1309 - the entrance

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f2.8 | ISO1600 | 1/10 | lightroom 4.1

tomorrow we'll have our last work day for the next two weeks. tina and i already long for our vacation in italy. after a few days of hiking in the ortler alps we are going to settle down in a cottage in the region of liguria after we will have visited the city parma on our way to south.

before we'll begin our vacation we've a hard row to hoe on the forthcoming weekend: tomorrow evening we will take a bus to berlin and already 24 hours later we will take the same bus to bring us home again. the reason behind this crazy journey is the international aeronatic exhibition in berlin, that we are going to visit on saturday. anyhow a few hours in the huge city of berlin and time for a hopefully great dinner should be left in the basket before we approach the second 800 kilometres of the trip.

somewhat shorter was my today's journey: after my climbing lesson in the evening i have passed the still occupied castle of kirchberg near immenstaad for a moody, handheld night shot.

cu, trshptr

2708 - summery enjoyment

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f5.6 | ISO100 | 1/500 | lightroom 4.1

at odd times the actual state of our living conditions passes through tina's and my mind: fortunately we are able to enjoy the four seasons in a region where the most of the germans (and also a lot italians, dutch people, polish and other europeans) want to go for holidays.

the lake, the mountains, all the boats and (sometimes even) the foreign people mix to a great pleasure. being only half an hour on the lake in the evening compensates almost a whole exhausting work day.

today we've played the joker again and faded out the time at work with a relaxing cruise in a pedal boat.

cu, trshptr

1908 - retro charme

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f5.6 | ISO100 | 1/400 | lightroom 4.1

now, on sunday evening, the heat wave is almost over. we had a wonderful weekend at our beloved families and extended the trip for another night. therefor we will have to get up at five o'clock in the morning to arrive before noon at our place.

while walking through the town crimmitschau - the village where my mother lives belongs to it - we have spotted a tuned and modified trabant 601. the trabant is a car that was produced by the former east german car manufacturer veb sachsenring in zwickau. it was by far the most common vehicle in east germany. more information about the trabant on wikipedia.

the crumbled wall, the renewed street and the antique car - this could have been a retro-style scene of a movie from the 80s but it actually is the real life in 2012 in the eastern states of germany.

cu, trshptr

1008 - blurry flashback

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

0408 - afoot

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f3.2 | ISO100 | 1/200 | lightroom 4.1

today we were searching for a possibility to escape from the heat. although the lake's water temperature is currently well over 20 degrees, a plunge into the precious water is still a pleasure and enjoyment. funnily we've found the nicest places by pure chance. doesn't matter, it's all right as long as the cooling is successful.

furthermore today the absolute highlight of the culture festival in friedrichshafen was due. two ska bands, including the band moskovSKAya from ravensburg, made for a brilliant atmosphere. even the starting rain couldn't keep the people off from dancing. i'm really looking forward to the rock am see festival!

cu, trshptr

0308 - late night shopping

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

0108 - action painting

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f2.8 | ISO100 | 1/4000 | lightroom 4.1

it is hard to ecstasiate on a wednesday. normally it isn't tolerated anyway in everyday life that anybody ecstasiates. our societies yearn after people that function. the majority frowns at crazy, quirky or curious people. these have to take cover from being treated as a freak in big cities and their dark suburbs. normally!

on some days the rules of (our narrow) life become soft. there are events where peculiarities are assertively desired. events like the currently happening culture festival in friedrichshafen that unifies people of different mentalities only with the central theme art. one kind of art you can play out there is action painting. it's a very colourful fun. there should more often be action paintings on wednesdays.

cu, trshptr

3007 - diversity

setup: sony nex 7 with fujian 35 f1.7 | 35mm | f1.8 | manual focus | ISO100 | 1/2500 | lightroom 4.1

step by step the great diversity finds its way also into germany. those days when immigrants had felt off-colour in good old germany are mostly gone, hopefully never to return.

mercifully the bounds between different peoples will melt intensely during the coming decades, especially in europe with its schengen convention. there are already some examples of working multicultural togetherness: above all samples the big european melting pots london and berlin show how intercultural communication has to be. of course there is right-wing radicalism in these locations, too, but fortunately during the last years the mentality of the people has changed in this way that discrimination isn't tolerated anymore at all.

today we have been in friedrichshafen at the culture festival where cross-cultural art, music, theatre, cinema and sundry other things are offered in the open air. in my opinion it is delightful that i can enjoy the presence of people of every colour, language and origin without leaving my hometown.

cu, trshptr

2307 - debut work

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f3.2 | ISO100 | 1/30 | lightroom 4.1

today i plunged into the world of art. for that reason i want to let my spinning graphic art speak for itself. a picture is worth a thousand words...

as you may have realised, i don't take myself too serious today. i felt like it and i think, that everybody should have such days every now and then. tomorrow i'll be serious again. for sure.

cu, trshptr

2207 - magical column

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f13 | ISO100 | 1/3200 | lightroom 4.1

despite the conservative mindset of the people at lake constance a very special landmark was established in 2007 on the gangplank of meersburg. the artist peter lenk executed a column that illustrates the satirical portraits of all public characters of the history of the city.

the poet annette von droste-hulshoff is characterised as well as her brother baron joseph von laßberg, a collector of medieval manuscripts. at his side there appears cupid, at the same time damsel and winery owner wendelgard von halten comes down handsomely in an impressive pose and also the exorcist johann joseph gassner, whose actions are illustrated in a very grotesque way, is involved. the artist lenk also devoted attention to the "miracle doctor" franz anton mesmer, who is considered by many as the father of modern hypnotherapy.

in my pic i want to empower the mental superpowers of franz mesmer with catching the sun in his horseshoe.

cu, trshptr