0410 - vastness

setup: sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8 f2.8 fisheye | 8mm | f11.0 | ISO200 | 1/20 | cornerfix & lightroom 4.2

i still have to become attuned to the vastness of the angle of view of my new fisheye lens. today in the morning on my way to work by bike i spotted a really natural scenery in the fields of markdorf that of course had to be captured. it's no hdr image, only slightly adjustments in lightroom.

at the weekend the fisheye lens will accompany me to berlin and the complete next week i'll be engaged on business in hamburg. at the latest in the middle of next week i'm going to write my detailed thoughts about the walimex pro fisheye lens and how it matches the nex 7. 

cu, trshptr

0210 - stacked & bread rain

setup: sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8 f2.8 fisheye | 8mm | f2.8 | ISO400 | 1/25 | cornerfix & lightroom 4.1

fortunately the announced walimex pro fisheye lens has arrived already today in the afternoon. for the evening i'd planned to shoot a special scenery in bodman-ludwigshafen at the western end of lake constance. a friend of mine had told me of the presence of an example of a very special kind of "lake art" - every now and then a stone artist places stone towers at the lakeside that seen as a stress engineer could really never bear.

for the viewer they exude calm and balance, really adorable.

setup: sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8 f2.8 fisheye | 8mm | f4.0 | ISO400 | 1/100 | cornerfix & lightroom 4.1

heading for the place where the work is located we met a nice guy who was feeding the ducks and seagulls. although he seemed to be a bit strange he's surely a very nice and sensitive guy who cares about the nature and its animals.

i'll write more about the walimex pro fisheye lens during the next days. in advance only a very short information: it touches simply wonderfully and seems to be built of very high quality.

furthermore my two today's samples show how differently a fisheye lens can be used. both the emphasis of the distorted fisheye character as well as the use as an almost normal ultra wide angle lens are imaginable.

cu, trshptr

2609 - modern porto antico di genova

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f4.0 | ISO400 | 1/160 | lightroom 4.1

genoa is the biggest city in the region of liguria - thereby a must-visit - and one that is exceedingly proud of its harbour. as you can see in today's pic genoa is because of its location at the bottom of the apennine mountains almost exclusively facing its historical porto antico di genova and the mediterranean sea.

besides its historical importance the harbour of genoa is one of the biggest concerning its container handling in the whole mediterranean ocean. apparently their expansion isn't completed yet - today we saw different places inside the container harbour where new spaces for probably more containers are built by reclaiming land. the harbour gained its importance especially because of the wide northern hinterland of liguria that involves the industry areas from milan and turin and even comes down to the switzerland.

despite the very industrial character of the harbour (and the whole city, too) a bit of chic and vain has found its way into the old capital of liguria. the modern influence in the yacht harbour really fits to the antico porto di genova and the beautiful townscape of this costal city.

cu, trshptr

2509 - shutter island

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f5.6 | ISO100 | 1/640 | lightroom 4.1

sometimes in life you determine similarities between real life and stories that only exist in your mind. these can be stories from books, movies or also your own, personal dreams. today we've acted in a movie, of course a very great one.

besides the central, main cinque terre there are also villages and places in the region of liguria that are worth the journey and visit. today we had a look at porto venere, a very beautiful little town directly next to la spezia. additionally we had a long walk on the offshore isola palmaria, one of three islands next to porto venere, that seem to be reincarnations of the shutter island, a prison island (and identically named terrific film with leo do caprio) from hollywood.

there were different hints why shutter island is a suitable comparison to the isola palmaria: we heard some very loud gunshots today, walked along a few old massive bunker, saw many very old power lines, that have their origin in different fenced off areas, the abandoned island is characterised by high coast and of course there is a lighthouse. in the night it could have been really frightening staying on this island, but fortunately we visited the wonderful island at daytime.

funnily we were heaving a sigh of relief when we finally spotted the church san pietro of porto venere on the opposite mainland where the taxi boat dropped us off another hour later.

