1108 - into the dark

August 12, 2012 in 30, b+w, boat, car, constance, ferry, germany, lake, lake constance, light, meersburg, mood, moon, nex 7, night, people, public transport, sigma, sony, water

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f2.8 | ISO1600 | 1/20 | lightroom 4.1

going by ferry at night is a mystic event for me. we've been already going by the night ferry home from constance when the 24 hours flea market took place and i was looking forward to today night especially because of the public transport and not only the primary event, the lake constance night festival [seenachtsfest].

as i've expected the festival itself wasn't the shit: there were too many drunken and aggressive people, who nosed forward their ways around the heavily overcrowded festival area. going to the toilet lasted at least about an hour for the ladies - simply unacceptable. anyhow the great fireworks made our day, it was really a great music supported light show that was provided by a two country cooperation and endured for almost an hour. for that reasons many photographers with huge tripods were present, too.

whereas i was already looking forward to the return journey again.

cu, trshptr

1008 - blurry flashback

August 10, 2012 in 50, architecture, b+w, cobble, fountain, lisbon, monument, nex 7, night, pattern, people, portugal, sel, sight, sony, square, street, street lamp, townscape, urban

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

0308 - late night shopping

August 04, 2012 in 50, agriculture, countryside, eating, fruit, germany, light, markdorf, market, nex 7, night, people, personal, schnapps, sel, shadow, sony, street, vegetables, wine

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f2.5 | ISO200 | 1/20 | lightroom 4.1

like i already said, the area around lake constance is characterised by agriculture, especially fruit and vegetable cultivation and the processing of these products. so you can buy regional products like apples, courgettes, grapes, cherries, cucumbers or homemade juices, vines, liquors and schnapps for little money in every store.

the most of the farms also sell their agricultural products in small self-service kiosks at the streets. of course depending on the time the offer is more or less opulent because their commodity is always fresh. in our case we've stopped at the kiosk at 10pm after we'd have dinner with friends in their favourite balkan restaurant: for that reason the number of products was limited, but you always get anything.

cu, trshptr

2607 - out of the depths

July 27, 2012 in 50, b+w, cinema, face, fun, germany, home, light, mirror, mood, movie, nex 7, night, personal, portrait, sel, self portrait, sony, wood

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f1.8 | ISO1600 | 1/60 | lightroom 4.1

... the dark knight is rising.

i'm just back from the cinema where the movie "the dark knight rises" has premiered. and i'm still stunned by the vigorous images that were presented in the third part of christopher nolan's film series. although i might say that the story of the second part pleased me a bit more after the first view, the outlining of the several characters is realised very, very well! just this fact justifies the visit to this movie.

maybe i'm going to dream about the movie characters tonight, about good and evil, batman and bane, integrity and betrayal. all these points are really hard to get hold of and the borders between them are partly fluent.

in the most general sense this posting renders homage to the great batman trilogy. unfortunately i don't own a batman mask so that i had to take a wooden mask from bali to cause a bit of fear. who can say how the next baddie will look like?

cu, trshptr

2507 - yellow bar

July 26, 2012 in 30, art, bar, colour, germany, hotel, light, mood, munich, nex 7, night, orange, reflection, restaurant, sigma, sony, still life, urban, window, yellow

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f2.8 | ISO200 | 1/30 | lightroom 4.1

first of all i have to announce that fortunately tina's examination has turned out very well. we all are very happy about that and have to make good for a drink to this result together today in the evening.

my business trip was very pleasant, too. after arrival in munich at lunch we had some discussions and meetings in the afternoon, before a huge barbecue party that was organised by some of my work mates sounded the bell for a great night. we, my fellow martin and i, started with a few beers in the bar of the cool stay2munich hotel that you can see in my daily pic and ended in the club 089 in the inner city of munich with a few other mates.

although munich doesn't count among my favourite cities of germany this evening disabuses me regarding my prejudice.

cu, trshptr

1807 - orange patchwork

July 18, 2012 in 30, architecture, brown, colour, facility, germany, light, markdorf, nex 7, night, orange, partial coloured, pattern, shadow, sigma, sony, townscape, urban, walk, wall

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f2.8 | ISO640 | 1/50 | lightroom 4.1

today i hadn't had the time to catch a breath before half past nine. after work i had to wash all the bicycles, three in number, and do some maintenance work on tina's mountain bike. after all i have lingered after an after work coffee latte at a branch of a well-known big junk chain for the whole evening. at half past nine tina and i had finally accomplished our object, a tall latte for me and a vanilla frappe for her.

while we were stretching our legs subsequent to the drink, i spotted the illuminated, orange wall, that seems to be composed of dozens of rectangular patches. nothing spectacular, but beautiful to look at, especially because its recurring forms and the nicely produced shadows.

cu, trshptr

1107 - humanoid camera

July 11, 2012 in 50, beard, blue, contrast, eyes, face, hair, light, mirror, mood, nex 7, night, people, personal, portrait, sel, self portrait, shadow, sony, texture

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f2.8 | ISO100 | 1/13 | lightroom 4.1

when you are an ambitious photographer that is willing to learn constantly, at some point you will realise that you have begun to see your life only in frames. this is basically not so bad, you learn to handle this circumstance.

whereas the point to feel pressured by the obligation of capturing a suitable pic per day is a real problem. i ran into this issue some weeks ago and believe me, especially for an absolute beginner of serious photography this burden is definitely not conducive to obtain the best possible results and to learn the hobby in a relaxed way. you try to figure out if any, really any object would make a good scene - this is an exhausting process!

learning is known as a process whereby you improve your skills with every fault or problem you did. you have to be fully aware of this case, otherwise your expectations on yourself will always be unaccomplished. my personal aim of this photography project is the self-discovery which kind of photography i like and what kind of photographer i am, too.

in the course of this i sometimes feel like a humanoid camera.

cu, trshptr

0907 - incidence

July 09, 2012 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.

cu, trshptr

0407 - arco da rua augusta

July 05, 2012 in 50, architecture, art, ceiling, facility, lisbon, memorial, minimalistic, monument, nex 7, night, partial coloured, pattern, portugal, rua augusta arch, sel, sight, sony, still life, urban

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

0207 - parallel running

July 03, 2012 in 50, art, b+w, bruno guerreiro, contrast, eyes, face, glass, lagos, light, nex 7, night, pattern, people, portrait, portugal, sel, shadow, sony, street

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f2.8 | ISO1250 | 1/80 | lightroom 4.1

many things in life run parallel. love and hate, black and white and also things that aren't that contrasting like occupation and vocation. not everybody is able to unify occupation and vocation. a great many people only work to earn the necessary amount of money to ensure the life standard and actually fulfil their selves in spare time with any hobbies.

by pure chance i met bruno guerreiro, a portuguese photographer, in the historic town of lagos today in the evening. he approached me because of my camera equipment and in so doing we got into conversation about photography and anything else. he's going to exhibit some stuff in the cultural centre of lagos starting in the middle of july. i entrust a visit of his exhibition to everybody who lives or is currently for holidays in portugal: http://brunoguerreirophotography.pt.vu

like the great many people i spoke about in the first paragraph he is also not able to earn his bread and butter with his photography but it is his passion and his heart is really in it. it was really nice meeting you, bruno!

cu, trshptr