cycling area, is the Dresdner Heide (Dresden Heath).
On Saturday morning we decided relatively spontaneously to go to the Dresdner Heide, which is less than an hour away for us. And with the weather at its best and autumn in full swing, I promised myself some wonderful photos.
For the first major part of the hike, we followed the Eisenbornbach to get deep into the Heath. I was surprised, how deep the little stream cut into the ground and created a, for the relatively flat area, quite deep valley. The Heath welcomed us with colourful trees with still green inner and lower parts and vibrant red tips, illuminated by low sun, that spent warm light.
Getting deeper into the heath the vegetation got denser, and the light dimmed by the dense canopy. After the first two or three kilometers, the valley faded out slowly and i got a chance for a long exposure down at the stream. Taking pictures of flowing waters with a long exposure time is often a promise for good images. The water loses its texture, reflections become blurred and create a soft, magical touch, while the sharp details of the surroundings remain intact around the water.
I spent some time here, playing around with with my tripod, the camera, perspectives and exposure times. After a few minutes I packed my stuff and we went on to the next target of the hike. That was a tiny sea, that i visited last time some years ago. My aim there was to use reflections on the water surface for some interesting shots, but the sea turned more into a puddle within the last years. Also the little water that was left, wasn't quite picturesque. It had a brownish colour and was covered in leaves. So, the walk went on along our companion for the second half of the trip: the Prießnitz stream. The Prießnitz is the biggest stream, crossing the Heath from the south east up to the north west, before turning 90° to the south west.
The Prießnitz winds its way through the heath in a ditch that is reinforced with stones in some places and next to it you will find a main path, that’s also great for cycling, as well as some small paths. For a change of perspectives we switched between them. The one thing to remember in this season is, that leaves are all over the place and they will give you a hard time to find small paths… One time during the hike, we got lost for this very reason.
The main highlight of the stream is usually the Prießnitzfall, a small waterfall, where the Prießnitz has cut through rough stone. You could call that a gorge, if it were a few hundred meters higher. Unfortunately, on a sunny day like this, so many people gather at the waterfall, that taking nice images is impossible. But, a few moments earlier, still in the gorge, we had an absolutely amazing moment. We stood in the gorge and high above us the canopy of leaves caught the sun’s warm rays and gave the impression of a golden roof. The picture isn’t doing any justice to the real warm and golden glow of that moment.
