0906 - mugging

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 27mm | f4.0 | ISO200 | 1/1000 | lightroom 4

really admirable that this hampered old couple had shouldered burden and stress of a bus or an air trip - they seemed to be dutch - only for some days of sightseeing. they were walking around alghero within the context of a guided tour group. although i haven't seen any smiles playing on their lips they for sure enjoyed the experiences they had gained in this historic city.

really pesky that this beggar-woman bothered the two of them. i indeed appreciate poverty and starvation of the immigrants but i'm not willing to accept a mafia-like rip-off - we met the lady later in the bus: her supposed baby was a doll.

fortunately the tourists had summed up the situation - they gave the beggar the cold shoulder.

cu, trshptr

0707 - lined lady

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 55mm | f5.6 | ISO200 | 1/100 | lightroom 4

when you visit an european city you'd expect that free-roaming cats influence the townscape. thereby in sardinia pets aren't that high rated as the people do in germany. many cats have to run their own lives. funnily also the dogs do as they please. especially in alghero we often saw dogs walking on their own, there was no human being on view far and wide.

hopefully the lined lady of my pic will get along furthermore.

cu, trshptr

0306 - ladies at their best

setup: sony nex 7 with fujian 35 f1.7 | 35mm | f1.7 | manual focus | ISO1600 | 1/20 | +1.7ev | high contrast monochrome jpg | cropped and optimised in lightroom 4.1

time flies, on a large and also on a small scale. it's been round about seven years that tina's best friend jeen visited us in hamburg for the first time. it's all water under the bridge.

but time flies in microcosm, too. just arrived some blinks later the weekend and their flying visit are gone again. nevertheless we four had a great and impressing time with talking, laughing, eating and drinking, sightseeing, boating and fortunately a bit sleeping. there's a reason for that: tina and jeen are a bit like chalk and cheese and jeen's boyfriend is simply a terrific choice, we and especially i really enjoyed the time with him.

even if today's picture's technical implementation can be allocated to the "fun and imperfection" - category, i really go for the moment i captured with my fujian toy lens: today i wanted to play around with the high-key effect for what i overexposed the ladies sitting in front of a window by round about two exposure values, using the high contrast monochrome mode in my nex. afterwards while post processing i raised the exposure and the different values for black and contrast once again in lightroom. it's a first high key attempt, not more, but i like it! whereas this might be down to the wonderful ladies...

cu, trshptr

0206 - tally

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f3.2 | ISO100 | 1/200 | lightroom 4.1

there are people who have much to answer for. somehow facetiously that i've shot this pic only one day after preaching the prosperity of the region around lake constance.

you can choose different approaches to handle scenes like a confrontation with a social poor situated guy: first and common one is to ignore the fact that there are people that have to live in these circumstances. this is the path of least resistance and completely stressless. most of the people would go and go this way. second one is to take notice of and maybe to pay a minimum of attention to him. i appeal to your common sense - you don't have to talk to him or donate food or money, a inviting smile should not be too much to ask for.

unfortunately there are also people who had quit their lives in spirit already well before. i rather think that the guy in my pic comes under this ones.

cu, trshptr

2605 - bride

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f2.8 | ISO1600 | 1/30 | lightroom 4

in europe there are a couple of regular customs that appear odd and curious to me. the rituals of stag and hen night may create funny stories in some cases but i can't see any sense in the foolery of selling useless items to pedestrians. however yesterday i was one of the pedestrians whom was being offered a bunch of clutter and ...

funnily yesterday's offers contained above all very useful articles for a party night - shorts. in fact shorts of different sorts! after a short conversation with the leader of the party gang - a hen night party - we bought a silver crown for tina and three shorts, jeagermeister, feigling and another one. in this way we got deeply into conversation with the bride who is a really very cute person. buck the trend and make the best of your upcoming marriage!

fortunately she had nothing against me snapshotting her, so i was allowed to keep this authentic pic.

cu, trshptr

1805 - illuminated

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 55mm | f5.6 | ISO800 | 1/50 | lightroom 4

for our today's excursion we visited the monkey hill in salem. round about 200 barbary apes live in a mostly species-appropriate husbandry on an area of approximately 12 hectare in the forest in the middle of nowhere.

it was very interesting to observe the social structure of their hierarchy. the 200 monkeys are separated into three groups of 50 to 80 animals. each group has one male and one female chief. furthermore the whole population has a overall chief of each gender. at monkey hill the most important rule is to avoid any contact with the current babies. every monkey would protect these little newborns against any - in his opinion - negative influences. to sum up i can say that in many aspects barbary apes are very similar to human beings.

however evident similarities between yesterday's and today's subject are quite accidentally. ;-)

cu, trshptr

1705 - breaking the habit

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 55mm | f5.6 | ISO100 | 1/200 | lightroom 4

although today is father's day and actually all the wives, girlfriends and sisters should be ignored, i'm very happy that currently - at my birthday weekend - my father, his wife and my little sister nadja are paying a visit to tina and me at lake constance. for this reason it is really no problem for me to break the habit of strolling about with my guys on father's day.

the five of us had a wonderful day at the lake in ueberlingen in prime weather conditions. nadja was positive flustered the whole day. her brother, the beloved tina, the sweet kitty nila and the big lake - she is a water fool - the sum of these impressions was almost too huge for her capacity. at the moment i'm writing these lines she is already out for the count since two hours. don't worry, nadja: we all have had the experience of being fagged out while being unaware of this circumstance in our youths. finally the sleep of the just relativises your impressions.

cu, trshptr

0605 - cool down

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 27mm | f4.0 | ISO200 | 1/125 | lightroom 4

after our weekend rituals like having a lie-in, a great breakfast and the soccer match at the afternoon tina and i went to a village fair in markdorf, called dixiefest. it is a yearly trade festival, all shops have opened till 6pm although the day of the event is always sunday.

we had a get-together with nice people, above all the coffee specialist who explained us everything about coffee roasting won our hearts. after the roasting process in the cylinder the beans have to cool down in the catch tank. at that the beans are stirred vigorously. it's too bad that pics don't smell.

cu, trshptr

2604 - play with us

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

besides salamanders you can find dogs everywhere in sardinia. many landowners use them to protect their property against unwelcome visitors or boars. in the scene of the picture tina was being investigated by five  (!) cute dogs simultaneously. only at the first appearance she seems to be a little bit peeved.

2404 - state of shock

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 55mm | f5.6 | ISO1600 | 1/80 | aperture priority | raw files cropped, aligned and processed in lightroom 4

salamanders are everywhere in sardinia. unfortunately they are very agile so that you will have a hard time trying to take a photograph of them. in a climbing cave in the centre of the island i caught an exemplar on the hop. to its cost it had missed the correct moment to leave the shadow. because of the too low blood heat it wasn't able to move a finger.