Author: Stefan

Nope. Even though this might obviously seem like a more or less lousy attempt of some cheap, pre-deparute Product Placement there’s absolutely no Paid Content here! Actually this is something completely different. It’s my very humble try to bring something very particular into a photographic form. It’s about that exciting period in a traveller’s life which usually fades in just hours before the familiar is left behind and the venture into the Unknown begins. When all major preparations have been set from “Waiting” to “Go” and only the tiny, little, “unimportant” things wait to be tackled. Things like deciding which books should join the journey or – as documented here on the picture above – giving my suitcase’s trusty wheels finally that “smeary attention” again after all these years of lockdown-ed halt. 48 hours to go. Anticipation at level 10!

WQJP+VP Gmunden

This is not just any mountain. To me it’s a lighthouse.
Typically seen from hundreds of kilometres/miles afar. A loyal Greeter and Farewell-Sayer. Always giving me direction, guiding me home – no matter where I’m going to or where I’m coming home from.

Soon I’ll be leaving Austria for a little while. Therefore this isn’t just any blogpost. It’s a very special one. And a reminder that travelling is not only about anticipating all these wonderful adventures, big and small, that might possibly be waiting in any uncharted territories ahead but that travelling is also about that very basic anticipation of simply coming home again. Or as in my case: having a sentimental reunion with Mt. Traunstein later that year again, my personal guide, my lighthouse towards home.

4243+GQQ Steinhaus bei Wels

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CC, 2XVM+GQ Wipfing

Catholicism in Austria. What an epochal topic.
Something that would likely and quickly become something overwhelming, I fear. So let me better get into this topic in an unrushed, unpretentious fashion by simply stating that Austria’s tie to Roman Catholicism is (still) a very strong one. Chapels, churches, cathedrals – not only worshippers are generally welcomed here but also pilgrims or people who just seek a quiet minute to go into oneself.

XRG2+G6 Ohlsdorf

It’s one of these wonderfully strange “cross-continental” coincidences where a huge and imposing local promotional “superstar” shares a very comparable fate with another, similarily famous “colleague” from far, far away and across the Atlantic Ocean! One might easily think that this funny occurrence is certainly too big and too obvious to be missed but then I got to admit that it took me up until a few hours ago to draw that unlikely parallel between that years old, unnamed, around four metres (or 14 feet) wide freshwater trout in front of a local “Steckerlfisch” shack and Rhode Island’s/Providence’s famous Big Blue Bug who is also known as – as Sarah has taught me in one of her earlierst attempts to give me some personal online sightseeing tour through Rhode Island’s most famous places – Nibbles Woodaway! I truly can’t wait to meet and great the latter one by myself anytime soon!

2Q7X+97 Roitham

 

The Henchman of Humor. The Wisperer of Daydreams. The Tickler against Repetitiveness. The steely Antidote against any common forms of Mental Narrowness – Ladies & Gentlemen, may I proudly introduce to you: the inside of my work locker’s door!

It’s home for many different things that I’ve gathered in the past 15 years. Maybe the most prominently featured item there is that vintage photo of the Mexican port of Zihuatanejo. Probably my dearest, certainly the most constant reminder for me about how important daydreams generally are for me. I’d even go as far and say that these are even “life-saving” because no matter how many working days I might have had in a row, now matter for how much work-overtime I’ve collected in my backpack – it’s these subtle, little artefacts that successfully induce my mind regularily with uplifting thoughts, questions and certainly daydreams at least twice a (working) day. Questions like “Where would I actually love to be right now if I wouldn’t need to work today?” or “Which far away friend would I enjoy visiting most anytime in the future?”. And even if it’s only for a fraction of seconds that these precious projections whiz through my humble mind it’s often more than enough to get blasted out of the ordinary rhythm of work and life in a truly triumphant way…

8FWM2XVJ+HJ, Eberstalzell

I am totally aware of that paradox between the title of this week’s post and the general absence of any sand, dunes or all the other commonly known appearances of a place that’s called a desert. But the idyllic scenery from above’s image is hiding something, has a hidden layer below these rich and saturated greens. Or to connect it with some popcultural quote from David Lynch’s Twin Peaks series: “The Owls are not what they seem.”.

