downgoing passage

March 18, 2013 in 35, architecture, brown, building, ceiling, church, clouds, corridor, facility, germany, landscape, monument, nex 7, orange, sel, sky, sony, timber-frame, townscape, trip, urban, wall, window, wood, historic, castle, esslingen

judged from a convenient point of view the upside of a castle like the one here in esslingen, stuttgart, is its exposed location on the top of a hill - you still have a great view down on the historic district that had to be protected in former times.

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.

0301 - ll

January 03, 2013 in 35, architecture, brown, building, colour, facility, germany, home, house, light, nex 7, pattern, sel, shadow, sony, sun, texture, timber-frame, wall, wood

ll - sony nex 7 with sel 35 f1.8 | f4.0 | ISO100 | 1/125

the beams in our more than 300 years old house are raddled. the variations of humidity and temperature, the permanent incidence of light and all the other parameters and boundary conditions have left their marks in the walls. at least a few signs are man-made: the former craftsmen branded the beams according to the construction plan by cutting numbers into the wood. by doing this they could ensure to avoid mistakes, although only in the scope of planning and assignment.

more or less every wall in our home is crooked. who cares? this is just what makes our place so special.

0212 - winter is setting in

December 02, 2012 in 50, bermatingen, branch, christmas, colour, countryside, facility, germany, house, mood, nex 7, red, sel, snow, sony, timber-frame, village, window, winter

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f1.8 | ISO100 | 1/500 | lightroom 4.2

in the course of the arriving winter the scenery and the rural townscape evolve into perfect advent postcard subjects.

light, soft snowflakes waft through the alleys and dip the landscape in a clear, plain white. the windows are already richly decorated and fir branches make for festive atmosphere. so cosy.

cu, trshptr

2211 - closed

November 22, 2012 in 50, architecture, bermatingen, germany, house, light, nex 7, night, sel, sony, street, street lamp, timber-frame, townscape, tree, village, vineyard, window, wine, wine tasting

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f2.8 | ISO1600 | 1/13 | lightroom 4.2

whenever i pass the vineyard of bermatingen i remember the nice wine tasting with our neighbours in spring of 2012. considering that we live in a dedicated wine-growing region, tina and i drink really not a lot of the red or white juice of the grape. theoretically i'd enjoy working up a wine appetite at the local shop by nosing and tasting several sorts of wine.

if i'd only come home earlier more often.

cu, trshptr

1811 - temporary dormancy

November 18, 2012 in 50, bedroom, bicycle, germany, home, light, nex 7, night, portrait, racer, reflection, sel, shadow, sony, sport, technics, texture, timber-frame, wall, wood

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f4.0 | ISO100 | 4s | lightroom 4.2

during the cold season my racer is mostly parked in the bedroom. already in hamburg i'd convinced tina of the necessity to accommodate the gracile bike in a delightful surrounding - in this way one of my bicycles found its way into our bed chambers.

i've no clue why it struck my eye just today - i hadn't mind it since several weeks now. but when i entered the bedroom without switching the lamps on, it looked at me in the dark, only by the corridor lights illuminated environment as if it wants to claim more attention from me.

no fear, my darling, you are reserved for prime weather conditions. hopefully you are satisfiable with the starring of today's posting for now.

cu, trshptr

0609 - rural parking

September 06, 2012 in 50, architecture, building, car, countryside, facility, germany, house, ittendorf, light, light beam, nex 7, night, oldtimer, sel, sky, sony, timber-frame, tractor, village

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f1.8 | ISO1600 | +0.7ev | 1/20 | lightroom 4.1

of course you might believe that you know everything about your local environment. and then one day you break the usual habit and suddenly you find your way into a completely new world.

after a great dinner in a nearby restaurant that is operated from a couple from the alsace we had an absolutely necessary after-dinner walk through the villages. thereby a neat timber-framed building that i'd never noticed at daytime attracted our unrestricted attention. not only the great illumination but also the in front of the house parked tractor cut a great figure. in my opinion this was a really suitable scene for a rural village portrait.

marginal note: today in the afternoon very creative thoughts appeared in my brain, funnily while i was hoovering - tina would say that i should do this more often. some interesting photographic ideas were shaped to concepts. there's more to come.

cu, trshptr

2206 - dead of night

June 23, 2012 in 50, architecture, building, countryside, germany, light, monument, mood, nex 7, night, pattern, sel, shadow, sony, street, street lamp, texture, timber-frame, village, wood

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f1.8 | ISO800 | 1/40 | lightroom 4.1

after the easy win of germany over greece what we had watched at a huge public viewing event in ravensburg and a few drinks in a rather chilly bar we came home late in the night. despite a few suitable shots from the evening event that were already resting on my sd card i was still searching for one special opportunity for the daily pic - the in my opinion most beautiful house in my home village.

actually i have this night shot in my mind already since dozens of days but until today a boring-as-sin-housewife-volvo was parked in front of the more than 300 years old timber-framed house every night what would have distracted from the core of my image.

cu, trshptr

0106 - something different

June 02, 2012 in 50, architecture, building, countryside, germany, green, house, light, monument, nex 7, night, red, sel, shadow, sony, timber-frame, townscape, village, wall, window

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f1.8 | ISO1600 | 1/25 | lightroom 4.1

finally we have visitors from central germany: our (best) friends jeen and diet(mar) from frankfurt are currently at our place for a flying visit - unfortunately on sunday they will leave us again for the continuation of their short journey to munich where they will call the concert of paul kalkbrenner, a reasonably famous german dj. for their visit we had to buy in, tidy up, clean house and so on - of course we wanted to receive our guests with open arms and well prepared.

back on topic of yesterday: see that i don't want to allow that the view of bermatingen develops as a completely boring but idyllic world i think that a contrary sight of approximately the same scene of yesterday's image might remedy. let me get this straight - bermatingen is not much different to the rest of germany. pleasure and harm, white and black, lights and shadows, all that is to be expected.

cu, trshptr

3105 - private peek

May 31, 2012 in 50, architecture, brown, building, corridor, countryside, germany, green, home, house, monument, nex 7, personal, red, sel, sony, timber-frame, townscape, village, wall

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f8.0 | ISO200 | 1/100 | lightroom 4.1

in regions with an appropriate social base money is not to be sniffed at. especially the area north of the alps and the lake constance profits clearly by its inherent natural beauty. the amount of money that is received in this way flows mainly back directly into the communes.

you can see this circumstance in any issue of daily life. one noticeable topic is the structural condition of the (most of the old) buildings in the historic townscapes. if you use f.e. the view of the cities in the east of germany as reference for comparison you will find a lot more derelict houses than here in suedbaden. so far, so good. this comes as no surprise.

but what does that really mean? it seems to be a kind of vicious circle for the affected regions regarding different aspects: either tourists or qualified employees are attracted, therefor their money flows into other regions. so the communes have no funds to modernise their infrastructure, their townscape and so on. which means that everything remains as it is. unfortunately i know this phenomena from different regions of germany, among others my homeland.

the region of the linzgau was never affected by this vicious circle. the historic townscapes are in most cases proper, neat and tidy, even more than 300 years old houses like ours are in a good condition. way back when the municipal administration of our commune bermatingen had understood that buildings like the eichenhof have a great appeal with the tourists and therefor their money.

of course i rejoice at our home, it is individual, full of character and it's a pleasure to live here. i hope you enjoy the private peek, too.

cu, trshptr