1605 - ray of hope

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 18mm | f3.5 | ISO800 | 1/20 | lightroom 4

actually every week should have only 3 business days. because on thursday all the fathers - and the future ones - will paint the town red most of the employers allow a day off on friday: i really love the spring with its awful lot of feast and bridge days...

after a dinner at a new turkish restaurant in friedrichshafen we headed for the bar "lichtblick" in markdorf. its name has different english translations - f.e. it could mean blink or bright spot. if you look at the pic you can confirm that this translation could be appropriate for this location.

furthermore it could be called ray of hope or silver lining in english what in my opinion fits even better than the direct translation. the bar lichtblick is one of the rare rays of hope in the forlorn nightlife of the area around lake constance.

cu, trshptr

1405 - architectural ulcer

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 25mm | f5.6 | ISO200 | 1/320 | lightroom 4

in my opinion symbiosis can not only come into being between biological species, but also between different other types of things. architecture or perhaps feelings are imaginable.

in my concrete case of today's posting an architectural masterpiece - the house of media in friedrichshafen - shows a symbiosis between clear and straight glass facades and a rough and structured cement ulcer. these two pieces match perfectly.

today in the afternoon - after hard work - we really enjoyed the mood of the area around this building.

cu, trshptr

2304 - stereotyped thinking

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 21mm | f5.0 | ISO100 | 1/200 | aperture priority | raw files cropped, aligned and processed in lightroom 4 

i love the off-season, although in sardinia are not that many tourists in high season. we have had so many moments to call ourselves. as contrasted with bed&breakfast accommodations the most hotels are not opened yet. whereas the abandoned blue balcony facade could also be the outer skin of a cruiser.

2204 - taking small steps

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 28mm | f5.0 | ISO100 | 1/400 | aperture priority | raw files cropped, aligned and processed in lightroom 4 

during the last week's road trip we rested as often as possible at interesting locations on our 1000km route. the town oristano was one of it. we have had a walk after lunch in the historical district when i discovered the greek-like scenery shown in the photography above.

1904 - things have changed

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 18mm | f8.0 | ISO200 | 1/125 | aperture priority | raw files cropped, aligned and processed in lightroom 4 

... in east germany. 

after my yesterday's discrediting posting i would like to balance the representation of my homeland a little bit. as i had already addressed the boom of the last twenty years, the city hall of greiz called vogtland halle was built in the last three years as part of this era.

the hall is a venue for different kind of events for example concerts, lections and public events like youth dedication ceremonies which have survived the turnaround and the former times. like these rituals a great many old city mansions have resisted the ravages of time, in some places you can find them directly next to newly built lighthouse projects such as the vogtland halle.

i really get into a balanced mix of monumental, old architecture combined with modern glass and metal structured buildings. i like the pic above because of its clear and straight lines and the melted architectural trends, that also mirrors in the reflections.

cu, trshptr

1804 - time has stopped

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 18mm | f8.0 | ISO100 | 1/160 | aperture priority | raw files cropped, aligned and processed in lightroom 4 

... in east germany. 

like i said yesterday we unfortunately had to give an immediate family member to tina's grandma. ria, as tina's grandmother is called, lives in thuringia close to the town zeulenroda with her husband guenther and her dog lea. because tina and i want to support zizou during her acclimatization here in thuringia, we'll stay at grandma's home until friday. besides fitful sleep this circumstance means that i'll have the opportunity to shoot some decay-tinted pics in the rustic area of the former gdr.

i've really turned the kind of today's photo over in my mind. should i publish a espacially brutal and negativ photo of a destroyed factory that you can find here at every turn? or shall i take a pic that shows the great boom of the last twenty years? i decided to pursue the middle course. on the pic above you can see an old disused building of the former government enterprise wema, what is a german abbreviation for tool machinery factory. as you know the german democratic republic was an almost complete closed economy. that's why a great many of companies had to be closed in the course of the german reunification, the so called turnaround in 1990. 

as part of the omission of the gdr four to five years after the turnaround the wema broke away, too. the clock on the front of the wema building seems to act out of spite - it has stopped years ago.

