0607 - pulling the strings

July 06, 2012 in 50, architecture, art, b+w, contrast, lisbon, nex 7, pattern, portugal, public transport, sel, sky, sony, spider, street, townscape, tram, urban, web, wire

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f2.0 | ISO100 | 1/4000 | lightroom 4.1

the tram of lisbon is world-famous. the "carros eléctricos de lisboa" are operated by electricity already since 1901. due to the partially historic transport fleet and the interesting routing across the hilly townscape of lisbon the tram is very popular with the tourists.

besides the obvious points of the tram as a wonderful infrastructural feature of lisbon it attracted my attention with its spiderweb of contact wires that is pulled across the whole city centre and in that way indirectly influences the townscape. in spots only one ring sticks a lot of wires together. amazing thing!

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

0107 - flagged

July 03, 2012 in 50, architecture, art, colour, flag, lagos, light, nex 7, night, pattern, portugal, red, reflection, sel, sony, stairs, street, texture, townscape, urban

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f2.0 | ISO400 | 1/20 | lightroom 4.1

till wednesday everything revolves about surfing. so at present there is hardly time for other activities because after three hours of surfing you are simply dead.

after a restful sleep of minimum six to seven hours you have to breakfast extensively to accumulate an adequate amount of energy for the first lesson. after the transfer to the surf sport monte clérigo near aljezur at the west coast you complete your equipment and before the action restarts in earnest. three hours of surfing that are divided by a break of round about one hour for lunch.

in the evening we are completely starved and exhausted so much that after another extensive meal in the historic town of lagos in the most cases the next way leads us directly into bed. anyhow one or another photo opportunity falls to me. probably i'm going to zero in on photography in lisbon again.

cu, trshptr

1606 - fancy bits

June 17, 2012 in 50, action, brown, constance, face, germany, light, market, mood, music, nex 7, night, people, portrait, sel, sony, street, summer, texture, urban

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f1.8 | ISO1000 | 1/80 | lightroom 4.1

i've never been at a 24 hour flea market before. what a night!

we went to the transborder flea market constance / kreuzlingen by bicycle and ferry, only this experience was worth the journey. after some burgers and beers at the minster and the football match between poland and czechoslovakia at an italian coffee shop we started our scrabbling tour with some friends - a migration distance of 14 kilometres and round about 1.000 exhibitors were waiting for us.

i turned the bedside lights off at 4am on sunday. what a night!

some more interesting pics of the event can be seen here.

cu, trshptr

1406 - municipio

June 14, 2012 in 18-55, 400d, architecture, building, calm, canon, cloud, door, eos, italy, monument, partial coloured, people, rest, sardinia, street, symmetry, townhall, trip, urban

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 25mm | f5.6 | ISO100 | 1/500 | lightroom 4

a typical central square in an italian town. you can get an idea of the peculiarities that these places implicate!

what is sure is that you do not have to bother about your safety - one of the many roosting men would rescue you from any dangers. hopefully.

cu, trshptr

1206 - rebellion of the kids

June 12, 2012 in 18-55, 400d, action, alley, b+w, canon, contrast, corridor, decay, eos, fun, italy, movement, people, personal, sardinia, street, suburb, trip, urban

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 28mm | f4.0 | ISO400 | 1/160 | lightroom 4

it's not what you say but how you say it. the tone of a few rebellious kids we observed in santa maria navarrese was questionable. but i want to let them get away with their rebellion - growing up and all that goes with it need strength and the ability to assert oneself.

cu, trshptr

1106 - filler house

June 11, 2012 in 18-55, 400d, abandoned, alley, architecture, b+w, building, canon, contrast, corridor, eos, house, italy, sardinia, shadow, street, townscape, tree, trip, urban

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 48mm | f5.6 | ISO100 | 1/320 | lightroom 4

it should not be forgotten that some facts differ from country to country. therby in sardinia a wrong assumption played into our hands.

wednesday seems to be a day of rest in italy, we had to learn this fact. all the shops were closed. that's why besides us almost nobody else was walking through the narrow alleys of bosa, a mountain village at the east coast of sardinia. so we could enjoy the special architecture of bosa without interruption.

cu, trshptr

0906 - mugging

June 09, 2012 in 18-55, 400d, action, b+w, canon, contrast, eos, face, italy, light, people, poor man, sardinia, shadow, street, suburb, summer, trip, urban

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 27mm | f4.0 | ISO200 | 1/1000 | lightroom 4

really admirable that this hampered old couple had shouldered burden and stress of a bus or an air trip - they seemed to be dutch - only for some days of sightseeing. they were walking around alghero within the context of a guided tour group. although i haven't seen any smiles playing on their lips they for sure enjoyed the experiences they had gained in this historic city.

really pesky that this beggar-woman bothered the two of them. i indeed appreciate poverty and starvation of the immigrants but i'm not willing to accept a mafia-like rip-off - we met the lady later in the bus: her supposed baby was a doll.

fortunately the tourists had summed up the situation - they gave the beggar the cold shoulder.

cu, trshptr

0707 - lined lady

June 07, 2012 in 18-55, 400d, animal, brown, canon, cat, decay, eos, eyes, face, green, italy, portrait, sardinia, townscape, trip, urban, wall, whiskers, window

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 55mm | f5.6 | ISO200 | 1/100 | lightroom 4

when you visit an european city you'd expect that free-roaming cats influence the townscape. thereby in sardinia pets aren't that high rated as the people do in germany. many cats have to run their own lives. funnily also the dogs do as they please. especially in alghero we often saw dogs walking on their own, there was no human being on view far and wide.

hopefully the lined lady of my pic will get along furthermore.

cu, trshptr

0406 - x-shaped

June 04, 2012 in 30, architecture, art, b+w, building, cloud, germany, glass, house, markdorf, nex 7, pattern, reflection, sigma, sky, sony, street, townscape, urban, wall

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f5.6 | ISO800 | 1/60 | lightroom 4.1

i could just cry! today i own the nex 7 no more than for 14 days and the first big hw failure already occurred: the display detent in the tilt frame is broken. f***! more than 1000 bucks and the item is broken yet. now i have to keep struggling with the (maybe unqualified) first level support and waive several weeks without my nex. i could cry.

nevertheless the show must go on (as long as possible). as may be imagined today i didn't really fancy conceiving an innovative idea after these bad news although i had a pleasant evening with tina at the cinema watching snow white and the huntsman in the original english version. so i ended up with an architectural pattern image of a company building that is located in markdorf. tomorrow i'll be in a better mood again.

cu, trshptr