0902 - grain skin

February 09, 2013 in 50, beard, blur, courtyard, eyes, germany, grain, home, mirror, nex 7, night, personal, portrait, reflection, sel, self portrait, snow, sony, window, winter

grain skin - sony nex 7 | sel50 f1.8 | f1.8 | ISO6400 | 1/15

today i finally decided to make the next small (fun-) step in my photographic life - before the production of 35mm film will be completely discontinued anytime, i'm going to have at least one try with analog photography even this spring. therefor i ordered one role ilford delta 3200 Professional (b+w), kodak portra 800 (colour) and fujifilm superia 1600 (colour) each.

why such sensitive films? well, i want to begin (and probably stay) with a ultra-compact fun cam, something like a diana mini or any other lomography camera, since it has to accompany me to music festivals and other chaotic events where the nex usually has no place in. naturally you have to use high iso films if you want to shoot these lomo cams (fixed plastic lens, (almost) fixed, slow f-stop - f8/f11 switch, fixed shutter speed - 1/60) at dusk. although i definitely expect not less than blurred, grainy, absolutely poor exposed results of my coming lomo cam, i'm able to look forward to work with film. expectations can only be belied if they are exaggerated. actually i have only one expectation: with at a max 36 images on a role you have to think long and hard about your composition, which is why i hope to improve my photographic skills further.

with the intention to give high iso film a try sometime, i avoided to apply noise reduction to my self portrait already today. what you see is my grainy face in the double window of our kitchen with the idyllic, nightly yard in winter dress in the background.

1201 - forgotten

January 13, 2013 in 35, brown, carnation, colour, contrast, courtyard, deeper meaning, facility, flower, germany, home, minimalistic, nex 7, pattern, purple, sel, sony, texture, wood

forgotten - sony nex 7 with sel 35 f1.8 | f2.8 | ISO400 | 1/60

unfortunately our great yard community is breaking up currently. a very nice couple has made the beginning with their moving out a few days ago, and highly likely another one will follow in not too distant future.

by the looks of things they left behind one purple carnation... and sadness in our minds that our togetherness has come to an end now. we wish you the best of luck at your new place.

3011 - embedded

December 01, 2012 in 8, branch, courtyard, facility, fisheye, germany, home, house, light, long-time exposure, moon, nex 7, night, personal, sky, sony, tree, walimex samyang rokinon, window, winter

setup: sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8 f2.8 fisheye | 8mm | f4.0 | ISO400 | 30s | cornerfix & lightroom 4.2

although the linden tree in the centre of our courtyard might not be as old as the whole farm itself, it has definitely experienced a lot of the things the buildings had to take.

the huge tree sits enthroned in the middle of the yard and the buildings, gives shades in the summer heat, limns the shadows of itself on the ground in the night, is the home for many birds as well as for two or three squirrels and makes a top-class scratching post for all the kitties on the premises.

in the meantime it is really dear to my heart and just as deeply embedded in my mind as in the soil.

cu, trshptr

2711 - paulinchen, the miner

November 27, 2012 in 30, animal, b+w, candid, cat, courtyard, eyes, fun, germany, hair, home, light, nex 7, nose, portrait, sepia, sigma, sony, whiskers, wood

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f2.8 | ISO800 | 1/60 | lightroom 4.2

usually animals aren't able to talk. they use body language and noises for expression. you'd almost think that they master facial expressions, too.

the wonderful, sweet and cute kitty of our neighbours, paulinchen, seemed to get the needle when we were dressing her as a miner, apposite to the dark season of year. fun doesn't have to cost a lot of money.

cu, trshptr

2710 - plumed visit

October 27, 2012 in 50, animal, bird, bokeh, corn, countryside, courtyard, eating, food, germany, home, nature, nex 7, nuthatch, portrait, sel, sony, window, winter

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f1.8 | ISO200 | 1/160 | lightroom 4.2

tina and i take care of animals in the same way like we respect humans.

this fact finds expression for example in our direct environment: besides our own cat we sometimes look after the kitties and dogs that live in our yard, too. additionally to that tina donates a little sum to an animal welfare organisation.

i for one try to help all the beings in my direct surrounding. for that reason i started to feed the birds in our yard since a few days again. corresponding the first spit of snow fell today and the first soil frost is said to appear in the coming night. i'm pretty sure that the eurasian nuthatch of my today's pic is very pleased with the delicious seeds that we usually serve.

