2501 - love

love - sony nex 7 | sel 50 f1.8 | f4.0 | ISO100 | 1/4000

love is something beautiful. if anybody hasn't ever felt love in any way that poor soul is definitely missing out on one of the most important things in life: receiving the warmth, feeling to be needed and showing behaviours that defy any explanation are only a few facts how and why love is able to drive you crazy. of course, i'm not talking about usual and simple everyday life situations but these rare, very special moments. although i don't know if the couple of my image is together since a week or a decade their wonderful kiss at sunset reminded me of one key factor for a successful relationship:

it should be everybody's utmost duty to maximise the number of these particular moments.

2712 - cross braces

sony nex 7 with fujian 35 f1.7 | f1.8 | ISO100 | 1/200

usually i use grey days as an opportunity to do indoor or low lights shoots. pattern and their accentuation by working out the structures with a black and white conversion are an alternative, of course.

sony nex 7 with fujian 35 f1.7 | f1.8 | ISO100 | 1/500

i observed these two birds a few minutes before they sat together down on the power line. at this very moment i wished to be able to take off like they do and also did a few seconds later.

tomorrow or the day after the new sony sel 35 f1.8 will arrive at my home. i'm looking forward to attaching this new gadget to my nex7.

2710 - plumed visit

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f1.8 | ISO200 | 1/160 | lightroom 4.2

tina and i take care of animals in the same way like we respect humans.

this fact finds expression for example in our direct environment: besides our own cat we sometimes look after the kitties and dogs that live in our yard, too. additionally to that tina donates a little sum to an animal welfare organisation.

i for one try to help all the beings in my direct surrounding. for that reason i started to feed the birds in our yard since a few days again. corresponding the first spit of snow fell today and the first soil frost is said to appear in the coming night. i'm pretty sure that the eurasian nuthatch of my today's pic is very pleased with the delicious seeds that we usually serve.

on bad weather days like today the observation of approach and departure of the beautiful european birds is more amusing than watching a movie in the home cinema and a welcome variation to my learning periods.

cu, trshptr

0210 - stacked & bread rain

setup: sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8 f2.8 fisheye | 8mm | f2.8 | ISO400 | 1/25 | cornerfix & lightroom 4.1

fortunately the announced walimex pro fisheye lens has arrived already today in the afternoon. for the evening i'd planned to shoot a special scenery in bodman-ludwigshafen at the western end of lake constance. a friend of mine had told me of the presence of an example of a very special kind of "lake art" - every now and then a stone artist places stone towers at the lakeside that seen as a stress engineer could really never bear.

for the viewer they exude calm and balance, really adorable.

setup: sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8 f2.8 fisheye | 8mm | f4.0 | ISO400 | 1/100 | cornerfix & lightroom 4.1

heading for the place where the work is located we met a nice guy who was feeding the ducks and seagulls. although he seemed to be a bit strange he's surely a very nice and sensitive guy who cares about the nature and its animals.

i'll write more about the walimex pro fisheye lens during the next days. in advance only a very short information: it touches simply wonderfully and seems to be built of very high quality.

furthermore my two today's samples show how differently a fisheye lens can be used. both the emphasis of the distorted fisheye character as well as the use as an almost normal ultra wide angle lens are imaginable.

cu, trshptr

1909 - making a dive

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

sometimes it occurs to me that living at the edge of germany may be a privilege, too. only three and a half hours of relaxed car drive to reach a vacation destination in the middle of south tirol almost 2000 metres above sea level is pure luxury. that's why we already arrived at half past two o'clock in sulden at the bottom of the huge ortler.

the weather was perfect - for a travel day in the car. rain, rain, rain, mist and fog. but - as you might know if you are a permanent follower of the blog - i really like moody weather conditions like that. so we took our backpacks and rain covers and strolled through the wet and dripping high valley. after a short walk we got to a wonderful coloured pond with also wonderful coloured and drawn ducks inside that made a dive for the rests of our pretzels.

a few hours and sauna visits later tina and i made a dive for a delicious dinner at our guesthouse. quite interesting how similar all the beings still are...

cu, trshptr

2508 - under observation

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f4.0 | ISO100 | 1/800 | lightroom 4.1

this weekend i reside in laufenburg, a small city that is part of the district waldshut in the very southwest of germany, at the family of a work and cycling mate. laufenburg is located directly at the border to switzerland, opposite to the equally named swiss city and separated from the switzerland by the big river rhine.

