News and Updates

Online since 11 April 2006
Last Update 19 May 2013

April 2013
LichtJahre photographer Christian Klepp is on tour again for five weeks from 2 April to 7 Mai 2013 on the south island of New Zealand chasing for new photographic horizons during the "Indian Summer" fall season down under. This purely photographic tour is focused on the fall light and the southern milky way arc over the nighttime landscape.



Requests or orders for books and prints can not be answered before 8 May 2013.

March 2013
During a two week science visit at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, USA, LichtJahre photographer Christian Klepp had the opportunity to photograph the snowy winter landscape of the Rocky Mountains and gave a one hour LichtJahre presentation for the scientists at NCAR.

February 2013
The Globetrotter portal 4-seasons is featuring a Lichtjahre interview with Christian Klepp
including an online gallery of 20 Lichtjahre photographies and a Globetrotter iPad-App.
I want to thank Philip Baues for the constructive interview questions and the fruitful cooperation.




The image Heart Reef is a 'Top-Down Perspective' winner of the 2012 María Luisa Memorial Photo contest.
More than 16000 photographs were submitted by 1600 competitors from 54 different countries.

January 2013
Christian Klepp is among the winners of the Global Arctic Awards 2012 international photography competition of Northern and Arctic pictures.
Photographers from 12 countries showed the magical world of the Arctic. Image Crystal Grotto won the PSA Nature of the North Bronze Medal and Beached Jewels won the FIAP Nature special medal.



The Xposure Issue 14 of Photography Week magazine features the Icelandic icescape image Nature's Artwork.
Thanks to Samantha Cliffe for the nice communication!

December 2012
The Russian Art Center in St. Petersburg features the image Entering the Enchanted Realm as part of the
100 Wonders of the World exhibition that is travelling throughout all major cities in Russia during 2013. The aim of this exhibition is to raise awareness for science, art and education.
As this goal coincides with the aim of the Lichtjahre project I was more than happy on agreeing to display my image. The exhibition is sponsored by National Geographic and GEO.
I would like to thank Alexandra Polishchuk, Deputy Director of showroom ART-Center from St. Petersburg, for making this possible.

July 2012
The image The Valley of the Ten Peaks is displayed in the July edition of the Natur Foto magazine.



Both English and German language versions of the LichtJahre book are now available. They can be orderered through this webpage on the book page .

May 2012
The May issue 3-2012 of the German photo magazine Fotocommunity Plus features a six pages interview with five images of LichtJahre. The interview can be read as a pdf file. The magazine is available in kiosks and bookshops throughout Germany, Austria and Switzerland.





Two LichtJahre images Entering the Enchanted Realm and Valley of the Ten Peaks were awarded during the Glanzlichter 2012 awards ceremony at the 14th International Fürstenfelder Nature Photo Days at Fürstenfeldbruck, near Munich, Germany on 18 May 2012.

April 2012
Two LichtJahre photographies Entering the Enchanted Realm and Valley of the Ten Peaks win in the international nature photo contest Glanzlichter 2012 out of 16.000 entries from 32 countries.





These two images are part of the Glanzlichter 2012 book that can be ordered through the Glanzlichter webpage by 25th May 2012.

March 2012



The Memorial Maria Luisa 2011 photo competition awarded Christian Klepp with two diploma.

February 2012
The image Stellar Sunshine is the 'Mountain Landscape' category winner of the 2011 María Luisa Memorial Photo contest. Additionally Beached Jewels is highlighted in the 'Natural Landscape' category. More than 16000 photographs were submitted by 1600 competitors from 54 different countries.

January 2012
The image Arctic Gate won in the Al Thani Award 2011 photo competition and is part of the limited edition book Masters of Photography 2011.

December 2011
The Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany, uses three LichtJahre images in their 2020 VISION strategic plan that formulates the scientific goals and challenges that guide their future research.

November 2011
Uploaded the long awaited astronomy image of Mt. Blanc at Lac de Chesery in the New Releases section.
This image was on my mind for 5 years - and finally came true this year:
New moon, fresh snow on the peaks, clear starry sky with few mid-level clouds and calm winds allowing for a perfect reflection.

October 2011
Indian Summer Alpine Tour 2011 to Switzerland, including Bernina (Val Rosegg and Val Morteratsch), Aletsch glacier and Rhone Glacier.

August 2011
First brand new images of the two weeks Alpine Tour with images from Matterhorn and Mt. Blanc are available under Portfolio, New Releases.
My thanks go out to Dr. Frank Paul for "inspiring cheese" and to the fabulous team of the Refuge du Lac Blanc. Without their enthusiastic support some of the new images would not have come true. Merci!

June 2011
30 out of 32 LightYears images were accepted in 8 categories at the international Trierenberg Super Circuit 2011 photography competition. Three out of these images were awarded with the PSA-Gold Medal Best of Show in the category landscape, the Gold Medal of Excellence and the VÖAV Bronze Medal within Salon 3.



These LightYears images will be part of the Trierenberg Super Circuit book which will be published within the next months. The book displays the world's top photography in 2011 featuring more than 1000 images from a broad variety of categories.

May 2011
Book release: 44 selected highlights of the LichtJahre photography are now available as a coffee table book!
All information can be found on the book page
Please note that the book is currently available in German language only. The English version will be available soon.

April 2011
Three LichtJahre images Lovelier in Black, Evanescence and Crystal Beach won the international nature photo contest Glanzlichter 2011 out of 15.000 submissions from 33 countries.



