2905 - morning bloom

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f2.8 | ISO100 | 1/1600 | lightroom 4

although i'm a huge fan of the dark side of life - autumn, fog and mist, darkness, rain, all things that i go for - currently i'm unable to struggle against the ongoing summer. in the morning everything is still a bit wet of the dew but in the end of may the sun has already risen and the temperature has reached almost 20 degrees when i'm on my way to work by bike.

a wonderful enchanted mansion is located along the way to immenstaad. even if flowers and blossoms are not my favourite scene, i was fooled into interrupting my drive because of the great mix of the corn poppies in the middle of the dreamy cottage garden in front of purple foxgloves and the rising sun in the background.

when i reached work i had donned a protective cloak against stress, mischief and hustle and bustle. days should always start like that.

cu, trshptr

2805 - air corridor

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f8.0 | ISO100 | 1/500 | lightroom 4

these days i make heavy weather of narrowing down the choice of pics for my daily posting, there are simply too many options. it's not that they all were of best quality, but they are on a similar (medium and aspirant) level and all of them tell a certain little story.

subsequent to a challenging 90km bicycle tour with andi, a friend and workmate of mine, i have chilled for round about an hour in our courtyard when tina called me for a dinner delivery service - she is on duty at the moment. so i bought us some kebab at the turk in markdorf and drove to the hospital by car. i always feel like a very important person when i see tina at her work because in that case i'm exceptionally allowed to park at the farmyard of the hospital on the parking space of the call-out service.

at the hospital we usually eat our meals at the helicopter landing site behind the main building. for that reason we had to walk along the dark and obscure corridors. the last corridor ended in the open country - the helipad area. from there we obtained the best view over the (foggy) lake. the contrast between the dark floors and workrooms of the hospital and the bright landscape was a bit surreal. and when there is nothing to do for tina, no emergencies or something like that are occurring, there are really worse places to spend your working hours.

cu, trshptr

2505 - confusion

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f1.8 | ISO200 | 1/4000 | lightroom 4

in terms of any issue yesterday was a very beautiful day. although i had to work until the late afternoon what in my case is unusual for a friday the tide turned at the latest after having a picnic together with tina on the stairs in the middle of friedrichshafen. couscous salad, baguette, burgers, herbal curd and a few beers - this made my day. along with it we had prime weather, at 8pm the thermometer showed still 22 degrees.

yesterday even the crowd of tourists kept within reasonable limits. exceptionally the locals were in control of the situation at the boardwalk. this state maybe concerns with the forthcoming long weekend, it was so to say the silence before the storm. as i said before i simply love the spring with its awful lot of feast days.

one or two tourists showed up yet again. one of them was especially confused, he stood next to us and gazed into space. instead of helping him i took my nex and captured the scene. evil local!

cu, trshptr

2405 - faked fisheye

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f1.8 | ISO1600 | 1/40 | lightroom 4

with today's photo i kill two birds with one stone: you get a glimpse of my lovely bathroom and also without a vivid fantasy you are able to get an idea of my simple hairstyle. i took the picture immediately after leaving the bathtub.

while you are passing judgement on the technical implementation of the shot (f.e. regarding focus) and on the seeming length of my nose, please have consideration for the crowning of the shower head... ;-)

cu, trshptr

2005 - delicious small fruit

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 28mm | f4.0 | ISO100 | 1/25 | lightroom 4

as i wrote in a former posting at the weekend breakfast amounts to a huge ritual in our household. since two weeks domestic strawberries are available again at last. we had missed these delicious small fruits coming fresh off the regional production!

our thanks have to be conveyed also to the polish temporary workers who are appointed in questionable wage conditions only for the high season. to be honest: i would accept the circumstance that a lug costs twice as much if either the employers would raise the wage of the polish harvest hands or more local workers would be hired.

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

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

1205 - sufficient distance

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 18mm | f4.0 | ISO400 | 1/20 | lightroom 4

today forenoon tina and i attended the opening of an art exhibition of two local painters in the little cloister weppach some minutes by car away from our home. above all we really fall for the artist hendrik tuttlies. his oeuvre relates to the topic transition of the nature.

the colourful graphics and drawings were drawn by him with drawing ink or paint on canvas, glass, aluminium or paper. very interesting, very impressive. the man in the pic above must have thought that, too, he lingered over studying the drawing for a few minutes.

cu, trshptr

1105 - community

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 35mm | f4.5 | ISO400 | 1/40 | lightroom 4

contrary to f.e. the uk in germany it is common practise to rent the dwelling. of course we don't buck the trend. as i said before we live in a very beautiful rented accommodation with a huge courtyard in its middle. next to us a handful other parties reside. today we - (almost) all together - had a very nice time at a wine tasting directly next to our house at the vineyard "markgraf von baden".

we have learned a lot about wine, its production, the vineyard (140 hectare) itself and the earl. after five hours of talks and fun i summed the evening up in a small piece of poetry for the host's guestbook. in german:

freitag abend,

6 sorten wein,

erquickend und erlabend,

da sagt der eichenhof nicht nein,

dazu ein opulentes vesper,

nette gedichte,

definitv keine rester,

nur mehr lachen im gesichte.

analogous in english, of course without rhyme:

friday evening,

6 sorts of wine,

invigorating and refreshing,

the "eichenhof" doesn't say no,

additionally an opulent evening meal,

nice pieces of poetry,

definitely no remains,

just more laughter in our faces.

the community is strong.

in the pic above you can see some bottles of homemade pear schnapps of the vineyard.

cu, trshptr

0905 - vertical

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 52mm | f5.6 | ISO800 | 1/250 | lightroom 4

may i introduce mr. vertical, the brown little spider, to you? we met today in the morning while i was brushing my teeth. together we had a nice shoot before he escaped through our terrace window.

i wish you all the best, take care of your gracile legs, they are wonderful.

cu, trshptr