cu, trshptr

1509 - spectatorship

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f4.0 | ISO100 | 1/1600 | lightroom 4.1

we arrived at half past ten in the morning. the parking areas were already jammed and many people were sitting in traffic on the roads to the berlin expocenter airport. i just waked up a few minutes ago and we had finally reached the berlin air show 2012, the ila 2012, after an eleven hour bus ride overnight.

the night wasn't so bad. of course i waked up a couple of times but luckily i was able to get back to sleep within a few minutes repeatedly. tina had the whole last seat row all to herself and i made myself comfortable beneath it. that way we spent the night and arrived in berlin mostly rested and without huge pain.

fortunately solely the show itself was worth the long journey: both the dynamic and the static display were pretty to watch although the shown was nothing new for me. all the more tina was very enthusiastic about the performance of man and machine. and also among themselves the participants spectated their shows and held their deeds in veneration.

and now into the city!

cu, trshptr

1409 - lakeside junk market

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f2.8 | ISO1600 | 1/50 | lightroom 4.1

are we really serious about busing to berlin and back within 30 hours? 1600 kilometres in two nights without a bed? tina is already beginning to doubt about the trip. therefor i have to divert her thoughts with dull consumption: let's visit the junk market in friedrichshafen to get tired before our departure to berlin at friday midnight.

flea markets are commonly characterised by a comfortable atmosphere and a very diversified display. special ones like the 24 hours flea market in constance or the lakeside night flea market in friedrichshafen where we have been today in the evening enchant especially with their great and terrific surroundings.

strolling along the lakeside, grubbing for interesting stuff in the display of sellers from apparently everywhere and enjoying the fresh breeze that blows over the lake in midsummer evenings is an intense joy. and it's supposed to be a more intense joy if you are successful with shopping like we were today. and of course it's the most intense pleasure if a (little crazy) trip to our wonderful capital is due.

cu, trshptr

0809 - summer relapse

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f3.2 | ISO100 | 1/4000 | lightroom 4.1

earlier than expected the summer is back for a late summer interlude. yes, this weekend was supposed to be an active outdoor weekend but we couldn't calculate on such prime weather conditions. even better that we've had almost 30 degrees and bright sky today again.

whereas tomorrow the upper sections of our bodies will be strained by an outdoor climbing session in the danube valley today extensive hiking was due. we visited the marienschlucht, a ravine on the steep bank of the western end of lake constance. we walked almost 20 kilometres, half of it along the waterfront and the other half through the fabulous woods of constance.

of course our feet were glowing when we finally arrived bodman after our hike again. so why shouldn't we use the late afternoon for no resting and cooling down in the fresh water?

cu, trshptr

0609 - rural parking

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f1.8 | ISO1600 | +0.7ev | 1/20 | lightroom 4.1

of course you might believe that you know everything about your local environment. and then one day you break the usual habit and suddenly you find your way into a completely new world.

after a great dinner in a nearby restaurant that is operated from a couple from the alsace we had an absolutely necessary after-dinner walk through the villages. thereby a neat timber-framed building that i'd never noticed at daytime attracted our unrestricted attention. not only the great illumination but also the in front of the house parked tractor cut a great figure. in my opinion this was a really suitable scene for a rural village portrait.

marginal note: today in the afternoon very creative thoughts appeared in my brain, funnily while i was hoovering - tina would say that i should do this more often. some interesting photographic ideas were shaped to concepts. there's more to come.

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

1708 - morning glow

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f5.6 | ISO125 | 1/60 | -0.3ev | lightroom 4.1

today was an exhausting travel day - i picked tina up at half past six in the morning at the hospital - unfortunately she has had a horrible night at work with almost no sleep - and drove to my hometown werdau in saxony, where my father lives. he lends me one of his two cars for this weekend because the maintenance service is performed in my volkswagen. at half past two we finally reached our daily aim tina's grandma in thuringia.

it is great to see how zizou manages her new life. we spent the afternoon and evening with jawing, eating a great many grilled things and drinking (a lot). so to say usual family affairs.

the daily pic shows the misty sunrise that i have realised in the very early morning while i was driving to the hospital in friedrichshafen.

cu, trshptr