These three images are part of the Glanzlichter 2011 book, that can be ordered through the Glanzlichter webpage by 23rd May 2011.

February 2011
First new images of Icelandic landsacpes are available under Portfolio, New Releases.

January 2011
Christian Klepp is back from a very successful Iceland tour with Örvar Þorgeirsson from Arctic Photo.

The ePaper of the VIEW Fotocommunity View Spotlight highlights the LightYears photography in the January 2011 issue with an interview of Christian Klepp including 18 images.



Currently Christian Klepp is on tour in Iceland with Örvar Þorgeirsson from Arctic Photo for new images of Icelandic landscapes under the stars and aurora skies.

November 2010
Three new images from Iceland are online under Portfolio, New Releases.
The favorite setion is updated.
The re-design of the website is finished.

October 2010
Two LightYears images Tradewinds and Costa del Sol are used at the EXPO 2010 in Shanghai, China from 1 May to 31 October 2010. They are part of an info terminal of the Climate Service Center, Germany on frequently asked questions about the climate system. Both images highlight the questions 'Why does climate change' and 'How can we predict how the climate will change' in English and Chinese language.



September 2010
The first photographies of the Iceland 2010 Tour are online.

August 2010
The frontpage features a highlight slideshow.

July 2010
The new web design is finished for the English version of the page.
The design change for the German version will follow shortly.

May 2010
The LightYears image Patterns in the Void is the winner of the European Geosciences Union photo competition in Vienna, Austria.



April 2010
The European Geosciences Union is holding a Geosciences photo competition and exhibit in association with its General Assembly 2010 from 2-7 May 2010 in Vienna, Austria. Eleven earth and space science photographies were pre-selected by a panel of five judges. Each of the approximately 9000 conference participants is asked to vote for their favorite picture. The LightYears image Patterns in the Void was chosen to be among the displayed photographies.

March 2010
Six panoramic details of the LightYears photographies highlight the Earth System compartments on the new website of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany.



The Earth System components represented are Atmosphere, Land, Ocean, Cryosphere, Volcanoes and their interaction.



The Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPI-M) is an internationally renowned institute for climate research. Its goal is to understand the changing climate of our Earth. The homepage and all three departments "Atmosphere, Land and Ocean in the Earth System" display LightYears header images.

February 2010
All images of the Northwest USA 2008 Tour are now part of the galleries Cascade Range and Rocky Mountains.
The first two astronomy images of the Cypress 2009 Leonid Shooting Star Tour are online in the New Releases and the Astronomy portfolios.

January 2010
The first images of the Canada 2009 tour are online in the Portfolio New Releases section. The Portfolio sections Favorites and European Alps are also updated.

November 2009
The texts of the main links Biography, Technique, On Tour and Contact are completely revised and updated.

October 2009
35 new photographies of the Switzerland 2007 and Northwest USA 2008 tours are now online in the Portfolio, Latest Releases section. As a new feature, all these images can now be enlarged in a new window to sizes up to 1000 pixel.

January 2009
The first photographies of the last tour are online in the Portfolio, Latest Releases section. This includes the astronomical landscapes using the Astro Trac TT320.
I wish all visitors of this website a Happy New Year.

July 2008
The completely revised and updated version is online



This includes a design change, a complete English and German version and additional images.
A total of 155 images are now online.
Christian Klepp is currently on tour again for five weeks in the northwestern USA. In september new images of this tour will follow from Olympic, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Hood, Columbia River Gorge, North Cascades, Grand Teton, Yellowstone and Waterton Glacier. This will also include astronomy landscapes using the new digital Astrotracker.

May 2007
150 photographies online

Now all 10 galleries have been finished resulting in a total of 150 images online.

English texts of the link sites uploaded

The translation of all link texts into English is completed. The translations of all 145 gallery image texts to English is currently under construction.

New texts of all gallery images uploaded

The completely revised geo-scientific texts including background information on all 145 images on 10 gallery pages are finished. As a next step a new design of the gallery pages is planned. The images will be rearranged leading to a continuous storyline. At the moment all gallery texts are still in German language only.

April 2007
10th gallery page opened

Just in time to celebrate the first online year of the LightYears web page the 10th gallery page is opened. It contains all images additionally shown at the planetarium presentation along with the first image of 2007 - the red full moon. Further images from the North America tours of 2005 and 2006 will follow soon.
As a next step the updated and revised geological background information on all 145 images is planned together with a new gallery design. The translation of all texts into English language is under construction.

I would like to thank all those of you who joined the planetarium show. Thank you for numerous positive reactions, emails and ideas after the show.

Presentations

Friday, 23 February 2007, 7:30pm, Presentation at the planetarium Hamburg

The planet is wild

We use to see our planet as a quiet and unchanging place. Occasional volcanic eruptions, earthquakes or tsunamis remind us upon the Earths inner activity. Barely noticed by humans, the planet constantly changes its appearance within geological space of times. Oceans and mountain ranges form and disappear, rivers carve out deep canyons, forest and glaciers alternate through the warm and cold periods of the ice ages. Events that cause marks - marks written in stones - that geologists can read like within a book. The meteorologist and geologist / paleontologist Dr. Christian Klepp shows and tells stories from Earths wild geologic history through nature photography from the most remarkable and beautiful places of our planet.

€ 7,50 Admittance
€ 4,50 Reduced admittance

More information and reservations: Planetarium Hamburg; Germany or info@lichtjahre.eu

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