on the german side of the border a huge monument, a stone eagle with widespread wings and a golden cross in his clutches observes all machinations on the (german and the) swiss terrain. the memorial was built in remembrance of the many soldiers that were killed in action in the first and second world war.

the relations between the germans and the swiss and germany and switzerland are matter for a separate story: huge wage differentials, tax haven switzerland, conversion rates, non-EU country and voluntary nation are only some keywords that describe the country switzerland and its relations to its neighbour germany. many things are handled completely different to germany, but the people of both countries have to live together on both sides of the border compliant with the rules and laws of the respective countries.

tomorrow i'll visit the swiss side for a long public cycling ride again. however today i haven't seen anything to complain about for the stone eagle.

cu, trshptr

1207 - roosting

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f5.6 | ISO100 | 1/1000 | lightroom 4.1

behavioural pattern of creatures aren't always easy to see through. today i've observed a bulk of birds hopping between powerlines. really funny how they've acted - once a bird had departed, suddenly an indefinite number of his buddies was following him. in this kind the play has perpetuated and i'd watched them some minutes more, until i got my camera and captured the scene in a picture.

cu, trshptr

0805 - the early bird gets the worm

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 55mm | f5.6 | ISO400 | 1/50 | lightroom 4

while i was processing the planned image of today's posting sitting on a deck chair in the yard my remaining kitty nila spotted an eurasian blackbird. whereas i hadn't been completely satisfied with the light conditions of this shot, i came naturally to desist from the pic - you will see a better version in the near future.

so nila and i observed the in my view cute, in her view delicious little bird that had caught a fat worm for his infants. by the way i shot some pictures of the blackbird, only the maximum focal distance of my kit lens hampered a better result. the blackbird was remaining calmly while i approximated because he was constantly assessing the situation.

moreover he was in a favourable position and he had already caught his worm.

cu, trshptr

btw: the picture above is far away from being a masterpiece, but it is not so bad after all and above all today it was important for me to share nila's and my experience with you. and: yesterday the third lens for my nex arrived - the sigma 30 f2.8. tiny little black piece of japanese engineering.

3004 - s-curve

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 18mm | f5.6 | ISO100 | 1/640 | aperture priority | raw files cropped, aligned and processed in lightroom 4

today and tomorrow are fortunately still non-working days, at least for me. tina had to work today because diseases aren't directed by the calendar. so i had decided already at the weekend that today should be a bicycle day for me.

while my excursion i was cycling through three countries: of course germany with its regions baden and wuerrtemberg, austria with the vorarlberger land and finally the switzerland. at romanshorn i took the ferry back to friedrichshafen. at the end of my tour i had driven 120km by bike. not that bad, besides my butt i feel fine. you can comprehend the whole route here [click].

one special thing attracted my attention: after the very modest, peaceful and contemplative holidays in sardinia i was really shocked by the prosperity tourism and the conceited high society that i had to see today. it was a scenery like a disney land for pensioner. huge mercedes benz with gold decorated ladies inside were parking in front of showy golf and yacht clubs. barf!

cleanliness, perfection and wealth - these things were hard to take for me today. fortunately the surroundings were getting more authentic in the switzerland. i saw construction zones, suburbs and eventual more normal people than tourists. finally i found the gangplank shown in the pic above near rohrschach, where ornithologists had arranged themselves for the observation. moody chill out area.

cu, trshptr

0904 - tickets, please

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 53mm | f6.3 | ISO800 | 1/100 | aperture priority | raw files cropped, aligned and processed in lightroom 4

yesterday i waxed lyrical about this long weekend, today in the morning it came to an abrupt interruption: at 7am marv had to be taken to the railstation in ueberlingen where he got his lift to berlin. unfortunately i was not in a really good temper, probably i had slept lightly. no skiving, ok. but sometimes it has to be ok to rest easy.

while tina and marv were waiting for the arrival of the lift i took the eos and walked around at the place. ueberlingen´s rail station which was in a complete calm and abandoned state at this holiday´s morning is a deeply interesting example of infrastructure-architecture. into a subjacent platform with old brickwork and historical bridges bordering the terrain - i stood at one of this while capturing the picture above - new glazed and metallic elements like stairs, elevators and escalators were integrated.

the structural conditions combined with a fairly large quantity of doves, a very small quantity of human beings and the cold, clear air led on to the impression of a special mood. that made my day already at its early beginning.

dove, you tiny little train guard - have fun. hope you have a handle on the goings-on.

cu, trshptr