cu, trshptr

1504 - the wheel

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 18mm | f8.0 | ISO800 | 8s | aperture priority | raw files cropped, aligned and processed in lightroom 4 

the day after. slightly headache, thirst and haven't slept very well. what's the point - you must finish what you start. therefor we had a huge breakfast with toasted ciabatta, cold cuts and what else belongs to it. in addition to that strengthening i had to get a breath of fresh air. 

after my weekly football match on sunday noon i carried out some tiny little tasks like to put some things away into the cellar. there i hit on the idea to make the basement of our marvellous house the subject of today's posting. like i said before our house is more than 300 years old. also its basement is a feast for the eyes. it was used as a wine cellar for many a long year. today every now and then we hold a cellar party for our friends. the illumination with candles is stunning. during the residual time the basement lies almost empty.

today i caught sight of a very moody scene of wheels. the sparsely light was inciding through an old wooden wheel. our new neighbors must have parked an ancient blue bicycle in the middle of the place where the light beam was impinging on the floor today. and the profile of the room is a semicircle itself. 

great atmosphere in an almost complete circular surrounding.

cu, trshptr

1304 - upright

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 22mm | f4.5 | ISO400 | 25s | manual mode | manual focus | raw files cropped, aligned and processed in lightroom 4

while i was cruising around by bike this evening i saw different places and objects that were worthy of detailed examination. in so doing my short ride was extended to a two hour trip. as a result i have really struggled with choosing a candidate for today's posting. finally i decided to apply the upright photography that you can review above to animate my blog today. some other samples are listed at my tumblr webpage dated today.

the pic of the building site was shot in markdorf again. the light conditions were really very, very bad, the usage of the automatic focus wasn't possible. so i had my first attempts with complete manual shooting: both focus and exposure were manually controlled by me. to accomplish a suitable exposure i had to raise iso speed to 400 and aperture to the almost fastest configuration at this focal length - although i exposed for a long time... i think you can reconstruct how dark it was there.

why this composition? for a variety of reasons... the pillars seemed to have an infinite depth, the lights were playfully reflected by them. the streamers that were hanging from the ceiling breezed in the wind. the silence was impressive. only every now and then a car went past. fortunately i caught one by shooting the pic above.

btw: i have raised the local contrast of the pic while postprocessing to create a hdr-like effect. accenting the size of the builing site i renounced to remove distortion caused by wide-angel.

all being well my project will finally start next week. officially.

cu, trshptr

1104 - moonless night

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 25mm | f8.0 | ISO100 | 15s | aperture priority | multiple triggered with android application dslrcontroller | raw files cropped, aligned and processed in lightroom 4

urban abandoned places at night have a great appeal with me. see that i had to cater anything for dinner this evening, an urban self-shot was obvious.

while i was driving around the town i was on the look-out for a moody place where i could capture a frozen long-time exposed, depressed shot of a small being in the middle of impressive architecture. really no easy statement of task in the middle of nowhere but i'm not going to lower my sights until i hit the wall. satisfaction implies stagnation.

in my opinion except a little light scattering in the lower middle the picture turned out very well. it shows the educational center of markdorf that was built in 1972. i love the architecture of the 70s with its straight lines, strict symmetry, the plain facades and the primary structures made of metal. it is simple and timeless. and if you put an outlined, shadowed person in the center of attention and illumination, your composition becomes clearer and more consistent. a picture turns into a story.

cu, trshptr

1004 - open air auditorium

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 53mm | f5.6 | ISO400 | 1/250 | aperture priority | raw files cropped, aligned and processed in lightroom 4

an auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances at venues such as theatres [source]. once i had arrived at the hospital today in the afternoon to pick up tina, before my very eyes such an theatre-like auditorium appeared.

a grizzled old, wheelchair-bound woman was giving a lecture on something. towards her four partial grizzled women that were resting on a wooden bench listened more or less carefully to the contributor. while i observed this scene i proposed myself a couple of questions:
is the woman on the left really listening to the contributor's pleading or is she watching the fountains dreamfully? what is the discussion about? do they realize my observation? is the dog owner feeling bored? or is he sitting too far away to hear the conversations of the grandmothers? at least the dog seems to be hungry. questions upon questions and no answers. create your own story.

cu, trshptr