0908 - reminiscing

setup: sony nex 7 with fujian 35 f1.7 | 35mm | f1.8 | manual focus | ISO100 | 1/1000 | lightroom 4.1

coming home after a temporary leave is always a great pleasure. today in the evening not only tina but also her lovely mum romy and her brother marv have received me with wide opened arms when i arrived home from my climbing course in the alps nearby mittenwald.

for that reason tina had arranged a table in a wonderful restaurant with the nicest pub garden i've ever seen nearby friedrichshafen - the krone (crown) in raderach. we four together had a cosy night with terrific food, beer and wine from the local area at the lake constance. it's too bad that marv and romy have to leave us already tomorrow morning and i've missed almost the whole span of their visit. anyhow tina shall remain still faithful with me. clearly!

cu, trshptr

3007 - diversity

setup: sony nex 7 with fujian 35 f1.7 | 35mm | f1.8 | manual focus | ISO100 | 1/2500 | lightroom 4.1

step by step the great diversity finds its way also into germany. those days when immigrants had felt off-colour in good old germany are mostly gone, hopefully never to return.

mercifully the bounds between different peoples will melt intensely during the coming decades, especially in europe with its schengen convention. there are already some examples of working multicultural togetherness: above all samples the big european melting pots london and berlin show how intercultural communication has to be. of course there is right-wing radicalism in these locations, too, but fortunately during the last years the mentality of the people has changed in this way that discrimination isn't tolerated anymore at all.

today we have been in friedrichshafen at the culture festival where cross-cultural art, music, theatre, cinema and sundry other things are offered in the open air. in my opinion it is delightful that i can enjoy the presence of people of every colour, language and origin without leaving my hometown.

cu, trshptr

1706 - silhouette of a latecomer

setup: sony nex 7 with fujian 35 f1.7 | 35mm | f1.8 | manual focus | ISO100 | 1/1600 | lightroom 4.1

today a rather usual business day was followed by a great bicycling tour with my mate andi. after that when i'd finished personal care and eating it was already eight o'clock. at the moment i have only little interest in television - the program is simply awful. it's about time that the olympic games start, so that there would be at least one reason to switch the tube on.

because the opening ceremony will be broadcasted not before next friday evening, i used this chance for a photo walk. the sun was already setting when i reached the fields in the south of my village. unbelievable how fast everything changes these days.

only a few creatures are stunted, like the slim sunflower whose illuminated silhouette traces the shape of a young plant that actually had to be a good deal bigger. don't worry, little flower, the sun will assist you with your growth like it had done today evening.

cu, trshptr

1407 - spanish folklore

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f2.0 | ISO400 | 1/120 | -0.3ev | lightroom 4.1

open air music, some beers and the setting sun - that's how an evening at the weekend should be. and if the music is spanish folklore and the beer tastes fresh and delicious, it would not have taken much for completing the vacation feeling.

unfortunately i don't know who the two guys are that made music yesterday afternoon near our home, but what i know is, that they are really good at playing their instruments and conveying the local mood of the iberian peninsula. thank you for the pleasant evening!

cu, trshptr

1007 - in the pouring rain

setup: sony nex 7 with fujian 35 f1.7 | 35mm | f1.8 | manual focus | ISO100 | 1/500 | lightroom 4.1

as i'd mentioned before special moods pleases me no end. when i came home from work today it had already rained for round about half an hour. a nice photography opportunity occurred: the stones in our backyard were wet, scattered light illuminated the yard and fortunately tina was willing to be my model that had to pose in the rain.

finally i'd realised that a planed photoshoot is a very difficult thing - you have to take care of so many little details that despite good expressions of my object more than the half of my images had at least one disturbing fault. however a dozen of pictures turned out well so that tina and also i are satisfied with the result and do not have to complain anymore.

the shown pic is the most natural one. maybe i'm going to show you more of the series later.

cu, trshptr

0807 - natural evanescence

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f1.8 | ISO100 | 1/400 | lightroom 4.1

no matter how bad the mankind worries the earth, the natural regulation will gain. although this means that the mankind itself will go down, the nature will survive even if maybe only in an other form and not before dozens of centuries of regeneration.

