Exploring the abandoned Castle Pottendorf, Lower Austria

iPhone Photography

Aug 9

A few weeks ago, I strolled through the castle gardens in Pottendorf, a village near Vienna. During that walk, I got a beautiful photo of the decaying castle Pottendorf, and I wrote a blog post about the iPhone photo workflow I used to compose, shoot and edit this photo

Last week I was able to obtain a photo permit to photograph inside the decayed castle. Hooray! So I packed my Gonex packable backpack for a one day trip to Pottendorf to photograph this decaying beauty. For this photo trip, I packed the Rollei Traveller Tripod that I bought last year and, as always when I explore a lost place, my Olight S30R flashlight.

Like all castles I've been to so far, the castle was built and first mentioned during the 12th century. Throughout the centuries, the castle was extended a few times and last owned by the noble Esterhazy family.

During The 2nd World War, the castle was a sick bay for the German Luftwaffe. As of 1945, the castle began to decay.

Until 2006, the park ragged and was therefore closed to the public. Then, the municipality Pottendorf purchased the park and the castle and revitalized the park. Still, the castle remains inaccessible to the public - but allegedly, that should change next year.

So I was thrilled that I was able to obtain a photo permit for the castle.

Follow me through the castle

When you approach the main gate of the castle, you'll see how rotten it is. The roof is missing, trees are growing out of the windows, and the facade is peeling off. You can also see the crest of the Esterhazy Family, who owned the castle for several centuries.

The castle yard doesn't look much butter. I love the trees that are growing out of the windows and on the upper floor.

So, let's go up to the first floor. And here's one tip for all you urban explorers: Stairs + sand means slippery, and danger. So when you take such stairs, swipe the sand away with your shoes.

You'll get to enjoy a fantastic view of the castle yard and one of the two towers from the first floor.

One of the two towers of Castle Pottendorf

And this is how it looks like in almost each room - if the room is still there— lots of debris.

Finally, I made it to the top of the castle, the third floor, where all the trees are growing on the soil that the wind blew into the castle during the past 70 years.

On my way down, I encountered a minor obstacle. The forces of nature have taken the floor and the stairs. So no possibility to use this route to go down again

How I photographed with iPhone inside Castle Pottendorf

As mentioned above, I used my Rollei Traveller Tripod that I bought last year to take the majority of the above photos. As there were a few places in the castle that were a bit dark, I used ProCamera App, on of my recommended iPhone camera apps, set to semi-automatic mode.

I chose semi-automatic mode to manually set the ISO to as low as possible and let ProCamera select the perfect exposure time. This way, I was able to avoid noise in the darker areas of the castle.

During the trip back home on the train, I had all photos sorted, deleted, and edited without a notebook. That's one of the reasons why I love iPhone Photography.