How to Get the Best Photo of Neuschwanstein Castle
Last Updated on August 16, 2022 by Adam Watts
So, you want to know how to get the best photo of Neuschwanstein Castle, do you? You’re in the right place. Maybe. At least I can tell you what I did.
I was lying on my stomach in the snow at the edge of a ridge in a forest, eye squinting through a camera lens. I clicked the shutter, stood up, brushed myself off and looked at the camera display. Nope, that was also terrible.
I dragged my beleaguered better half back down the hill, saying we had to try from a different angle. But this time would be perfect, surely. We trudged back through the snow and along the road, then I crouched and aimed my camera up. A light breeze came. I waited. I held my breath and snapped the shutter. This was a good one, I knew it. Conditions seemed perfect. I’d framed it perfectly, hadn’t I? Excited, I looked down at my camera and…this one was somehow marginally worse. God damn it.
Examining each of the previous attempts, I naturally decided it was not my lack of skill as a photographer that was the problem here. It was an overcast day, so that must explain why some of the photos were cropping out half the castle. But thankfully there was a little patch of blue creeping through the clouds so I demanded we go back up the hill and see if it got bigger.
On the way back up we passed someone with a fancier camera than mine and a tripod who sniffed haughtily as we hiked ahead with my low-end DSLR swaying from my neck.
At a spot further up, we waited and waited and watched the blue. It teased us for so long then a big cloud came and slammed the door in our faces.
Still not deterred, I pointed to a trail that led away from the castle that seemed like it had great views. It was closed because of ice and danger and things that stop sensible people doing insensible things. Praying to Darwin that we’d be ok, we followed the trail a ways. It was snowy but not slippery and we whistled as we walked. Eventually we hit a bridge that was locked and closed and definitely impassable.
“You think we can climb over it?” I asked.
“Yes, of course, let’s climb over this gate that is clearly locked for a reason and pay no heed to warnings that are probably there to prevent us falling to our deaths. Great idea.”
She was being sarcastic, which you can probably tell, but I didn’t figure out until she yanked me back as I was hoisting my leg. “What are you even going to do with the so-called ‘perfect photo’ anyway?”
“Umm, put it on my blog. People need to see it!” I said, as if I was in possession of photos exposing the highest levels of government corruption. “And I need to tell people how to get the best photo of Neuschwanstein Castle, and I can’t do that unless I have the best photo of Neusc–”
“–Just steal some from Instagram, jeez.”
I’m home now, and I’m proud to say that these photos are all mine. Neuschwanstein Castle is magnificent!
For more stories related to big fancy castles/fortresses, check out Buying Tickets to Citadelle Laferrière, Haiti.