that's why these days flowers stand not only for beauty but also for evanescence. as long as light incides on the earth flowers will come round again and again. and when the light will forever disappear at some point, the time will also stop at this time: there is no need for beauty in everlasting darkness.

cu, trshptr

0707 - depth

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f2.0 | ISO100 | 1/4000 | lightroom 4.1

unfortunately vacations seem to end always in the high of the personal emotions. just when we felt comfortable with the whole surroundings in lisbon, we sadly had to depart to faro to catch our flight to memmingen.

summarising can be said that the south of portugal is also definitely worth a journey or a even longer trip in vacations. thereby both the southern region around the algarve and the north around porto have their special issues and pros and cons: as i had supposed the southern landscape is more rocky and touristic than the rest of portugal, on the other hand the north-south shore of the north is more suited for surfing.

the duel between the cities porto and lisbon ends up in a tie: both cities are located at the atlantic coast and at the mouth of a big river. both profit from the maritime influence of the seafaring, the fishing and a dozens of thousands of seagulls. porto convinces with its naturalness and unobtrusiveness, whereas lisbon scores with its variety and a great nightlife. i think i'm going to see over both of them during the next years surf trips again.

a special detail of lisbon's townscape are its streets: cobbled streets and steep descent make your life a living hell if you are old and it teems down so that the cobblestones become slippery. what appears for the visitors as an eye candy, discommodes the lives of the local citizens. good if you can move hand over hand along a dozens of bollards.

2906 - among the others

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f2.0 | ISO100 | 1/800 | -0.7ev | lightroom 4.1

tomorrow we will depart germany towards portugal. a few days of surfing will be combined with a roadtrip along the southern west coast to lisbon. for that reason today we were enjoying our spare time after work before we will have to leave our home: besides some hours of chilling in our yard under the sun umbrella in the afternoon tina and i had a long walk through the fields around our village where we played hackysack and badminton and watched the sunset till the mosquitos began to eat us alive.

when you observe the edges of the fields attentively you can sometimes spot special sceneries of the vegetation: at odd times a complete different breed is arrayed among the others. similarities to real life can't be denied.

cu, trshptr

2806 - that's it

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f2.0 | ISO800 | 1/80 | lightroom 4.1

halftime. short break. time to catch a breath. time to have a cigarette, even for non-smokers. disillusion already at halftime.

yesterday italy operated simply more intelligent than our team. tactical clever, mersiless effectiv, simply great: for long periods they have played masterfully. despite a huge bunch of opportunities our attackers didn't bring about to net. and if you don't score you won't win.

now i wish the italian team the best of luck to beat the spanish. contrary to all other teams the italians have managed to improve their performance with each match. on sunday they will have to perform once again.

cu, trshptr

2606 - dead wood

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f1.8 | ISO100 | 1/640 | lightroom 4.1

tina is one of the old school - reading becomes accepted only on paper. printed matter is highly regarded by her, kindles are admired but fundamentally not used (yet).

"there are enough reasons against these items. what would for example be that they don't smell. or that i can't open a kindle up."
"yes, you can. use a cover and you will be able to open it up."
"but the smell..."

ok, a compelling evidence is nonexistent, but life isn't always logic and coherent. reading a novel has to do with dreaming and the medium has to transfer this atmosphere. so i can absolutely take her point.

for our upcoming surf vacation in portugal we bought a novel for each of us: tina is going to take jonas jonasson's "the hundred-year-old man who climbed out of the window and disappeared" along and i'm going to read mcgrath's "white heat". maybe i'll tell you more about these two pieces of poetry after the vacation.

since we ignore electronic reading material we put a direct strain on the nature - for the most part paper is made of wood. i don't exactly know what is worse for the environment: the complete life cycle of a handheld reader or the consumption of the at least renewable resource wood. my gut says that i'm currently on the correct side of the green conscience, even if only just.

cu, trshptr