2807 - schottensee

July 29, 2012 in 30, alps, austria, cloud, countryside, green, hiking, hills, lake, landscape, mounains, nature, nex 7, sigma, sky, sony, trip, valley, walk

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f8.0 | ISO100 | 1/250 | lightroom 4.1

getting up very early at weekends is really difficult, especially if you didn't go to bed before midnight. today in the morning the alarm was ringing at 5am. we still had to prepare the packed lunch and at 6am we would like to depart towards austria together with our friends martin and jule.

after a two hours drive we reached galtuer where we had breakfast picnic in the sun, before we began to ascend to the alpine hut friedrichshafener huette (2.138m), where we are going to spend the night. we were received very courteously, had a warm drink and a soup and waited there for the end of the rain, that had set in at 11am. ongoing our afternoon walk led us to the ridge schafsbicheljoch (2.636m) and the summit vertinespleiskopf (2.706m), from where we had a stunning view over the schottensee into the valley fasultal.

despite the bad forecasts from last week the weather gods were well tempered so that we had a really nice day, almost without wearing our rainjackets.

and the evening in the alpine hut will be even better.

cu, trshptr

2507 - yellow bar

July 26, 2012 in 30, art, bar, colour, germany, hotel, light, mood, munich, nex 7, night, orange, reflection, restaurant, sigma, sony, still life, urban, window, yellow

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f2.8 | ISO200 | 1/30 | lightroom 4.1

first of all i have to announce that fortunately tina's examination has turned out very well. we all are very happy about that and have to make good for a drink to this result together today in the evening.

my business trip was very pleasant, too. after arrival in munich at lunch we had some discussions and meetings in the afternoon, before a huge barbecue party that was organised by some of my work mates sounded the bell for a great night. we, my fellow martin and i, started with a few beers in the bar of the cool stay2munich hotel that you can see in my daily pic and ended in the club 089 in the inner city of munich with a few other mates.

although munich doesn't count among my favourite cities of germany this evening disabuses me regarding my prejudice.

cu, trshptr

2207 - magical column

July 22, 2012 in 30, architecture, art, b+w, cloud, contrast, flare, germany, light, light beam, meersburg, memorial, monument, nex 7, sigma, sky, sony, street, street art, sun

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f13 | ISO100 | 1/3200 | lightroom 4.1

despite the conservative mindset of the people at lake constance a very special landmark was established in 2007 on the gangplank of meersburg. the artist peter lenk executed a column that illustrates the satirical portraits of all public characters of the history of the city.

the poet annette von droste-hulshoff is characterised as well as her brother baron joseph von laßberg, a collector of medieval manuscripts. at his side there appears cupid, at the same time damsel and winery owner wendelgard von halten comes down handsomely in an impressive pose and also the exorcist johann joseph gassner, whose actions are illustrated in a very grotesque way, is involved. the artist lenk also devoted attention to the "miracle doctor" franz anton mesmer, who is considered by many as the father of modern hypnotherapy.

in my pic i want to empower the mental superpowers of franz mesmer with catching the sun in his horseshoe.

cu, trshptr

1907 - nose against window

July 19, 2012 in 30, b+w, cobble, decay, fun, germany, glass, grey, markdorf, moment, nex 7, people, reading, reflection, sigma, sony, street, townscape, urban, window

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

today in the afternoon i met the myopic gran in markdorf while i was strolling about the streets. she is known all over in town. most of her time she sits at the bakery's and tries to read the newspaper which is displayed there. because of her malfunctioning eyes it seems to last hours till she has coped with reading the press.

it was the first time that i've seen her in the street, of course when she was reading again. unfortunately she is in a bad condition: she is myopic, a bad walker and realises almost nothing and nobody around her. maybe all of her senses go down bit by bit. but despite the physical decay she is really cuddly: funny to see how she pressed her nose against the window... and satisfying to assess how she masters her life after all.

cu, trshptr

1807 - orange patchwork

July 18, 2012 in 30, architecture, brown, colour, facility, germany, light, markdorf, nex 7, night, orange, partial coloured, pattern, shadow, sigma, sony, townscape, urban, walk, wall

