Houses with a view
November 1, 2007 10:31 AM Subscribe
Photo gallery of houses in some pretty spectacular places. Some of these might be photoshopped (or not-- who knows...) but they're still pretty amazing to look at.
Apparently from a German calendar.
Apparently from a German calendar.
Good luck getting telephone service! NO THANKS!
Me? Jealous??
posted by DU at 10:56 AM on November 1, 2007
Me? Jealous??
posted by DU at 10:56 AM on November 1, 2007
I'm in love with the farm house that's built halfway up that gigantic Icelandic volcanic half-pipe!
posted by crystal.castles at 11:01 AM on November 1, 2007
posted by crystal.castles at 11:01 AM on November 1, 2007
The Brittany Coast one doesn't look 'shopped, just doctored the old fashioned way. I'll be damned if that isn't a dollhouse resting on a rock. Still, I'd be ecstatic to inherit any of these. Even Especially the Ewok one.
posted by Terminal Verbosity at 11:08 AM on November 1, 2007
posted by Terminal Verbosity at 11:08 AM on November 1, 2007
Holy frijoles! I'm fairly certain I was just here a few months ago. If I'm correct, its on an island in a fjord just outside of Hyen, Norway.
The amazing thing is that there were houses in incredible locations all over the Western fjords - including some farmhouse built high up on the sides of fjords, with no apparent means of access other than a rope ladder. On one ferry, we were told that the residents of these houses kept their young children on (long) rope leashes in order to prevent them from falling over the edge...
posted by googly at 11:09 AM on November 1, 2007
The amazing thing is that there were houses in incredible locations all over the Western fjords - including some farmhouse built high up on the sides of fjords, with no apparent means of access other than a rope ladder. On one ferry, we were told that the residents of these houses kept their young children on (long) rope leashes in order to prevent them from falling over the edge...
posted by googly at 11:09 AM on November 1, 2007
If you look real close, you can see them putting up the Life Day decorations.
posted by sourwookie at 11:09 AM on November 1, 2007
posted by sourwookie at 11:09 AM on November 1, 2007
The people of New Guinea Korowai to live in tree houses for protection against controversial neighbors !!!
posted by hortense at 11:12 AM on November 1, 2007
posted by hortense at 11:12 AM on November 1, 2007
controversial neighbors
dios AND Blazecock Pileon both live there, so you can understand why people might feel the need to take to the trees from time to time.
posted by dersins at 11:19 AM on November 1, 2007
dios AND Blazecock Pileon both live there, so you can understand why people might feel the need to take to the trees from time to time.
posted by dersins at 11:19 AM on November 1, 2007
I so hope that the island one is real. Because I want to live in a world where someone looked at a little postage stamp sized patch of rock in the middle of a lake and said "That's a perfect spot for a house!"
That, to me, is the very definition ofinsanity awesome.
posted by quin at 11:27 AM on November 1, 2007 [1 favorite]
That, to me, is the very definition of
posted by quin at 11:27 AM on November 1, 2007 [1 favorite]
I think the second one (next to the sandstone) is a model. It doesn't look lifesize to me.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 11:28 AM on November 1, 2007
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 11:28 AM on November 1, 2007
Quin - At the start of October I spent some time on a houseboat, on a series of lakes up in Ontario, Canada. We saw several houses like that, and some on even smaller islands - looking like a strong wind might tip them into the water. They were absolutely awesome.
posted by routergirl at 11:45 AM on November 1, 2007
posted by routergirl at 11:45 AM on November 1, 2007
Those kinds of places look really cool -- on sunny days, in summer. But I suspect they're pretty miserable places to live in the winter.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 12:02 PM on November 1, 2007
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 12:02 PM on November 1, 2007
These remind me of Inishbofin, a wee little island off the coast of Ireland. It's got a population of two hundred people these days, and I hear they're feeling crowded.
posted by laughinglikemad at 12:27 PM on November 1, 2007
posted by laughinglikemad at 12:27 PM on November 1, 2007
I so hope that the island one is real.
Looks like it was built on the high end of a peninsula then the lake level rose. What do I know though?
posted by puke & cry at 12:43 PM on November 1, 2007
Looks like it was built on the high end of a peninsula then the lake level rose. What do I know though?
posted by puke & cry at 12:43 PM on November 1, 2007
Those kinds of places look really cool -- on sunny days, in summer. But I suspect they're pretty miserable places to live in the winter.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 12:02 PM on November 1
All of these make for dramatic photos, for sure. But thats different than a pleasant or even dramatic place to live.
