What a weekend. It started with "Hey let's go to Pirna" to the Saxon Switzerland and became a real Light Painting Meetup Weekend. Near the city of Pirna is the Elbsandstein Mountains. One Iconic Landmark is the Bastei Bridge. We got there in the afternoon and checked the location. There are not so many viewpoints so there are not that many vantage points you can get unless you make it a huge operation. So the main Light Painting is very similar to what you may find on the internet. Yet there is one important difference. Here it was pitch black and all the light you see here was applied by me by running around all over the place.

This shot is a collaboration with Ferpixelt aka Felix who was taking the responsibility at the lookout position to help me operate the camera.

As you can see I used my Canon 16-35mm F2.8 @ F5.6 and ISO 400 on the Camera. The exposure times varied between 2-45 seconds. The featured Image is a 337-second single exposure.

What I did not know was that Felix was after that shot for a long time. He told me that he always wanted to do this. This explains why he was so quick to commit to joining the adventure and here are we, after I returned to the camera to check the status. Felix was seemingly happy about the work we had created. We did use slightly different settings and he also had a Sony versus me operating the Canon as always.

Before Felixy arrived I played around directly at the base of the bridge. Just to play. I did not get a really cool picture because he pretty much arrived when I just got some first baseline understanding of what was going on. Here is the bridge itself for you.

I wasn't sure how it's going to look but I wanted to try a Camera Rotation. But Like I said Felix arrived earlier then expected, so I stopped right after that shot and we went to the main Lookout point for the featured image. But for a quick 174-second long test, I think it's pretty cool.

Here you can see some phone images of the bridege and the locations surroundings. All these shots where taken a few hours before during the late afternoon.

The Bastei Bridge is situated in the heart of the Elbsandstein Mountains near Pirna, which are known for their unique sandstone rock formations. The area is called Saxon Switzerland. I guess you can do the math why. 😜 These sandstone rocks were formed during the Cretaceous period and have been eroded over millions of years into the dramatic pillars and cliffs that characterize the region. For me, it's like the German version of the Bryce Canyon in the USY just in a different color.

The Bastei Bridge itself was constructed in 1851 as a wooden footbridge to connect several of the striking rock formations, providing visitors with breathtaking views of the Elbe River canyon below. Today, the bridge is made of sandstone and steel and is an iconic worldwide reknown symbol of the region.

We didn't have the most appealing weather but certainly, we experienced one of Saxonia's most iconic natural and architectural highlights. One can only really feel it when going there in person.

You see it rained again and again so we had some water puddles. Always good for reflection shots.

Thank you Danilo and Felix for joining in so spontaneously and of course Nadia who also joined the nightly Light Painting adventure.

Come visit the National Park - Saxon Switzerland