1907 - nose against window

July 19, 2012 in 30, b+w, cobble, decay, fun, germany, glass, grey, markdorf, moment, nex 7, people, reading, reflection, sigma, sony, street, townscape, urban, window

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f2.8 | ISO100 | 1/250 | lightroom 4.1

today in the afternoon i met the myopic gran in markdorf while i was strolling about the streets. she is known all over in town. most of her time she sits at the bakery's and tries to read the newspaper which is displayed there. because of her malfunctioning eyes it seems to last hours till she has coped with reading the press.

it was the first time that i've seen her in the street, of course when she was reading again. unfortunately she is in a bad condition: she is myopic, a bad walker and realises almost nothing and nobody around her. maybe all of her senses go down bit by bit. but despite the physical decay she is really cuddly: funny to see how she pressed her nose against the window... and satisfying to assess how she masters her life after all.

cu, trshptr

1507 - preparation

July 15, 2012 in 50, action, blue, cinema, colour, equipment, germany, glass, light, live, nex 7, open-air, partial coloured, people, public viewing, reflection, sel, sony, technics, window

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f2.0 | ISO500 | 1/80 | lightroom 4.1

one time a year an open-air cinema event is conducted in our small village bermatingen. a visit to a movie is nothing out of the ordinary, but an open-air cinema is always somewhat special. we got excited about this special kind of event already in our youth, because one of the few drive-in cinemas is located only a few car minutes from our hometowns and we have been there many times in our youth, by car and also by bicycle.

an open-air movie enjoyment is completely different to an indoor session: anyway it is especially cosy, the people are allowed to smoke and if the weather is suitable you can see the stars in the sky. and if the movie is as good as the yesterday's one - "intouchables" was shown - everything is inherently consistent.

as a sideline i have observed the preparation work of the operator of the movable cinema equipment some minutes before the event started. the used system still works with film roles that had to be fixed in the projector. of course the operator managed this task very meticulous and experienced.

cu, trshptr

1407 - spanish folklore

July 15, 2012 in 50, action, blue, bokeh, brown, colour, face, germany, green, guitar, hair, live, music, musician, nex 7, people, portrait, sel, sony, summer

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f2.0 | ISO400 | 1/120 | -0.3ev | lightroom 4.1

open air music, some beers and the setting sun - that's how an evening at the weekend should be. and if the music is spanish folklore and the beer tastes fresh and delicious, it would not have taken much for completing the vacation feeling.

unfortunately i don't know who the two guys are that made music yesterday afternoon near our home, but what i know is, that they are really good at playing their instruments and conveying the local mood of the iberian peninsula. thank you for the pleasant evening!

cu, trshptr

1307 - outstretched tongue

July 14, 2012 in 30, b+w, decay, eyes, face, lisbon, mood, nex 7, pattern, people, poor man, portrait, portugal, sigma, sony, street, suburb, tongue, tramp, urban

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f4.0 | ISO100 | 1/320 | lightroom 4.1

friday, the 13th. time for a recapitulation of my portugal trip. time to review the top 100 of images and also time to show some more of these pics. pictures of the tough reality at our beloved holiday destinations.

i have shot a similar image of a tramp in constance, germany, some weeks ago. poverty doesn't stop at borders and cares little about nationality.

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

1007 - in the pouring rain

July 10, 2012 in 35, b+w, bokeh, calm, contrast, countryside, courtyard, eyes, face, fujian, germany, home, mood, nex 7, people, personal, portrait, rain, sony, texture

setup: sony nex 7 with fujian 35 f1.7 | 35mm | f1.8 | manual focus | ISO100 | 1/500 | lightroom 4.1

as i'd mentioned before special moods pleases me no end. when i came home from work today it had already rained for round about half an hour. a nice photography opportunity occurred: the stones in our backyard were wet, scattered light illuminated the yard and fortunately tina was willing to be my model that had to pose in the rain.

finally i'd realised that a planed photoshoot is a very difficult thing - you have to take care of so many little details that despite good expressions of my object more than the half of my images had at least one disturbing fault. however a dozen of pictures turned out well so that tina and also i are satisfied with the result and do not have to complain anymore.

the shown pic is the most natural one. maybe i'm going to show you more of the series later.

cu, trshptr

0307 - sea level from above

July 05, 2012 in 30, b+w, beach, coast, fun, grey, lagos, landscape, minimalistic, nature, nex 7, people, portugal, rest, sea, shore, sigma, sony, summer, wave

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

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

3006 - scepticism

July 01, 2012 in 30, air safety, blue, chaos, cloud, eyes, face, flight, hair, light, mirror, moment, nex 7, people, portrait, reflection, sigma, sky, sony, trip

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

today in the evening we fortunately landed safely in portugal after we had to stomach a very turbulent flight from memmingen to faro. i've never seen clouds like that, 6 to 8 kilometers high cumulus clouds were piercing through two to three layers of cirrus clouds. we really had an unbelievable view through the windows. sadly the employees of the airline had forgotten to clean them, so no picture of this spectacle turned out really well.

anyhow the little lady in front of mine marveled at the view, so please think your way into her mind by interpreting her facial expression.

cu, trshptr

2806 - that's it

June 29, 2012 in 50, action, b+w, bokeh, contrast, eyes, face, germany, hair, immenstaad, moment, nex 7, people, personal, portrait, public viewing, sel, smoker, smokers´ corner, sony

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f2.0 | ISO800 | 1/80 | lightroom 4.1

halftime. short break. time to catch a breath. time to have a cigarette, even for non-smokers. disillusion already at halftime.

yesterday italy operated simply more intelligent than our team. tactical clever, mersiless effectiv, simply great: for long periods they have played masterfully. despite a huge bunch of opportunities our attackers didn't bring about to net. and if you don't score you won't win.

now i wish the italian team the best of luck to beat the spanish. contrary to all other teams the italians have managed to improve their performance with each match. on sunday they will have to perform once again.

cu, trshptr