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f2.8 | ISO640 | 1/50 | lightroom 4.1

today i hadn't had the time to catch a breath before half past nine. after work i had to wash all the bicycles, three in number, and do some maintenance work on tina's mountain bike. after all i have lingered after an after work coffee latte at a branch of a well-known big junk chain for the whole evening. at half past nine tina and i had finally accomplished our object, a tall latte for me and a vanilla frappe for her.

while we were stretching our legs subsequent to the drink, i spotted the illuminated, orange wall, that seems to be composed of dozens of rectangular patches. nothing spectacular, but beautiful to look at, especially because its recurring forms and the nicely produced shadows.

cu, trshptr

1307 - outstretched tongue

July 14, 2012 in 30, b+w, decay, eyes, face, lisbon, mood, nex 7, pattern, people, poor man, portrait, portugal, sigma, sony, street, suburb, tongue, tramp, urban

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f4.0 | ISO100 | 1/320 | lightroom 4.1

friday, the 13th. time for a recapitulation of my portugal trip. time to review the top 100 of images and also time to show some more of these pics. pictures of the tough reality at our beloved holiday destinations.

i have shot a similar image of a tramp in constance, germany, some weeks ago. poverty doesn't stop at borders and cares little about nationality.

cu, trshptr

0907 - incidence

July 09, 2012 in 30, architecture, cobble, contrast, corridor, door, flag, germany, home, house, light, light beam, long-time exposure, minimalistic, nex 7, night, personal, sigma, sony, texture

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f4.0 | ISO100 | 30s | lightroom 4.1

mondays are as tough as leather. mondays subsequent to vacations are tougher than leather. today in the morning i almost didn't manage to get up. tina is on duty today so that she didn't hustle with getting out of bed. this fact made it not really easier for me starting the day. well, this is complaining on a high level...

finally the day became a medium one - usual business at work; nice weather; good ride on the mountain bike in the evening; delicious, by tina already precooked dinner and a lonely evening on the couch - not quite lonely, my kitty nila kept company with me.

once i have a plenty of time like today in the evening, i actually visualise the real beauty of our home in all its facets: old doors and massive flagstones are only two examples of the peculiarities of our home.

cu, trshptr

0507 - lisbon's jewel

July 06, 2012 in 30, architecture, bench, blue, cathedral, ceiling, church, colour, corridor, igreja de são roque, light, lisbon, memorial, monument, nex 7, portugal, sight, sigma, sony, symmetry

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f3.2 | ISO640 | 1/60 | lightroom 4.1

tina and i usually drift through foreign cities. of course, a minimum of preparation in advance is mandatory, but the most beautiful places always find you, not the other way round. on our way to the independente hostel of our new (world class!) canadian friends we discovered one of the prettiest monuments of lisbon by pure chance.

the church igreja de são roque is located in lisbon's historical district bairro alto and known as the jewel among the churches of lisbon. it is one of the most splendid churches in portugal. you can find a huge article about this monument on wikipedia (link) in which all its details are really well described.

the importance of this church is mainly based on the chapel of são joão baptista that you should definitely see over if you are going to visit the church at some point. igreja de são roqu is a relic of the portuguese renaissance, which has survived the vicissitudes of all centuries. it is an important mosaic of the former splendour of the mercantile and seafaring town of lisbon before the earthquake of 1755.

cu, trshptr

0307 - sea level from above

July 05, 2012 in 30, b+w, beach, coast, fun, grey, lagos, landscape, minimalistic, nature, nex 7, people, portugal, rest, sea, shore, sigma, sony, summer, wave

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

3006 - scepticism

July 01, 2012 in 30, air safety, blue, chaos, cloud, eyes, face, flight, hair, light, mirror, moment, nex 7, people, portrait, reflection, sigma, sky, sony, trip

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

today in the evening we fortunately landed safely in portugal after we had to stomach a very turbulent flight from memmingen to faro. i've never seen clouds like that, 6 to 8 kilometers high cumulus clouds were piercing through two to three layers of cirrus clouds. we really had an unbelievable view through the windows. sadly the employees of the airline had forgotten to clean them, so no picture of this spectacle turned out really well.

anyhow the little lady in front of mine marveled at the view, so please think your way into her mind by interpreting her facial expression.

cu, trshptr