2112 - recreation

sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | f2.8 | ISO1600 | 1/25

could there be any better ways to start filthy weather vacations than with an extensive fitness and spa session? not for me.

after i had locked more or less all the doors at work late in the afternoon, tina picked me up while heading to our fitness studio in meersburg. the rest of the evening was pure recreation. although the interior of the attached spa is at least from the 90's and the whole facility is quite small, the key factors are definitely right - the spa is clean, tidy and there is everything you need for having a pleasant time.

1810 - anticyclic acting

setup: sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8 f2.8 fisheye | 8mm | f8.0 | ISO100 | 3.2s | cornerfix & lightroom 4.2

anticyclic acting is a way to escape from the daily routine.

after i hadn't managed to be the first on the roads yesterday, my today's alarm rang already at half past six in the morning. with an eye to the great weather forecast for today and hopefully a great sunrise at the lakeside i ate my breakfast in less than 15 minutes and left home still in complete darkness. equipped with my ultra bright led headlamp and red blinking lights on the back pack i started my journey into the dark.

having the knowledge of being the sole human in a dark forest and withal riding a bicycle with a visibility range of not more than 20 metres is a very special experience. i spotted the sparkling, sometimes white, sometimes yellow incandescent eyes of the forest animals a few times through the undergrowth of the woods. at last i felt like a real man again.

getting up early paid off today.

cu, trshptr

0310 - siesta

setup: sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8 f2.8 fisheye | 8mm | f4.0 | ISO400 | 1/13 | cornerfix & lightroom 4.1

how can one optimally celebrate the german day of unity? maybe you should try to relax as much as possible remembering the few memories you still have. in this way tina has spent her afternoon, however after biking almost two hours around our local hill gehrenberg.

having a siesta is definitely one of her favourite activities on days off duty. she loves to snuggle down in the comfortable african blanket on our old, threadbare couch, that had been baddish scratched by our kitties already during our time in hamburg.

our proper contribution to today's public holiday was an east german charcoal-grill barbecue on west german soil in the evening. this is real understanding among nations.

cu, trshptr

2808 - the white pantheresses

setup: sony nex 7 with fujian 35 f1.7 | 35mm | f1.8 | manual focus | ISO100 | 1/640 | lightroom 4.1

in life some things make a very good match: black and white, maybe chalk and cheese and definitely tina and kitties. my gracious lady is deep in love with cats since her early youth. an old black cat was living in the yard of her grandma and accompanied tina and her friends to the bus station every morning and waited for them there every afternoon to pick the kids up after school. since with zizou the first living ball of wool has moved in with us, tina is finally and completely contagioned with the kitty virus. although zizou had to be moved from our place to tina's grandma - i've already told you about the problems between her and nila - the number of cats in our yard has still risen. luckily our neighbours brought two more, very beautiful, white kitties with them to the joint yard.

from that perspective tina is currently very happy to live on our little farm. by pure chance paulinchen, the white pantheress, was recently bursting in on a little shooting in the yard and suddenly we had newly allocated the leading role of the planned image. now we have two white pantheresses that are like chalk and cheese... 

cu, trshptr

2208 - asleep in the woods

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f4.0 | ISO250 | 1/60 | -0.3ev | lightroom 4.1

forests calm me. always when i go into the woods i sense a mystical atmosphere. this mood is somewhat similar to the atmosphere in the mountains or at the sea: a huge, balancing and compensational power enchants and encases you. no matter what you have in mind - you will not carry weight with the forces of nature.

today in the evening i went back to a pond i'd spotted yesterday on my way home from a swimming round in the lake. the colour green dominated the whole scenery. what a nice single-coloured, natural subject.

cu, trshptr

1007 - in the pouring rain

setup: sony nex 7 with fujian 35 f1.7 | 35mm | f1.8 | manual focus | ISO100 | 1/500 | lightroom 4.1

as i'd mentioned before special moods pleases me no end. when i came home from work today it had already rained for round about half an hour. a nice photography opportunity occurred: the stones in our backyard were wet, scattered light illuminated the yard and fortunately tina was willing to be my model that had to pose in the rain.

finally i'd realised that a planed photoshoot is a very difficult thing - you have to take care of so many little details that despite good expressions of my object more than the half of my images had at least one disturbing fault. however a dozen of pictures turned out well so that tina and also i are satisfied with the result and do not have to complain anymore.

the shown pic is the most natural one. maybe i'm going to show you more of the series later.

cu, trshptr

2106 - oasis of carelessness

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f8.0 | ISO320 | 1/80 | +0,7ev | lightroom 4.1



setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f8.0 | ISO1600 | 1/60 | lightroom 4.1

the 100th post. wow, amazing, how the time goes by. as intended i learn day by day and have a lot of fun while using the sony. my current three lenses have established in the usage with the nex: most of the time the sigma 30f2.8 is mounted, for special uses i have the sel 50f1.8 and if technical picture quality doesn't matter the fujian 35f1.7 is my first choice, especially for dreamy portraits.

today was the date of departure, what means that we had to leave our oasis of carelessness and relaxation in the alps and return to real life. if you had a view from the terrace of your cottage as shown in the two photos of this posting, you would possibly think twice about your impending departure.

but of course you don't want to leave your lovely waiting.

cu, trshptr

1406 - municipio

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 25mm | f5.6 | ISO100 | 1/500 | lightroom 4

a typical central square in an italian town. you can get an idea of the peculiarities that these places implicate!

what is sure is that you do not have to bother about your safety - one of the many roosting men would rescue you from any dangers. hopefully.

cu, trshptr

1306 - relation

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 55mm | f5.6 | ISO100 | 1/500 | lightroom 4

i don't know if you are informed of the special history of alghero - it is the only city in sardinia where catalan is spoken. this fact concerns with the circumstance that alghero was conquered by the catalans in 1354 and colonists from barcelona populated the city after the conquest.

even today alghero is called little barcelona, barceloneta or la picolla barcelona what is due to the similarities in their townscapes.

cu, trshptr 

1006 - save port

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 55mm | f8.0 | ISO100 | 1/500 | lightroom 4

the port of villasimius radiated calm and rest. only a few anglers were engaged. the few boats were harboured. while the sun was setting, tina and i observed the tugboat that was reflecting the sun. favourite place!

cu, trshptr