I have always wanted to take a flight around the East Frisian islands to enjoy the view from above. Quite spontaneously on my last trip I had the great opportunity to do so. Join me for some great views of these amazing islands from above!
The East Frisian islands (Ostfriesische Inseln) are a chain of islands in the North Sea off the coast of East Frisia in Lower Saxony. People tend to be surprised when I tell them I am going to an island in Germany, in fact there are islands dotted all over the North Sea coast. The East Frisian islands are very close to the border with the Netherlands. They extend for about 90 kilometres and the area between the islands and the mainland contain extensive mudflats that form part of the Wadden Sea. Some of the islands are car-free, which is the case of Langeoog, where I took the flight from. More on the geological background of these islands and the broader set of islands in the North Sea here.
A map of the East Frisian islands (clickable to zoom in and out)
As I have been many times to Langeoog, I have taken all kinds of cameras up with me, however this time for some reason I didn’t bring any camera at all. As the flight was a completely spontaneous move, I realised I only had my iPhone on me (which was fine for some quick snaps to share) but I really wanted to shots taken on film. Luckily as Langeoog is a tourist island, there were plenty of Kodak throwaway cameras in the local drugstore. I actually thought perfect this will be like the old days, and it also meant I wouldn’t get too stressed with managing different lenses from my other cameras.
Don’t knock the standard Kodak throwaway camera, it actually takes some decent shots!
The shots
I don’t have a huge amount of commentary from each shot (“oh look there is another one taken from the air”), however I will say I was pleasantly surprised with how well they came out. I think the film in the Kodak camera is ISO 800 with auto focus. I did get my fat fingers in the viewfinder a few times, which made me laugh because I used to do that all the time as a kid. Where the camera fails, understandably, is in scenes with high contrast (some with the inside of the cockpit against the bright outside), I suppose it doesn’t have the world’s most advanced meter in it.
Some shots of the airport - I was surprised by how many airplanes there were, as usually there are only a handful. I think with the good weather lots of people island hop - that’s the life!
We took a flight from Langeoog around it and along its 16km long beach, past Spiekeroog and then on Wangerooge, turning back again past Langeoog and onto Baltrum and seeing Nordeney in the distance.
Any local reading this post will know which island is which!
Overall observations
The best camera is the one you have with you, we have all heard that saying. I would add to it and say, if all else fails, buy a throwaway camera. I find something really cool about not seeing photos in the moment and then receiving the scans a few days/weeks later and re-living the moment. I am also really surprised and impressed as to how “decent” the shots are given it is a standard throwaway camera.
It was really special to have this bird’s eye view of the East Frisian islands and enjoy a chat along the way about the different islands and some of their peculiarities. Things are really quite different from above and you see everything from a different perspective. I was also quite struck by how many big cargo ships there were (you can’t really see them in the shots) queuing and waiting in the North Sea to get access to Bremen port (supply chain issues and all that).
So in summary, it was a fantastic experience and I would recommend it to everyone, who knew Germany had such nice islands!
A big thanks to Gert for the great flying skills and excellent rolling commentary - this is an experience I won’t forget in a long time!