A friend of mine once visited one of the guys who runs one of the biggest sugar plantations in Hawaii. He and his family live in a house deep in a jungle, only accessible by private helicopter...
posted by vacapinta at 1:33 PM on November 1, 2007
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 12:02 PM on November 1
All of these make for dramatic photos, for sure. But thats different than a pleasant or even dramatic place to live.
A friend of mine once visited one of the guys who runs one of the biggest sugar plantations in Hawaii. He and his family live in a house deep in a jungle, only accessible by private helicopter...
posted by vacapinta at 1:33 PM on November 1, 2007
I'll freely cop to being enough of an idiot that when I quickly skimmed over this post, saw "horses in some pretty spectacular places," clicked the last link and then spent a good minute trying to find the horse in this photo.
Where, you know, there's pretty clearly no horses. At least that I can see.
posted by nevercalm at 1:34 PM on November 1, 2007
Where, you know, there's pretty clearly no horses. At least that I can see.
posted by nevercalm at 1:34 PM on November 1, 2007
We've got a house in a strange location in Newport, Rhode Island. This is Clingstone, aka "The House on the Rocks."
You can't tell from the satellite photo, but it's three stories tall.
It's always struck me as a bit odd.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 1:55 PM on November 1, 2007
You can't tell from the satellite photo, but it's three stories tall.
It's always struck me as a bit odd.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 1:55 PM on November 1, 2007
I think they forgot to translate Eine einsam gelegene Alm in den Savoyer Bergen – wahrend des Sommers Weideland fur Schafe.
posted by hodyoaten at 2:54 PM on November 1, 2007
posted by hodyoaten at 2:54 PM on November 1, 2007
Machine-translated captions?
Man, my thoughts exactly:
The people of New Guinea Korowai to live in tree houses for protection against controversial neighbors
posted by ORthey at 2:54 PM on November 1, 2007
Man, my thoughts exactly:
The people of New Guinea Korowai to live in tree houses for protection against controversial neighbors
posted by ORthey at 2:54 PM on November 1, 2007
The Brittany photo doesn't look to me like a model sitting on a rock--it actually looks like a house sitting waaaaaay beyond the rock, and the photo's been cleverly framed in such a way as to make it seem otherwise. Similar to how people visit Washington DC and take photos pretending they're holding the Washington Monument.
posted by LionIndex at 3:25 PM on November 1, 2007
posted by LionIndex at 3:25 PM on November 1, 2007
@vacapinta: Most of them seem more like "Views with a house" vs "Houses with a view."
posted by howling fantods at 3:43 PM on November 1, 2007
posted by howling fantods at 3:43 PM on November 1, 2007
They look staged, but I'm pretty sure the island one at least is real. It looks right for a summer cottage in Norway to me. Where I'm from in northern Sweden, summer houses on islands in the archipelago (like the lighthouse-turned-hostel at Högbonden) are fairly common, even on small islets.
posted by gemmy at 4:22 PM on November 1, 2007
posted by gemmy at 4:22 PM on November 1, 2007
Remeber how when you were a kid you would lie down and roll down a hill? That volcanic one would be soooooo cool!
posted by haikuku at 4:32 PM on November 1, 2007
posted by haikuku at 4:32 PM on November 1, 2007
Actually, the Iceland one looks the only unlikely one to me.
Even if you could get all the stuff out there into that rock (unless the other side is much more accessible, halfway up that slope seems a dumb and unnecessarily difficult place to build a house. Surely, unless there was a sound reason not to, you'd build it on the flat. There is surely no increase in usability of land from having it there (as it is purported to be a farmhouse), and the view wouldn't be much better for being 20ft further up.
/shrugs
All the rest look perfectly real to me, although seconding the optical illusion of the red stone one. It was only when I saw people discussing it that I thought other than 'clever photo to position the house like that in the shot'.
posted by Brockles at 4:50 PM on November 1, 2007
Even if you could get all the stuff out there into that rock (unless the other side is much more accessible, halfway up that slope seems a dumb and unnecessarily difficult place to build a house. Surely, unless there was a sound reason not to, you'd build it on the flat. There is surely no increase in usability of land from having it there (as it is purported to be a farmhouse), and the view wouldn't be much better for being 20ft further up.
/shrugs
All the rest look perfectly real to me, although seconding the optical illusion of the red stone one. It was only when I saw people discussing it that I thought other than 'clever photo to position the house like that in the shot'.
posted by Brockles at 4:50 PM on November 1, 2007
Also, I think that some of them look slightly unreal purely from a heavy HDR-hand than from anything else.
