pool position

March 26, 2013 in 35, architecture, b+w, berlin, blur, building, contrast, darkness, facility, germany, grain, historic, light, monument, movement, nex 7, night, people, sel, shadow, sony, street, townscape, trip, urban, wall, window, winter, door, symmetry

this is the kadewe, das kaufhaus des westens. it's one of berlin's symbols of prosperity and wealth. the store, that was firstly opened in 1907, passed through all the different periods of germany's diverse 20th century.

for the moment this will be the last but one posting about berlin: last but not least i'm currently working on a series about berlin's underground stations, that will be published in the near future.

nocturnal activity

March 22, 2013 in 35, architecture, art, atmosphere, b+w, backlight, berlin, blur, bokeh, bridge, building, contrast, corridor, darkness, facility, germany, grain, light, monument, mood, nex 7, night, pattern, river, sel, shadow, sky, snow, sony, street, townscape, trip, urban, window, winter

betham city - sony nex 7 | sel35 f1.8 | f4.0 | ISO1600 | 1/30 — **betham city** - sony nex 7 | sel35 f1.8 | f4.0 | ISO1600 | 1/30

between nightfall and daybreak, the time when i'm able to spend some hours with all the things that haven't anything to do with any kind of duties, i use the chance to wander about the winterly town and capture these particular moments on sd card.

i can't even begin to tell you how much i love the prospect of the towers at potsdam square in the west of berlin. once again i was reminded of the tremendous gotham city from the batman series.

the museum island of berlin is divided from the rest of the city by the river spree. in the gallery below i like to show you two different views along the river from one of the thirteen bridges across the island. the first one was captured with standard, the second sample with very high iso settings: i tried to obtain a shutter speed that was suitable for freezing the fluttering flakes of white grain.

sleet curtain

March 13, 2013 in 50, architecture, atmosphere, bermatingen, blur, bokeh, brown, building, door, facility, germany, nex 7, pattern, sel, snow, sony, street, townscape, wall, window, winter, wood, rain, timber-frame, countryside, rural

whilst my recent favourite airport frankfurt in the heart of germany is descending into snow and chaos, we will probably get not more than a bit of nasty, wet weather here at lake constance. at least another, highly likely final, opportunity for me to portray the rural appearance of bermatingen's townscape in a winterly atmosphere.

ideal world

March 03, 2013 in 35, architecture, blur, candid, colour, contrast, corridor, darkness, germany, light, nex 7, night, orange, people, sel, shadow, sony, street, townscape, urban, door, building, site, facility

compared to police stations in the centre of a metropolis like berlin the duty officers of idyllic ueberlingen's cop shop may usually spend really smooth hours without larger incidents, even on a friday or saturday night. this may be mainly due to the fact that there is scarcely anybody on the road what on the other hand can be seen as a disadvantage for those who go for busy party districts with a great many people in the street.

btw: once again new images in the galleries...

driving all night

March 02, 2013 in 35, b+w, candid, car, contrast, corridor, darkness, deeper meaning, germany, grain, light, nex 7, night, old photo, sel, shadow, snow, sony, street, winter, truck, blur, action, movement

have you ever thought about the peculiarities of an engagement as a long-distance truck driver? considering the unfavourable boundary conditions i have great respect for this profession. it's not just that the family men are mostly not at home to wake the children in the morning or to put the kids to bed in the evening (like pilots, mariners, soldiers and probably a good many other professionals, too), in return they bring in only very little money. due to the schengen agreement the average wages for truck drivers still decrease since the east european drivers do the same job with less grumble for less money.

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.

0802 - snow streaks

February 09, 2013 in 35, action, blur, car, friedrichshafen, germany, grain, light, light track, movement, nex 7, night, pattern, sel, snow, sony, street, texture, winter

snow streaks - sony nex 7 | sel35 f1.8 | f2.8 | ISO1600 | 1/4

as one might expect particles, light and movement form interesting streaks in the eye of the beholder and of course this circumstance works also in nature.

awhirl - sony nex 7 | sel35 f1.8 | f2.8 | ISO1600 | 1/4

if in the case of a nightly car drive in a snow storm also the background contains a minimum of texture the drawn winter image should be really expressive.

0502 - storm

February 05, 2013 in 35, alps, b+w, blur, germany, grain, grass, immenstaad, lake, lake constance, landscape, nature, nex 7, old photo, sel, shore, sony, stone, water, wave

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.

2201 - surprise

January 22, 2013 in 35, blossom, blur, colour, flare, flower, fujian, germany, home, indoor, leaf, nature, nex 7, partial coloured, pink, plant, purple, retrofocus, sony, winter

surprise - sony nex 7 with fujian 35 f1.7 | f1.8 | ISO125 | 1/60

in search of a minimum of colour in the last days the photographer's last hope is the winter bloom of a few indoor plants, if only during the grey season.

0901 - storm

January 09, 2013 in 35, b+w, blur, contrast, deeper meaning, gangplank, germany, grain, immenstaad, lake, lake constance, landscape, minimalistic, mood, nex 7, reflection, sel, sony, spinning, water

storm - sony nex 7 with sel 35 f1.8 | f16.0 | ISO100 | 1/6

i'm rattled. hard wind is battering me from one side to the other. it's warm and silky wind, but nevertheless it causes movement. i wonder what this wind will bring along and how the landscapes will look like afterwards.