I'm a collector from a small village in the area "Bergisches Land" in Germany.
There are hundreds of old and mostly forgotten mines in this area, so I've enough to do here ;-)
Sometimes I also collect in the "Siegerland" and the "Sauerland" nearby.
As an active racing cyclist I sometimes cycle up to 75 km to an old dump in the Siegerland, collect some hours minerals and cycle back with a (sometimes) full rucksack. If I find nothing, it doesn't matter, because I always can enjoy the beautiful landscape. That's enough for a good day !
Collecting with friends in Austria (Schwaz-Brixlegg, Leogang, ...) and Greece (Laurion) is always great.

My aim is to show the beautiful forms and colors of the minerals I've found anywhere.
So my hobby is also the digital mineral photography. Sometimes I spend a few hours to make one good photo. Most photos I make on a ZEISS Stemi 2000 C microscope with a CANON EOS 350,450 or 550 D camera. Some small and beautiful crystals I photograph with a ZEISS luminar objective 25 mm or 40 mm on a bellow to get a more sharp photo.
Here on mindat I show you some selected photos.
All photos you can see at my homepage: http://mineralien.bplaced.de

I hope you will enjoy my pictures. And when you plan a collecting trip to the "Bergische Land" and you need a guide or some informations, please feel free to contact me.

Glück Auf !

Michael