Foto Friday 07 – Dragonlake
There be Dragons
I grew up in a small town in Bavaria, on the border with the Czech Republic, surrounded by forests, hills and green pastures. This “Drachensee” did not exist back then, though. It was a result of a six-year-long dam project (2003-2009), and it got its name from the fact that the town turns into a medieval festival each August. Complete with knights and knaves and damsels, some in distress, others not so much, and a dragon, a huge, fire-spitting dragon, to be killed by Knight Udo and his lance. Yes, Udo will ride against the beast and throw his lance and then… there will be blood, lots of blood, fake blood, of course, but it is a spectacle that attracts tourists from all over the world each year. China even wanted to buy the dragon. The town did not sell. After all, this “Drachenstich” is the town’s live blood and Germany’s oldest folk drama, dating back to 1590. August is that time of the year when the whole town gets to dress up and play Knights of the Round Table, sort of. I did once, too. A long time ago, in a little hamlet far far away.
Yeah, it’s a big-ass dragon, the biggest mechanical four-legged robot dragon in the world. Its sole purpose is to spit fire and die and, you know, keep the tourists coming year after year, and come they do, for the dragon, for the medieval procession and for Cave Gladium, which transports them back to another time, it’s LARP heaven for some and a spectacle to behold for everyone.
Now, this has been very exciting (Bavarian accents and all), but it is not the main focus of the photo! So tranquil, taken just after sunset, the time we call the blue hour. I love shooting during that time. The light is pure magic.
One may imagine the black hills are the back of a sleeping dragon. So let’s be very quiet and listen to one of the greatest rock bands of all time: Magnum (not P.I., also good but no) and their superb album “On a Storyteller’s Night” (1985), which I bought on vinyl on my school trip to London back then, along with “Kingdom of Madness” (1978) and “Vigilante” (1986). Most people I talk to have never heard of Magnum and always default to Tom Selleck, not the 2018 reboot, of which I have watched one episode. What do you think of when you hear the word “Magnum”? Ice cream? Possible.
Start the dragon's fire to smoulder…
Feel free to click the ❤️ button on this post and share it with a friend so more people can discover it on Substack. 🙏
That’s so funny. The minute that I saw the first photo, I thought it looked like the back of a sleeping dragon. Clearly, the title primed my thoughts but, it’s a bit like the hills in Scotland, when I look at them now, all I see are sleeping giants as my dad told me that’s what they were so many times
Both pictures look fantastic and the festival sounds good fun too!
Magnum are an interesting one. I’m sure I’ve heard of them as they’re my kind of music from that time, but I don’t remember any of their tunes. Got some catching up to do 🎵
Another great article. Thanks very much Alexander
Der ist ein große Drachen!