there are always two sides of the medal: unfortunately our time in the historic flat here at lake constance won't be everlasting, where the change will probably bring along a lot of new opportunities. so it's high time for me to document the characteristics of the more than 300 years old building more often now, before we will have to leave this place in the near future.
cobble
3010 - end of these particular work days
setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f1.8 | ISO640 | 1/80 | lightroom 4.2
some things will never change: coming home from work on night duty days of tina is pure heartache for me because i'm anything but a person who enjoys his own company.
so i hurl myself into rituals: coming home; cuddling nila, the cat; exercises, taking a hot shower, dinner, extensive practising. sleep.
no matter if the year is 2005 or 2015: this was and will be the same as it ever was in our relationship.
cu, trshptr
0610 - the admiration
setup: sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8 f2.8 fisheye | 8mm | f2.8 | ISO1600 | 1/15 | cornerfix & lightroom 4.2
often in life the right moment is very if not most important.
unfortunately we hadn't purchased tickets for the basketball match between alba berlin and dallas mavericks in advance. therefore we had to see to buy two tickets for the second of four matches of the nba's european promotion tour directly in front of the arena on the black market. we even saw a few ticket seller, probably all private sellers and not managed by an organised ticket mafia. but either the seats weren't contiguous or the prices simply maddening. in other words today we didn't come upon the right moment to have the necessary luck you need to have to get tickets for such an outstanding event last-minute. as a consequence we had to admire the wonderful arena from the outside.
the importance of coming upon the right moment in such situations of life is quite similar to photography. at least for today's pic i chose the right moment - the sun had already set down behind the newly built parking ramp and funnily my mate martin was standing completely isolated from the rest of the people what in my opinion expresses our situation in a great way.
cu, trshptr
1008 - blurry flashback
setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f2.0 | ISO400 | 1/80 | lightroom 4.1
today in the morning all my beloved ones left me: marv and tina's mum had to depart to stuttgart for a wedding ceremony of a relative of volker, who is tina's mum's life partner. tina had to go to work, she is currently on duty. and nila was straying.
so what should i do on a lonely day off? all transactions were already transacted and all tasks fulfilled. but today i couldn't motivate myself to do anything beautiful (till the evening) and fell into a sort of limbo. well, i vegged out under the sun umbrella in the yard and went through the pictures of our last trip to portugal. fortunately my mood was lifted by viewing the images of this great trip and i braced myself up and set on the bike to ride to the lake and swim some minutes.
the really remarkable point of today was the flashback i had when i was investigating the pic of today's posting. the rossio square in lisbon is in my opinion one of the most beautiful urban places that i've seen in portugal. both at daytime when tina and i read our books under the slightly splashing water of the fountain and at night when we strolled about the square, this place appeared as a very inspiring surrounding. it has been the setting of celebrations, revolts and executions and today it's a preferred meeting place of locals and tourists. in addition to that the great architecture with the curved pavement patterns, the wonderful fountains and the monumental buildings at the edges of the square cap it all off.
cu, trshptr
1907 - nose against 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
0907 - incidence
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.
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
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.