2809 - summer goodbye

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

swimming in the ocean at the end of september isn't an usual activity for us. so today's vacation farewell trip to tellaro, a village in the south of la spezia that belongs to the most beautiful villages of italy on the initiative of the associazione nazionale comuni italiani, was something very special. 25 degrees in the shade and eight hours of sunshine, wonderful beaches, a refreshing sea and a terrific view along the high shore over the golf of la spezia across to portovenere and the isola palmaria really made a great surrounding for the last day of our holidays in italy.

a funny peculiarity of the most of the beaches of liguria is the fine pebble. tina really liked the very fine stones tickling her back. and they are good-looking, too.

cu, trshptr

0109 - to the last drop

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f2.8 | ISO1000 | 1/80 | silver efex pro plug-in for lightroom 4.1

today was the long-awaited festival day, we were at the rock am see festival in constance. as i told you yesterday my nex 7 had to stay at home because i didn't want to mind out my equipment the whole day and night. anyhow i've shot a few pics with my smartphone (two examples on my mobile photography tumblr blog: the tree & tired).

the festival itself was brilliant. my favourites were itchy poopzkid, flogging molly, greenday and kraftklub - in that order. it was a lot of drinking, dancing and pogo. great fun with a few wounds in the aftermath which is perhaps down to the fact that we revved up to the last drop.

cu, trshptr

btw: the photography magazin fotohits gives away pro licences of the b&w post processing plug-in application silver efex pro, the predecessor of the current version 2. their promotion will be active till end of september, get your own key here if you want. today's pic was used for a first attempt working with this lightroom plug-in. i'm very satisfied with the results.

2408 - edge transition

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f5.6 | ISO320 | 1/80 | lightroom 4.1

sometimes the assessment of the current situation depends on the perspective you are looking on the issue.

going to school was almost always boring and annoying at school days. now, 10 years after the graduation, school (and study) days seem to be prime of life. i think you might know many of these constellations.

today's transition was a whole lot simpler: with an angular view on straight objects like the colour-framed windows of the quiescent-looking school of friedrichshafen - there are still holidays in south germany - square shapes shift to parallelograms.

cu, trshptr

1808 - orange wisp of cloud

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f7.1 | ISO125 | 1/80 | lightroom 4.1

some pics create the impression that they weren't captured by a camera but painted with a brush. today in the evening i have shot an incredible sunset over saxony while we were walking over the fields to view the horses' way to the paddock where they usually stay in the night.

it was already getting darker and we had to turn around and go back the same way to reach the restaurant in time for the dinner of my father's birthday party when the sky bloomed in the most wonderful orange.

cu, trshptr

2706 - pure lily

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f5.6 | ISO100 | 1/80 | lightroom 4.1

the one or other appears belated. sometimes it is important that anything appears anyhow. whilst the calla lilies of our neighbours are already withered, our sole calla has finally decided to begin to blossom this week.

tina is very delighted by this fact, even if the lily needs her courtesy and care every day - according to our neighbour who is a full-time gardener, this year all lilies suffer from a virus that causes visible spots on the leafs of the callas (also in my pic). let's hope for its recovery.

today i want to say goodbye till sunday evening or monday because we are going to be on a short summit tour in austria at the weekend. the weekend postings will be published a bit delayed, sorry for that. wish you pleasant days off.

cu, trshptr

1607 - plump vs. lean

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f8.0 | ISO100 | 1/640 | lightroom 4.1

during the last few weeks i've begun to be satisfied with the technical implementation of my pics. slowly but steady i have a handle on my nex 7, i do not have to think about its operation anymore. conversely i'm really impatient of a few of my daily pic ideas or/and the composition of these images. precisely because there is a lack of interesting photography opportunities in the area around lake constance - besides the often shown and captured idyllic scenes - the collocation of a well composed image has to be reconsidered again and again. as from now i want to take into account all factors: concentrate on the full details, compose a statement and affect the viewers, if possible.

let me begin in a small way: some parts of our societies discriminate against people, that are plump or lean. the most people do not have the balls to voice this, what makes them appear even more ridiculous. fortunately there is a lid for every pot, as you can see in the image above. everybody has to have the right to exist regardless whether he, she or it is thin or fat, black or white, tall or small.

my story may seem quite a stretch, sorry, but this is what i've thought when i spotted the scene today in the afternoon in markdorf. cultivated coexistence, nothing else matters! no fence between the individuals, no podium for anybody, because there is no right or wrong. so as you can see the composition of today's pic is still not perfect, but the architectural circumstances were set... ;)

cu, trshptr

0907 - incidence

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.

cu, trshptr

0407 - arco da rua augusta

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f2.8 | ISO200 | 1/20 | lightroom 4.1

for a beginner like me it isn't that easy to develop a different view on the common and sometimes most photocopied scenes of the world. there is a repugnancy: you want to attract the viewer but you don not want to bore him with well known images. for lisbon i especially set my sights on keeping the number of pictures within a limit and additionally i want to try to avoid pictures that in this way were shot already thousand times before.

let's get started with a view of the ceiling of the arco da rua augusta. it is a triumphal arch-like, historical building and visitor attraction on commerce square, built to commemorate the city's reconstruction after the 1755 earthquake. it has six columns (some 11m high) and is adorned with statues of various historical figures. originally designed as a bell tower, the building ultimately transformed into elaborate arch within more than century-long delays (source).

cu, trshptr

0307 - sea level from above

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f8.0 | ISO100 | 1/800 | lightroom 4.1

before we leave the algarve towards lisbon besides surfing a bit of landscape exploration had to be done, too. after we visited the north of portugal with the regions around porto, aveiro, figueira da foz and peniche whilst the second of our last year's surf trips with their long and flat beaches for this year we expected a rocky and mountainous shore and more clayey soil.

and we weren't disappointed by the south of portugal: along the seaside we were walking for round about three hours from porto de mos to dona ana. it was a constant up and down with the view of beautiful postcard pictures.

despite everything i was especially taken with the special angle of the view on the things on the sea level. it was a bit like flying over the shore and observing the activities from this special position.

cu, trshptr

1506 - 9645km remembrance

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f2.8 | ISO320 | 1/60 | lightroom 4.1

yesterday i received the message that i will get my nex7 back on friday. today is the day, a compact parcel caused huge zest. the show can go on.

as a side note today i also received the response to my service request from sony, as late as today... fortunately i've cared for a repair shop by myself.

after my exhausting one-week business trip i've used the afternoon to take an extensive rest in our courtyard and furthermore for a long running. then in the evening we visited the opening of the photo exhibition "9645km remembrance" of helena schätzle, who has followed the trails of her grandfather for the war-time and postwar. the second world war is of course an often discussed topic but helena schätzle looks back on and reappraises the era and links this issue to her personal family history simply wonderfully.

besides many impressive portraits of contemporary witnesses and landscape photos of the war scenes several quotes, interviews and a few mementos are exhibited. the old combat jacket is captioned by the quote

"i'm sitting in the barrack room with some fellows in dead silence. 

everybody's sad thoughts are in the homeland at the beloved ones."

today's pic isn't really good, but i desperately wanted to tell the story of somebody whose relatives were killed in war, so you can understand that persons are deeply moved only by words or images.

cu, trshptr