0104 - herringbone at night

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 28mm | f4.0 | ISO800 | 1/6 | aperture priority | raw file cropped, aligned and processed in lightroom 4

as i wrote in the last posting we drove to ravensburg on saturday evening where all stores and shops had opened until 11pm because of a long shopping night. after closing hour we had some drinks wherefor we returned not before the next morning. i hope it is acceptable that i take a shot of saturday night / sunday morning for the sunday posting.

while tina was attracted by all the stores and shops as usual, i discovered the second class roads - as usual - too. this nice herringbone patterned, green door with the grainy yellow wall was not far-off the shopping promenade. did i ever tell you that i like doors?

unfortunately my eos 400d was again at the end of its capabilities. but it mastered the problematic conditions to my satisfaction after a couple of attempts. i visited one specific store yesterday evening, too: in a big electronics store i played a bit around with the nex 5n. tiny little piece of engineering skills.

cu, trshptr

3103 - silence before the storm

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 27mm | f7.1 | ISO100 | 1/800 | aperture priority | raw file cropped, aligned and processed in lightroom 4

contrary to expectations the weather yesterday was not only clear but rather the temperatures made a chill out at the lake possible. so we visited hagnau, a small, pretty village right beside the lake. the sun was really warming, the cappuccinos were delicious and our walk relaxing. finally tina and i had rested on the quay walls for about two hours, in the meantime i took some pictures.

i kind of like the gangplank pic, not only based on its clear and simple appeal but the fact that chilling out at the lake is currently barely possible anyway. as i said before starting in easter a great many tourists will raid the villages and towns at the lakeshore what unfortunately forces the locals to avoid these areas. but yesterday we were still able to enjoy one of the nicest places in germany in an abandoned state.

in the evening we drove to ravensburg where all stores and shops had opened until 11pm because of a special event, the long shopping night.

we returned not on the same day, so i had to discover my new installed lightroom 4 on sunday. anticipatory i can say that lightroom is a big improvement to rawtherapee. visit my flickr stream to see it for yourself.

cu, trshptr

3003 - symmetry

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 28mm | f8.0 | ISO200 | 1/200 | aperture priority | raw file cropped, aligned and processed in rawtherapee

a hard working day was followed by a great, atmospheric walk at lake constance. tina and i cut along the waterside until we arrived at one of my favourite memorials in germany - the war memorial in remembrance of the fallen troops of the world wars in the 20th century, named kriegerdenkmal meersburg.

while i was struggling with my tentative equipment through the last few days - birthday, where are you - today´s conditions where not really challenging for lenses and sensors. although the light shined a bit soft, this fact matched with the mood of this impressive place. again and again the clouds teared up for some seconds und let a bundled sunbeam pass their natural umbrella. 

today i captured several good pics, so that i had to decide which one should be published on the blog. i picked this one, because i love its symmetry, simplicity and clarity. these three keywords exactly express the heart of the subtext that the monument conveys. it is unalterable, will survive longer than the humanity is able to look ahead and stands for the lives of thousands of men. may they rest in peace.

if you want to discover the memorial in detail, please visit my corresponding album on flickr.

cu, trshptr

btw:

sony nex 5n

sel 16 + wide angle conversion lens [12/2.8 + 16/2.8]

slr magic manual special lens [35/1.7]

sigma e-mount [30/2.8]

sel 50 [50/1.8]

consistent bundle for a beginner?

2903 - pink lady

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 39mm | f5.0 | ISO200 | 1/160 | aperture priority | raw file cropped, aligned and processed in rawtherapee

although i had to travel to munich today by reason of my job - for that reason only a very short posting today, sorry about that -, an occasion to capture a photo of an urban scene wasn´t caused. that didn´t matter, because on my way home i espied a really funky holland style bicycle in front of a not yet opened beer garden.

its purpose as an eyecatcher worked in my case - i stopped my car and inspected the object in detail. the finish of this oldtimer had been spread very amateurish, even the tires are painted. nevertheless i felt a not explainable gravity of this scene. in combination with the blue painted boards, the white window and the timber-framed wall the bike doesn´t appear displaced.

even though real life scenes look different, this funny mix had to be captured.

cu tomorrow, trshptr

2803 - grainy idyll

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 49mm | f5.6 | ISO100 | 1/250 | aperture priority | jpg file ooc, only cropped in gimp 2.6

remember where you come from. this saying that was preached by dani, my last year´s surf teacher from bilbao, is always on my mind. times are changing, circumstances and surroundings, too.

what is and will remain is your origin. although i like to be an urban city boy who enjoys all kinds of the provided possibilities, who goes out and explores the streets every day, i currently have to accept that at lake constance rural life dominates.

