0610 - the admiration

October 07, 2012 in 8, arena, berlin, blue, cobble, colour, fisheye, germany, light, nex 7, night, o2, pattern, people, portrait, sky, sony, stadium, sunset, walimex samyang rokinon

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

0310 - siesta

October 03, 2012 in 8, calm, candid, colour, contrast, fisheye, flag, fun, home, kitchen, nex 7, pattern, people, personal, portrait, rest, shoes, sleep, sony, walimex samyang rokinon

setup: sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8 f2.8 fisheye | 8mm | f4.0 | ISO400 | 1/13 | cornerfix & lightroom 4.1

how can one optimally celebrate the german day of unity? maybe you should try to relax as much as possible remembering the few memories you still have. in this way tina has spent her afternoon, however after biking almost two hours around our local hill gehrenberg.

having a siesta is definitely one of her favourite activities on days off duty. she loves to snuggle down in the comfortable african blanket on our old, threadbare couch, that had been baddish scratched by our kitties already during our time in hamburg.

our proper contribution to today's public holiday was an east german charcoal-grill barbecue on west german soil in the evening. this is real understanding among nations.

cu, trshptr

0110 - nowhere to run

October 01, 2012 in 30, cathedral, church, contrast, door, italy, light, moment, monument, mood, movement, nun, partial coloured, pattern, people, porto venere, portrait, reflection, shadow, sigma

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

subsequent to a long travel you always have to evaluate a great many pictures. thereby sometimes a few ones attract your attention although they hadn't struck initially. today an image of a hurrying nun that is leaving the cathedral of porto venere caught my eye. in my opinion the harsh post-processing fits the moody scenery very well.

probably tomorrow or the day after a walimex / samyang / rokinon pro 8mm f2.8 fisheye lens will arrive for an extensive test during the coming days. for that reason i'm going to work especially with this very special lens for now and according to that the next postings will be concerned with the apparently excellent little fisheye lens. i'm curious how the fisheye will match the nex 7.

cu, trshptr

2909 - public transportation system scooter

September 29, 2012 in 30, action, blur, genoa, high key, italy, movement, nex 7, panning, partial coloured, pattern, people, portrait, public transport, scooter, sigma, sony, street, townscape, urban

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f10.0 | ISO100 | 1/13 | lightroom 4.1

already at 8am tina and i left the wonderful cottage in liguria. ten totally different days of holidays are now written in our small family history. hard to imagine that i have to go to work in two days again - anyhow some hours of resting are waiting for us.

when we finally arrived at home at 3pm my matriculation documents were already waiting for me in the pillar box. yes, you have this right - during the coming three years from now on i'll be a student again. my course computational engineering - that is provided by the beuth hochschule berlin - will proceed as different distance learning units. i'm very curious and will report every now and then from my study progress.

for now the last photograph from italy is about a very defining element of italian street life - simply everybody aged between 16 and 70 seems to own a scooter. funnily the scooters have the things on the streets firmly under control - they wiggle through all the blocked roads and thereby they scare one or two pedestrians and car drivers, too.

cu, trshptr

2309 - zigzag

September 23, 2012 in 50, abstract, architecture, beach, bonassola, ceiling, colour, contrast, corridor, door, dressing room, green, grey, italy, nex 7, pattern, sel, sony, wardrobe

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f8.0 | ISO100 | 1/100 | lightroom 4.1

yesterday i told you that we're already feeling at home in the region of liguria and also in our cottage. today in the morning we saw people that have to be at home on the go. stark contraries.

la spezia is supposed to be the ugly duckling of the region of liguria. wrongheaded architecture and dirty suburbs are supposedly defining. despite the fact that la spezia is the second biggest city in liguria with 90k inhabitants, the visitors should steer clear of la spezia. so much for tourist theory. today i've got to know liguria as an interesting and authentic town with a great harbour. because of napoleon who realised la spezia's strategic location, still today the italian military and the local economy use the harbour for their purposes.

one of them are the fishermen who are very special people. in their cases a hard life and working conditions on the sea are paired with being constantly on the go and a minimum of comfort in the duty. although i'm very interested in their work and despite the fact that i'd willingly like to participate in their doings for some days or weeks i wouldn't be prepared for the very challenging peculiarities of the attending circumstances.

in the afternoon we were swimming in the sea at the beach of bonassola, one of the few big wave surf spots in italy. so today was really no up and down like the zigzag of the changing cubicle design but a straight and steady increase.

cu, trshptr

0109 - to the last drop

September 02, 2012 in 50, b+w, drop, garden, germany, grain, grey, home, leaf, minimalistic, nature, nex 7, old photo, pattern, plant, reflection, sel, sony, texture, water

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.

3108 - home time

August 31, 2012 in 50, abandoned, architecture, blue, building, colour, facility, factory, germany, glass, light, long-time exposure, markdorf, nex 7, night, pattern, red, sel, sony, window

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f13.0 | ISO100 | 5s | tripod | lightroom 4.1

finally it's home time. tomorrow we'll visit the local rock music festival in constance which will take up our whole day and night. the weather forecasts are very bad, it'll probably rain the whole time. so what? we'll be prepared. unfortunately the camera has to stay at home for that reason.

also the last employees had already left the offices when i took the night shot of an interesting facility in markdorf. maybe tomorrow there will be some of them among the 25.000 visitors.

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

0808 - no7 in crosshairs

August 08, 2012 in 50, architecture, decay, deeper meaning, door, facility, fun, germany, mittenwald, nex 7, partial coloured, pattern, sel, sony, street lamp, texture, urban, wall, window, yellow

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f5.6 | ISO100 | 1/400 | lightroom 4.1

sometimes you come around at funny scenes that you cannot pass without resting a few minutes and thinking about its details.

i've absolutely no idea what the builders might have thought when they installed the light switch 30cm next to the usual, optimal position where the cable appears from the wall. i've no clue why three arrows direct your view to the yellow tape that is affixed in the middle of the slightly blue door. and i've no frigging idea what the yellow tape actually implies.

questions upon questions, and no answers. probably i should have opened the door and figured it all out.

cu, trshptr

0208 - around the corner

August 02, 2012 in 30, architecture, building, colour, facility, friedrichshafen, germany, glass, hospital, house, multilayer, nex 7, pattern, red, reflection, sigma, sony, townscape, urban, yellow

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f8.0 | ISO100 | 1/60 | lightroom 4.1

a building that attracts me already since a few months is the nurses' hostel in friedrichshafen. the corridors are visible from outside through a huge glass facade. living in this big hostel has to feel more or less like living in the big brother house:

too disclosed to feel unobserved and too impersonal to feel home.

cu, trshptr