/hates HDR
posted by Brockles at 4:51 PM on November 1, 2007
/hates HDR
posted by Brockles at 4:51 PM on November 1, 2007
Remeber how when you were a kid you would lie down and roll down a hill? That volcanic one would be soooooo cool!
Don't you mean:
"would be soooo cooooooooooaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAwww!"
posted by CrazyLemonade at 5:02 PM on November 1, 2007
Don't you mean:
"would be soooo cooooooooooaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAwww!"
posted by CrazyLemonade at 5:02 PM on November 1, 2007
Brockles, I think if the Iceland one were 20 feet further up, it would be over hard rock and it would have taken dynamite to create a foundation. I bet the actual location is right at the edge of the usable soil.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 5:36 PM on November 1, 2007
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 5:36 PM on November 1, 2007
Steven: Am I reading that wrong, or did you misinterpret me?
I think the house should be 20 feet further down. Covering the usable soil is hardly an issue, as the land is grass - so presumably a farm with grazing animals.
It just doesn't make a lot of sense to me with its placement.
posted by Brockles at 6:10 PM on November 1, 2007
I think the house should be 20 feet further down. Covering the usable soil is hardly an issue, as the land is grass - so presumably a farm with grazing animals.
It just doesn't make a lot of sense to me with its placement.
posted by Brockles at 6:10 PM on November 1, 2007
There appears to be a road leading off to the right, so it's surely just built at roughly the same height as the land that's out of shot.
posted by cillit bang at 6:34 PM on November 1, 2007
posted by cillit bang at 6:34 PM on November 1, 2007
Right. Going back to the original calendar the German captions names the location as the Westmänner-Inseln. Googling that turns up this photo gallery, and the house is clearly visible in the 8th picture. The island is named as Elliðaey, an aerial photo of which is here. The ice cap behind both photos can only be the Icelandic mainland, so we must be looking roughly north, I think northeast, making the house the dot at the north end of the island.
posted by cillit bang at 7:21 PM on November 1, 2007 [2 favorites]
posted by cillit bang at 7:21 PM on November 1, 2007 [2 favorites]
/applauds googling skills.
Well. I'm convinced. Nice work. Any more that seem unlikely that we should prove or otherwise?
posted by Brockles at 7:43 PM on November 1, 2007
Well. I'm convinced. Nice work. Any more that seem unlikely that we should prove or otherwise?
posted by Brockles at 7:43 PM on November 1, 2007
And here's a normal photo of the house in Brittany.
posted by cillit bang at 7:43 PM on November 1, 2007
posted by cillit bang at 7:43 PM on November 1, 2007
Also, I think that some of them look slightly unreal purely from a heavy HDR-hand than from anything else.
Well, this one could be HDR, but then again, it could also be a really strong rotating neutral-density filter like this one placed off-angle. You can do that with Coken filters, as well as vertically adjust the horizon.
Is it better that it's done on the camera body instead of Photoshop? Well, technically yes, but not just because the computer is inherently evil.
This post reminds me of this house on Monhegan Island in Maine. You can barely see it, but that's "downtown" Monhegan where the lobstermen set out every morning, and the island on the other side of the inlet has a solitary house on it (near the top of this photo looking the other direction). It used to house a recluse. Now I think the Coast Guard takes care of it.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:35 AM on November 2, 2007
Well, this one could be HDR, but then again, it could also be a really strong rotating neutral-density filter like this one placed off-angle. You can do that with Coken filters, as well as vertically adjust the horizon.
Is it better that it's done on the camera body instead of Photoshop? Well, technically yes, but not just because the computer is inherently evil.
This post reminds me of this house on Monhegan Island in Maine. You can barely see it, but that's "downtown" Monhegan where the lobstermen set out every morning, and the island on the other side of the inlet has a solitary house on it (near the top of this photo looking the other direction). It used to house a recluse. Now I think the Coast Guard takes care of it.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:35 AM on November 2, 2007
I remember hiking around the Colossal Cave in Tuscon, AZ and saw in the distance what appeared to be a castle on top of a hill... (not really a good pic in that link...but from where its located the view would be amazing)
I decided not to climb up to it however, it looked like a silly place...
posted by samsara at 8:46 AM on November 2, 2007
I decided not to climb up to it however, it looked like a silly place...
posted by samsara at 8:46 AM on November 2, 2007
The impossibly still lake looks like a semi-long exposure, and most everything else appears to be just golden hour slightly-over-saturated stuff. Nothing really jumps out as multi-exposure HDR.
posted by Potsy at 3:22 PM on November 2, 2007
posted by Potsy at 3:22 PM on November 2, 2007
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posted by dersins at 10:40 AM on November 1, 2007