Such places are indeed referenced as “a Desert of Spruces” by local forest rangers – a name, a term that might certainly be good contender for any national competition about which word or neologism has the most authentic mood and mindset typical for us Austrians inside. It’s got that bleakness, that bittersweet irony inside. Also that kind of humorous self-awareness. To name a few.

Actually professional woodworkers and biologists have been using that name for such places simply because many of these were artificially forested decades ago – solely due to economical reasons, unaware of what unwanted, ecological sideeffects might come along with that kind of attitude. Like monocultures being a feast for parasites. Or that Spruces have already become one of the first victims of climate change over here in Austria.

Now, years and years after that trend began, ideologies have changed and many things have been learned. Diversity is the way. May these unique places, these deserts be enjoyed for as long as they’re still here.

3X4F+VQV Eberstalzell

I know. Wrong terminology. Awfully wrong. Lagoons are solely found at islands or places connected with the sea. Freshwater lagoons are solely a product of a person’s (me) or a nation’s (Austria) collective mind that’s obviously very envious of any other places or countries that are truly located next to or within an ocean (yes, this also includes you, Rhode Island).
But despite that little geographical lack there are quite a few other unique places, other freshwater-y miracles Austria can showcase – like this strangely unique place from within Upper Austria that’s got a prominent place in the hearts of both riverbed hikers and/or lovers for historical hydroelectric power stations.

2Q8X+FP7 Traunfall, Desselbrunn

Part of me says that it’s some kind of national treason that it’s not a Schnitzel or an Apfelstrudel (the overall maybe most famous of all Austrian dishes worldwide) that’s featured in my very first food-related post here on our blog! But then our blog is all about authenticity and then there’s also the personal credo of mine to try to bring any lesser known things or good story into spotlight. This time it’s about not any Hot Mess but a Panasian Hot Mess!

Over the years it has become a longstanding, regular tradition among friends and fellow colleagues to bring a rough day or week to a good, celebrative and pleasing end by meeting at a local Asian restaurant to enjoy together some special “Teppanyaki Magic”.

Vegetarian, beegan, pescatarian or carnivorous – everything’s fine, everybody is welcomed to find his or her “uniquely perfect mess” of fruits, vegetables, sidedishes and many more things. After that it’s when the “transformative magic” sets in: raw and courageously mixed-together, eadable components get turned into individual and delightful dishes. And worn-out, hungry souls become a bunch of talking, laughing and deeply satisfied beings again. “Good Food and drinks are what holds body and soul together.” is one of the most overused German sayings by the way.

Oh, and is it true that Chinese/Panasian buffets were invented and brought over to Europe from the U.S.? At least that’s what I’ve heard from multiple different sources over the past few years. Either way & from whatever country it might have originally come from: praise to the people who came up first with that truly glorious, culinary idea!

423Q+8X Steinhaus bei Wels

This is a very special post for me. It’s my very first one in the 2nd year of the Photograf’in in Two Worlds Blog. During the past week I’ve spent many moments thinking about what photo or motive I’d choose for that very special occasion, one that should not only resemble that unique mood I’ve been enjoying week after week of “feeding” our blog with new content but also that ongoing, reliable excitement of being suprised and amazed about all the wonders Sarah has been coming up on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

In the end my unlikely guide to my anniversary post was my nose or better to be said: my allergy. It’s the colourful, wild meadows that are just like our blog to me: a living and growing thing, colourful, full of different shapes and shades. And a home for all different organisms: may it be insects, dogs or a sneezing “photograf” like me.

I really can’t wait to see what year two might bring for our blog, my inner self and my growing perception of my surroundings and Austria in general!

 

3WPW+FGG Fischlham