0502 - storm

storm - sony nex 7 | sel35 f1.8 | f11.0 | ISO100 | 1/8

i always wanted to compose and process a copper engraving like image of our wonderful lake, the bodensee. today the time had come. there was really strong wind, gusting over 30km/h. so on the one hand all the soft components of an image were supposed to be definitely blurred when captured with a longer exposure time, on the other hand the alps were clearly visible on the horizon because of the consistent west wind. and finally due to the built-in stabiliser of the sel 35 i was able to work without a tripod in the course of a short stop at the lakeside.

0412 - shady side

sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f4.0 | ISO100 | 1/640

in times of passages from one season to the other the forces of both usually fight very hard against each other. thereby the opponents conduct war by every trick in the book - providing cover is only one of the applied methods.

cu, trshptr

2609 - modern porto antico di genova

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f4.0 | ISO400 | 1/160 | lightroom 4.1

genoa is the biggest city in the region of liguria - thereby a must-visit - and one that is exceedingly proud of its harbour. as you can see in today's pic genoa is because of its location at the bottom of the apennine mountains almost exclusively facing its historical porto antico di genova and the mediterranean sea.

besides its historical importance the harbour of genoa is one of the biggest concerning its container handling in the whole mediterranean ocean. apparently their expansion isn't completed yet - today we saw different places inside the container harbour where new spaces for probably more containers are built by reclaiming land. the harbour gained its importance especially because of the wide northern hinterland of liguria that involves the industry areas from milan and turin and even comes down to the switzerland.

despite the very industrial character of the harbour (and the whole city, too) a bit of chic and vain has found its way into the old capital of liguria. the modern influence in the yacht harbour really fits to the antico porto di genova and the beautiful townscape of this costal city.

cu, trshptr

2509 - shutter island

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f5.6 | ISO100 | 1/640 | lightroom 4.1

sometimes in life you determine similarities between real life and stories that only exist in your mind. these can be stories from books, movies or also your own, personal dreams. today we've acted in a movie, of course a very great one.

besides the central, main cinque terre there are also villages and places in the region of liguria that are worth the journey and visit. today we had a look at porto venere, a very beautiful little town directly next to la spezia. additionally we had a long walk on the offshore isola palmaria, one of three islands next to porto venere, that seem to be reincarnations of the shutter island, a prison island (and identically named terrific film with leo do caprio) from hollywood.

there were different hints why shutter island is a suitable comparison to the isola palmaria: we heard some very loud gunshots today, walked along a few old massive bunker, saw many very old power lines, that have their origin in different fenced off areas, the abandoned island is characterised by high coast and of course there is a lighthouse. in the night it could have been really frightening staying on this island, but fortunately we visited the wonderful island at daytime.

funnily we were heaving a sigh of relief when we finally spotted the church san pietro of porto venere on the opposite mainland where the taxi boat dropped us off another hour later.

cu, trshptr

2409 - surreality

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f5.6 | ISO100 | 1/250 | lightroom 4.1

so this is the cinque terre, the world famous cinque terre? in advance tina and i had thought about visiting the well known villages monterosso, vernazza, corniglia, manarola and riomaggiore for a very long time. should we do it or should we steer clear of this overcrowded world cultural heritage?

summarising i can tell you that the view on these villages, especially from the upper paths, are simply stunning. surely anywhere in italy or the rest of the europe there are villages, paths and landscapes like the one you can find in the region of cinque terre, too. probably you don't have to search for a long time, in the north in the so called little cinque terre from moneglia to levanto or in the south in portofino you might find (maybe a bit more authentic) wonderful places and postcard sceneries, too.

the most important fact when you visit the cinque terre is to know what you are letting yourself in for. in off-season many, in season times a great many people will want to walk the same way with you. all prices (accommodation; food; parking; local traffic; the path itself, that is partly charged) are overpriced, the journey there is complicated, the paths besides the mainstream ones are not really good signposted.

however the other side of the coin is definitely existing. the locals are pleasant, the architecture is great and the paths are simply terrific, especially the difficult ones. maybe all the negative and typically touristic points are something that you simply have to take in if you want to see a world famous monument like the cinque terre (or the empire state building, the great wall of china or the pyramids).

maybe cinque terre isn't reality, but anyway a really funny peculiarity is located in manarola, my favourite of cinque terre: there is definitely the most beautiful roof terrace of the world.

cu, trshptr

0307 - sea level from above

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f8.0 | ISO100 | 1/800 | lightroom 4.1

before we leave the algarve towards lisbon besides surfing a bit of landscape exploration had to be done, too. after we visited the north of portugal with the regions around porto, aveiro, figueira da foz and peniche whilst the second of our last year's surf trips with their long and flat beaches for this year we expected a rocky and mountainous shore and more clayey soil.

and we weren't disappointed by the south of portugal: along the seaside we were walking for round about three hours from porto de mos to dona ana. it was a constant up and down with the view of beautiful postcard pictures.

despite everything i was especially taken with the special angle of the view on the things on the sea level. it was a bit like flying over the shore and observing the activities from this special position.

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 

0606 - bastion of calm

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 18mm | f8.0 | ISO100 | 1/80 | lightroom 4

during the last night (almost without sleep) i have decided to use the nex free time for publishing a multi-day sardinia series on the basis of my pics from april 2012 to keep the blog alive. the wonderful island really deserves this honor, i'd definitely entrust a sardinia trip especially in spring to everybody who is interested in elemental nature.

the first pic of the series shows the famous capo caccia at the west coast of sardinia. the building in the upper right corner of my image lies 110m above the sea level at the edge of the cliffs. when the waters are calm you can visit the neptune's grotto at the foot of the cliffs.

the cliffs seem to be solid as a rock. but in a margin of several ten thousand years even the rock isn't more than a blink of the eye.

cu, trshptr

btw: the photographs of this series will not be published at flickr because i'll have to pre-plan the postings because of a business trip next week.

2104 - nothing but energy

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 28mm | f8.0 | ISO200 | 1/800 | aperture priority | raw files cropped, aligned and processed in lightroom 4 

i'm back from my holiday trip to sardinia, italy. what a great island! sincere persons, delicious food, beautiful mountain villages and not least an impressive shore. the picture above was shot on last saturday at a beach south of bosa.