Photographing the Alps - Focal Point Capturing, Travel Images

(Second of two parts)

Arriving at the hotel Continental Central in Interlaken at about 2:30 p.m., we were tired from our train adventure of the day but not nearly so as our jet-lagged Go-Ahead Vacations compatriots arriving from Zurich and the U.S.

From the hotel's roof terrace we could look right up the valley and hope for the clouds to clear from the Bernese Oberland. After exploring the nearby Old Town, we met our tour director, Jean-Yves Mounier, and his weary travelers at about 5 p.m.

This would be our second bus tour and I was anxious to see if I could make photos as easily as I could on my previous four driving trips to the Alpine regions. Already, on this trip, I had more than 100 "keepers" by shooting through train windows.

Our cocktail hour on the roof terrace was welcomed by clearing clouds and the appearance of the Jungfrau, quickly followed by the Monch. I shot exposure after exposure, using the D100's continuous mode and happy for the 1.5X lens extension on the digital camera.

The late afternoon painted the snow-covered slopes and I caught it, one of 44 exposures. Forty-two would be discarded in that night's editing session.

For the Lindells and Pattersons, our first tour bus ride would be the day trip from Interlaken to Zermatt, hoping for a view of the Matterhorn. It was nearly a straight shot by way of the Lotschberg Tunnel beneath the Bernese Alps; if our driver couldn't get our bus on the automobile train, the drive would be an extra 300 miles.

We rejoiced when Jean-Yves announced the Zermatt trip would be by way of the tunnel between Kandersteg and Goppstein. Our young German driver, Holger Ritschdorff, got us to Kandersteg in an hour and we pulled into line for the auto train.

Betty and I had driven our rental car onto the auto train several years before, but I wondered about our bus getting onto the string of flatcars with their arched roofs. Cars and smaller trucks drove aboard the train. Then it was our turn.

Holger asked for absolute silence, and we passengers held our collective breath. We strained to hear an ominous scrape or tinkling glass as Holger maneuvered onto the flatcar with three inches to spare. Applause broke out and I took a picture of the beaming driver.

After the 20-minute ride through the tunnel, Holger then had to drive the length of the flatcar train, as our bus was the last vehicle on. After reattaching his rear-view mirrors, we proceeded to Zermatt.

Zermatt is a pedestrian town, its one main street lined with tourist shops, restaurants, hotels and ski resorts. None of us knew exactly where to find the Matterhorn as we made our way up the bill from the station.

At the steps of St. Peter's Church, our group stopped to compare the photo on their train tickets with the mountain ahead. It was the Klein Matterhorn (Little Matterhorn). A view of the real Matterhorn would be just a few yards on up the curving road.

It was high noon when we reached the first viewing spot. Clouds were blowing away from the familiar triangular peak and I realized that I needed a vital piece of photo equipment. I double-timed it back through downtown Zermatt to the extensive photo store I had seen.

"A polarizing filter to fit this lens, please," I gasped to the sales clerk. She brought out her millimeter scale, measured my lens and in minutes I was back on my way to the Matterhorn.

By the time I arrived, the heavy clouds had blown away and the Polarizing filter gave my photos the desired blue-black sky to further dramatize the mountain. The 67mm circular polarizing filter cost me US$67, about what I would have paid in the United States.

An Alpine. tour means "mountains," right? Our tour did include spectacular mountains, but, even more, we hit virtually all of the major Alpine lake towns: Lucerne, Montreux, Interlaken, Geneva, Annecy, Como, Locarno and even St. Moritz with its tiny ice-skating lake.

Of the bunch, the Old Town in Annecy stands out. Broken into islands by the canals of the Thiou River flowing from Lake Annecy, the old city is among the most medieval we've ever visited.

I set up my tripod-mounted camera and let the autoexposure go to work in the period between dusk and dark. Restaurant lights and windows reflected off the canal surface while a pair of swans held their pose for a one-second exposure. The evening photo helps eliminate modem touches such as street signs, taking Annecy back several centuries.

On a day trip from Annecy, we made an excursion to Chamonix and Mont Blanc. The literature describes the Aguille du Midi cable car ride as "death defying." That might seem true if one were in an uncrowded car, but with 80 people packed in like sardines, the 2-stop ride was a study in claustrophobia.

From the 12,604-foot Mont Blanc terrace, the slopes and summit of Europe's highest mountain stretched above me. I noticed a man on the terrace with a huge Nikon camera bag. Although he didn't speak English, sign language and pidgin German were enough for me to "borrow" a longer lens. He produced a 300mm f2.8, which became a 450mm on my D100. He was amazed when I showed him the results of my shoot with his borrowed lens.

Another excellent photo spot was Villa Carlotta, on the west bank of Lake Como in Italy. With five terraces of gardens filled with rhododendrons and azaleas, this' 1 8th-century museum provides a gorgeous view of the Bellagio promontory across the Lake.

But probably the prettiest lake we saw was back in Switzerland's Ticino Canton. Lake Maggiore is shared by Italy and Switzerland and was a major bonus. for our unplanned stay in Locarno. A Grand Prix race in Como caused our hotel to be switched at the last minute. As a result, we enjoyed a beautiful lake cruise to Isola Bressago from Locarno.

Isola Bressago is another botanical garden surrounding a luxurious villa once occupied by royalty. The closefocus capability of my 24mm-85mm zoom lens came in handy in this flower lover's paradise.

On the trip back to Ascona-Locarno a lone sailboat approached our ship, suddenly breaking out a colorful spinnaker. The polarizing filter. helped make the all-blue background of mountains and lake even darker, emphasizing the colors of the sail.

Six members of our group from Houston, Texas, arrived with most of their luggage missing. American Airlines and Air France managed to forward at least one bag a day and our friends took their plight good-naturedly. However, one woman had packed her camera in her check-in luggage and spent the tour shooting with a single-use camera.

I'll use this space to remind all ITN readers that a camera is always a carry-on item.

Royal Olympia ships as hotels for Olympics

Visitors to the 2004 Athens Summer Olympic Games, Aug. 10-31, can book accommodations aboard three Royal Olympia Cruises vessels: usympia voyager, Olympia Explorer and Olympia Countess. Together, the ships can hold more than 2,500 guests in 1,700 luxury staterooms and suites.

Throughout the Olympics, the ships will be docked at the port of Piraeus, located just outside of Athens. Both prior to and following. the Olympics; the ships will operate their regularly scheduled summer itineraries.

Bookings can be made through travel agents or selected. tour operators. For more info, call Royal Olympia Cruises at 800/872-6400 or visit www.royalolympiacruises.Com.

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