"Winter is stupid without snow." What a misconception! In the Sauerland-Wanderdorf villages, there is not only a lot to discover culturally and gastronomically in winter. Nature is also worth experiencing in the supposedly dreary months - if you are in the right place at the right time of day. The hunt for winter light is the key to achieving this.
Rapidly changing weather, thick clouds, low sun, fog and showers, frost and snow as reflectors, plays of color in the clouds and, of course, the long, blue twilight with warm artificial light: that's winter light!
I recently read in the spring issue of a leading German photography magazine: "Spring at last! Now it's time to take the camera out of the cupboard again." Excuse me? Who comes up with the idea of putting the camera in the cupboard in winter? I could understand that in the heat of summer, when the light sometimes leaves a lot to be desired: bright and white due to the residual haze in the summer sky. They call it "milky sun" in northern Europe. Everything looks like it's been washed too hot. This is perhaps a time to put the camera in the cupboard, but not in winter.
The sun always sends pure white light onto the earth - light like from a studio flash. What the light shapers (softboxes, color foil, reflectors, etc.) do in the studio is done in nature by water in all its forms as mist, rain, haze, snow, frost, clouds and fine ice crystals in the air. All of these together soften the light and also provide color tinting, because the different colors of light contained in white light pass through the forms of water in the air to varying degrees. And there we have the theater: the winter light theater.
The hilly landscape of the Sauerland, dotted with forests and water, is the perfect stage for this theater. Snow helps, but it doesn't necessarily have to be there. The Sauerland topography offers the ideal conditions for water to really let off steam as a light shaper. So the Sauerland winter experience definitely includes the hunt for winter light, of course without losing sight of the other amenities that the Sauerland-Wanderdorf has to offer in winter.
Hunting for light is exhausting and cold; you need calories. Of course, every Sauerland innkeeper will tell you that they don't put any of that in their food. Healthy, regional and, if required, vegan - Sauerland inn tables offer the ideal diet today. The backbone of Sauerland-Wanderdorf gastronomy are the good traditional Sauerland inns with home-style cooking and modern sophistication, with home-grown, regional ingredients and without highly processed additives. Creative gastropubs and starred restaurants often appear in the press. The Sauerland offers both, but the inns form the basis of Sauerland hospitality. Quality, regional products and fair prices are their hallmarks. Modern requirements - vegetarian, vegan, allergy-friendly etc. - are no longer rare niches, but integral parts of the menus and spheres of creativity. Fortunately, it gets dark early in winter. You have more time to enjoy the hospitality of the hosts.
Before the culinary delights, the sensual experience of nature awaits the light hunters. Being outside at the right time of day is the most important prerequisite for this. You should be out and about around sunrise and sunset, not in the middle of the day. And another advantage over summer becomes apparent: The working hours for photographers are more compatible with biorhythms in winter than in summer. The best light can be found all year round around sunrise - one and a half hours before to one hour after. If you work out in summer when you have to get up in order to be on a mountain in time, some photographers realize that they don't need such pictures as urgently as they initially thought. In winter, the battle with the biorhythm is not quite so tough.
Klaus-Peter Kappe
The Sauerland-Wanderdorf villages introduce themselves with their personal winter impressions and hiking tips. Winter in the Sauerland has its special charms even without snow and as exercise in the cold winter air always makes you hungry, a stop for refreshments is of course a must.