on bad weather days like today the observation of approach and departure of the beautiful european birds is more amusing than watching a movie in the home cinema and a welcome variation to my learning periods.

cu, trshptr

2808 - the white pantheresses

August 28, 2012 in 35, animal, b+w, bokeh, calm, cat, courtyard, eyes, face, fujian, fun, germany, home, mood, nex 7, people, personal, portrait, rain, sony

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

1408 - firefighting operations

August 14, 2012 in 50, action, bbq, contrast, courtyard, dinner, eating, food, germany, grill, hand, handicraft, home, meat, nex 7, personal, sel, sony, tripod, vegetables

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f1.8 | ISO200 | 1/800 | lightroom 4.1

during the last week a very special issue has caused topics for discussions in germany: highly probable germany's biggest poultry company wiesenhof will sponsor the bundesliga football club werder bremen. wiesenhof hit the headlines with information about antibiotics in the animal food, bunions, corroded lungs and absolutely disastrous living conditions for their animals plus killing in childhood.

as a result many club members are threatening werder bremen with their resignation if werder is really going into the contract. in my opinion the current discussion is bringing temporary awareness concerning the products we eat in our daily lives and how they are formed into the light of day again. no more, no less. probably rogue firms like wiesenhof are in the majority. everybody has to decide for himself how he manages the situation. and in a few weeks nobody will talk about this topic anymore.

i for one buy poultry and other meat only at the butcher of trust. if tina had her way we wouldn't eat meat anymore, but for me it's essential. fortunately today i didn't have to be behind the 8-ball: we had rib of beef of very good quality, and anyway the cows are reared completely species-appropriate.

cu, trshptr

3107 - cute nagger

July 31, 2012 in 30, animal, b+w, cat, courtyard, eyes, face, germany, home, moment, nex 7, nila, nose, personal, portrait, reflection, sigma, sony, whiskers, window

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f2.8 | ISO640 | 1/60 | lightroom 4.1

sometimes our little kitty nila creates the impression that she is the most unviable creature on earth.

two minutes after she has left the flat she sits at the window again and mews for me to open it up. two minutes after i have left the yard she sits at the window and mews for me to open it up again. two minutes after she has got separated from me or tina she sits at the window and mews for anybody to open it up again... and so on and so forth.

again and again two minutes in her life, in which she always seems to remember the centre of her doing.

most times our little kitty nila creates the impression that she is the most amiable creature on earth.

cu, trshptr

1007 - in the pouring rain

July 10, 2012 in 35, b+w, bokeh, calm, contrast, countryside, courtyard, eyes, face, fujian, germany, home, mood, nex 7, people, personal, portrait, rain, sony, texture

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

2205 - pour oil into the fire

May 22, 2012 in 30, art, b+w, cloud, contrast, courtyard, decay, fire bowl, germany, jpg, mirror, nex 7, ooc, pattern, reflection, scenery, sigma, sony, still life, water

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f4.0 | ISO100 | 1/400 | high contrast monochrome jpg ooc

my first day with the new equipment.

as expected i'm blown away. the nex 7 is simply incredible. there are so many customisable features that at the moment - after hours of usage - i still haven't completely realised which button triggers which special function.

regarding image quality there is no need of a discussion. 10mp of my borrowed eos vs. 24mp of the nex: forget everything you would expect of a compact camera about details and replace this with more than the twice - nex 7, here we go!

today i have already tested the sigma 30 f2.8 as well as the sony sel 50 f1.8, which is currently mounted to my new device while i'm sitting here next to two chattering ladies in a cozy restaurant in friedrichshafen and writing the draft of my posting on my cell phone. although i have a bunch of nice portraits of the two girls shot with the 50mm wide open resting on my sd card, today's pic is of a rough nature.

the fire bowl of our neighbours filled with a puddle of water, embellished with a little shovel, a little bit garden waste and a reflecting oil film that shows the detailed heavy clouds in the sky - believe me, the scenery wasn't made by me - and my new nex in combination with the sigma in ooc high contrast monochrome mode deserves my recognition.

so there is really no reason to proverbially proud oil into the fire.

cu, trshptr