for different reasons this fact isn´t a deal breaker for me: first of all we are situated in a stage of life of temporary nature. fortunately we exactly know when we will leave the south of germany again to move to ... . dot, dot, dot, because we already have an option for the next period of our lives but here and now we want to focus on actuality. otherwise you spend too much time with planing your further life while missing out on currentness. the second matter has to do with our beginnings. tina and i had grown up at a highly rural region in the east of germany before we got together in may of 2004 and moved to hamburg a year after. the liaison with the nature has always played a huge role in our lives and wasn´t disregarded during urban phases. last but not least the area around lake constance has the distinction of being one of the most beautiful regions in central europe. a great many tourists visit meersburg, hagnau and lindau or the southern coast of the lake in switzerland during the summer period between easter and september. why, this being the case, should we wish to be somewhere else?

the incluence of this issue on my photography project can´t be denied. so i take it as it comes - periodically pictures of our wonderful nature will be interspersed in my blog stream. but don´t worry - as often as possible i will give relief to them with involving anything that makes them less monotonous.

hope you enjoy the great sunset in the pic above, tina and i did. cu, trshptr

2703 - chaos men

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 18mm | f4.0 | ISO800 | 1/13 | aperture priority | raw file cropped, aligned and processed in rawtherapee

many men at one place produce very big chaos, maybe apart from military organized assosiations. my soccer club isn´t part of the well "shepherded" organisations when it comes to keep orderliness and cleanliness in its changing rooms.

when i arrived at the club house today in the evening some minutes after training had already started, the in the picture above outlined gracile chaos came out. all players were already engaged on the soccer field, so i had two minutes to capture this image.

inasmuch as i have a long history with soccer i feel home in and like the mood of changing rooms. while my city trips i have also inspected some changing rooms of professionals, f.e. in hamburg, glasgow or munich. never once the smell of grass, sweat or dubbin was perceptible. that is not really me scene.

cu, trshptr

2603 - sensitized nila

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 27mm | f4.0 | ISO100 | 1/100 | aperture priority | raw file cropped, aligned and processed in rawtherapee; jpg healed in gimp

after a rushing weekend today was a slow day. the winter isn´t able to struggle against the spring - our two kitties begin to enjoy the upcoming warmth, too. whereas our first cat zizou, which means white cat in french and was the nickname of zinedine zidane, runs away from home as far and as fast as she can every morning, nila, the second one, most of the time sticks around.

unfortunately zizou´s character has varied heavily since she is allowed to leave the flat after our movement from hamburg to lake constance. currently she is not willing to accept any other kitty in her surroundings. this issue is really sad because the circumstances - nila suffers and as a result she developed a cystitis - prompt us to think about giving zizou away to tina´s grandma. :(

nevertheless we are very happy with both of them. sometimes everything is like we used to do. more usually nila is very sensitized in anticipation of a stupid mobbing by zizou. in the pic above you are able to count her whiskers. i processed the image in a kind of cold style with minor saturation because this feature mirrors the still heavy cold that can be felt when sun is setting down.

cu, trshptr

2503 - opium of the people

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 34mm | f5.0 | ISO100 | 1/320 | aperture priority | jpg out of camera

the people of manchester are simply wonderful. communication and helpfulness especially characterize them. furthermore the whole circumstances are really enjoyable because contrary to london you find a healthy proportion between locals and tourists.

if i ought to describe the mindset of manchester´s citizens with a few strong words i would choose confident, freaky and consuming. the first two aspects speak for itself and consumption is omnipresent all over the city [information, warmth, presence, products, fashion, party! ...].

so we also consumed a lot of different - legal - stuff during the last three days, in terms of [non air safety relevant] fluids i focused on coffee that is my special highlight in holiday times apart from some alcoholic drinks.

the portrait above outlines my wife tina while consuming a ... tea. pfff, healthmaniac.

cu in regular interval, trshptr

2403 - industrial gene

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 18mm | f5.0 | ISO400 | 1/100 | aperture priority | jpg out of camera

summarizing i can fortunately say that all my expectations about manchester were not only fulfilled but rather exceeded. manchester is truthful, vivid, rocking, hearty, old but innovative and a lot more.

its industrial characteristic was very impressive. i thought about bricks and fire escapes but i didn´t expect it in this great measure. the picture above is ooc, i love its poster like high contrast look.

2303 - food from all over the world

setup: canon eos 400d with efs 18-55mm | 46mm | f5.6 | ISO800 | 1/25 | aperture priority | raw file cropped, aligned and processed in rawtherapee

a huge deficit of rural living is the lack of good foreign restaurants - except italian - and snack stands. compensation of this intolerable state was one of our most important aims during the last three days. inter alia we ate at an arab and at two indians.

even if the appearances do not imply that the quality of the sold products is passable - suitable the english say: don´t judge a book by its cover.

the snack stand in the pic above was terrific! on friday night this cool picture occured in the heart of manchester.