Today was kind of like the Alps - very high peaks and some extreme lows. I am here with Josh Rossi to work on a photo series involving some crazy composite images. For composite images, many different images are compiled into one larger than life, mind-blowing scene. We are here shooting backgrounds and details to be compiled into a series of several photos for a project to be released around Valentine's Day. We have a shot list that we are following to ensure we get all the elements needed for each image in the series. Travel time to and from each location cuts into the already short winter days and the available light we have to get the shots. He is driving back to Milan tomorrow to catch an early flight the next morning and the pressure to get the shots from each location is on. This morning started off amazing with an awesome traditional German breakfast in the guesthouse where I'm staying, Hotel Brauerei-Gasthof Braeustueberl in Fuessen. Broetchen with a million seeds baked into the top, current jam, muesli with yogurt and current juice is probably what they serve for breakfast in heaven, and we just had a taste. Even Josh, who is quite the self-proclaimed connoisseur, exclaimed how amazing it was and that America must be trying, and failing, to copy German rolls. If we ended the day right there, I would have called it a win. It was fantastic.
From there we drove the couple of kilometers to Neuschwanstein. The parking area is still a kilometer or two (about a mile) away from the actual castle in a little village. In this little town, you are surround by two castles on either side - Schloss Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau. That is just insane. Within five miles, there are three giant castles - two of which are absolutely stunning. With our tight schedule, we opted to take the horse drawn carriages up to the castle rather than walk an hour. The driver was a grumpy woman that seemed to treat people like she treated her horses. On the way down, we tried to avoid her when she passed us for fear of being yelled at, again.
At the base of the castle, we were met with a very horrifying view - the entire side of the castle facing us was covered in scaffolding! The half of the castle that wasn't being renovated was blocked off. I ran over and asked one of the info desks how everyone got the view that was on all the postcards. She said by helicopter. Well that just sucked. How were we supposed to get our shot now? We looked around and saw that some of the photos had snow in the foreground - they were taken from the hillside opposite. A quick look at the chasm between us and the hillside ruled that option out quite quickly. I started to freak internally and was rather annoyed that every single photo that you see of this castle was taken from a vantage point that was not an option. We weighed our options and decided that some shots taken from the valley below would have to do as we had to get on our way to Munich.
That was a hard call. That castle was why we drove to Germany. It was why we were staying in this particular town. It was going to be for the main image of the series. We wanted that iconic shot. And the Universe apparently disagreed.
Disappointed, we started walking down the hill. Another shot on the list require a forest background and we were keeping an eye open for a suitable spot. A small trail veered off from the main road and we started wandering up as it looked like a promising forest shot. The trail was covered with at least a foot of snow and relatively steep. About twenty minutes into this little hike, we realized that we might be able to get a shot of the good side of the castle if it opened up at the top. With renewed, but hesitant hope, we booked it to the top. As it turns out, this little path met up with one at the castle that had been blocked off due to dangerous snow conditions. Not a few people were up there hopping the gate and its "road closed" sign. We followed suit and scurried on over to the bridge. Oh meine Guete, it was glorious. Crisis averted! There was the shot! That lady at the info desk was wrong! We got our shots and some video in, booked it down the hill - one of us looking for anything that could be fashioned into a sled to speed up the process the whole way down.
It it is just shy of a two-hour drive to Munich from Neuschwanstein. Josh sang along to the Beauty and the Beast soundtrack, complete with voices. The rolling countryside and forest was magical.
A fine mist hung in between the trees and added a spooky vibe to the whole area. It's easy to see why the fairy tales collected by the Brothers Grimm occurred in Germany. It's not hard to see why such tales sprang up.
In Munich, we stopped at Yorma's for a quick lunch: wurste for Josh and leberkaese and a schnittlauchbrezel (pretzel with chives) for me. That pretzel was a pretty big part of why I was even in Germany and assisting on this shoot. Everything was right in the world again.
We drove over to Nymphenburger Schloss, another of King Ludwig II's castles, and asked for tickets to get inside. No luck. In winter, the palace closes at 4, and the last ticket is sold at 3:40. It was 3:50. Not again. Another location that doesn't want to work, on the same day? We tried explaining the situation - we had come from the US, were leaving right after and only wanted to shoot the room directly above. It would have taken 5-10 minutes tops and they still could have locked the doors at the same time. No dice. What the crap did we do now? Looking at similar locations, I called a couple - they all were open longer, but stopped selling tickets right then and wouldn't make any exceptions. After a quick call to Josh's wife and behind the scenes location finder extraordinaire, we decided to go back to our hotels in Fuessen, regroup and make the two hour drive again early in the morning to get there right when it opens. Who knows, maybe there will even be better lighting.
We made the drive back to Fuessen and wandered around the altstadt in search of dinner. Traditional German fare. Nothing less. It had been a rough day and we (I) needed to drown some feelings in a plate of knoedel (potato dumplings) and schweinehaxe (pork shank). Mission accomplished there! The beautiful town of Fuessen in looked over by, yet another, castle. This one reminded me of the fortress above Salzburg. The city was lit with golden yellow lights and they bounced off the wet street. Store fronts advertising trachtenmode were filled with dirndls and lederhosen. It was homey for me.
Now, off to bed and time to get ready for a long day tomorrow. Send good vibes/thoughts/whatever our way that we get our shots!
